There’s a lot of nuance, and I feel like bucketing together all the firings make things seem too black and white. A lot of these are more on the innocuous side, but on the other hand, you have...
There’s a lot of nuance, and I feel like bucketing together all the firings make things seem too black and white. A lot of these are more on the innocuous side, but on the other hand, you have this example
In South Carolina, Clemson University said in an X statement that it had terminated one employee and placed two professors on leave pending investigation over “inappropriate social media content.”
The employee had tweeted that people should “be a Tyler Robinson or a Luigi Mangione,” referring to the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
I imagine that some people have been exposed to so many hot takes on social media (and maybe on college campuses?) that calling for violence has become normalized, at least in their own minds, and...
I imagine that some people have been exposed to so many hot takes on social media (and maybe on college campuses?) that calling for violence has become normalized, at least in their own minds, and they forgot that professionals aren’t supposed to do that publicly. Meanwhile, management remembers how it used to be.
You have to actually explain why it’s wrong nowadays, which is a sign of an old taboo breaking down.
Yes, that's part of it becoming normalized. Instead of it being "we're not like them" it's "they're doing it, so why shouldn't we?" This works both ways. It's how gang violence escalates. "They go...
Yes, that's part of it becoming normalized. Instead of it being "we're not like them" it's "they're doing it, so why shouldn't we?"
This works both ways. It's how gang violence escalates.
It's on its way out because they kept going lower and lower to the point where we had thousands storming the capitol building and then pardoned after their guy won another election. So going high...
It's on its way out because they kept going lower and lower to the point where we had thousands storming the capitol building and then pardoned after their guy won another election. So going high seems to be pretty fucking useless.
I honestly think people forget that threatening to kill someone/calling for someone to be killed can actually be illegal, and even if not your employer has absolutely no obligation to ride that...
I honestly think people forget that threatening to kill someone/calling for someone to be killed can actually be illegal, and even if not your employer has absolutely no obligation to ride that out with you.
Between stuff like streamers adding "in minecraft" and getting away with it constantly, the litany of games where that kind of "trash talk" is just expected, and yeah the simple fact that social media isn't really policed for this (from very public stuff like twitter to much less public like discord) lead to people acting like there's no consequences for suggesting violence. Hell eat the rich and guillotine emojis were all the rage not that long ago.
To be fair I'm sure that any police department that spent time investigating people for possible incitement to violence charges or whatever would be outright attacked (maybe justifiably) for wasting time/resources/attacking free speech/etc, but the number of circles I travel in where people will casually drop stuff that's, at the very least, something I'd 1000% expect to be fired for if I said it anywhere near work is huge.
I think it's pretty clear a lot of people never grew up in the old days of the internet and never learned not to post stuff like that on their main account. You've gotta be careful out there, you...
I think it's pretty clear a lot of people never grew up in the old days of the internet and never learned not to post stuff like that on their main account. You've gotta be careful out there, you never know what kind of psycho might freak out about your internet posts!
On the old days of the internet the mods would ban your ass for suggesting that we should start murdering anyone at all. You’d get banned so fast your employer would never know.
On the old days of the internet the mods would ban your ass for suggesting that we should start murdering anyone at all.
You’d get banned so fast your employer would never know.
Depends on the site, I think. Relatively normal forums with relatively normal people would ban people for that, but there were plenty of unhinged corners of the internet.
Depends on the site, I think. Relatively normal forums with relatively normal people would ban people for that, but there were plenty of unhinged corners of the internet.
Yeah and I guess if you wanted to you could go make an entire website and lay out your exact plans for mass murder and still no one would take it seriously Man, times have changed.
Yeah and I guess if you wanted to you could go make an entire website and lay out your exact plans for mass murder and still no one would take it seriously
From the article: … … … … … … Here is her substack post. In the article, she posts the tweets that apparently got her fired. They seem fairly mild as these things go, so I don’t know what’s going...
From the article:
Several U.S. airlines, Office Depot, and Nasdaq said they were among more than 30 employers that have sanctioned or fired employees in reaction to their statements about Kirk’s killing. Roughly three dozen workers are reported to have been suspended or fired over their responses to Kirk’s killing, including employees of Clemson University, MSNBC, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Carolina Panthers. Several local fire departments and school districts said they had also suspended or terminated employees over their remarks.
…
A website, which calls itself the Charlie Kirk Data Foundation, went viral on social media after publishing a searchable list of thousands of people accused of posting critical messages of Kirk after his killing. On Sunday it said the list, which it subsequently took down, had grown to more than 63,000 people. The backers of the website did not identify themselves and declined to comment when contacted via a message on X.
…
Adam Goldstein, vice president of strategic initiatives at the nonprofit and nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which has argued against incursions on free speech, said the pattern of some people facing condemnation for being “mocking or insufficiently sympathetic” plays out “again and again after every tragedy.” He noted similar dynamics played out after 9/11 and the 2024 assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
But with people’s statements after Kirk’s death ranging widely in tone and substance across social media, Goldstein raised concerns about treating all comments critical of Kirk with the same broad brush.
“When we talk about people at this scale, they’re doing very different things, saying different things and saying very different things to different audiences,” he said. “To put them all in the same bucket and say all these people should be canceled, really?”
…
In South Carolina, Clemson University said in an X statement that it had terminated one employee and placed two professors on leave pending investigation over “inappropriate social media content.”
The employee had tweeted that people should “be a Tyler Robinson or a Luigi Mangione,” referring to the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December. Some Clemson students, alumni, Republican members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation and activists such as Starbuck expressed outrage over the Clemson employee’s actions and called for their firing.
…
At Englewood Health, a New Jersey hospital and health care network, a surgeon resigned last week after an investigation into comments he made in front of co-workers immediately after Kirk’s killing, the hospital said in a statement Monday.
“I hate Charlie Kirk. He had it coming. He deserved it,” the surgeon allegedly said, according to a lawsuit brought by the nurse, Lexi Kuenzle, who reported him. She said on television that she brought the suit because she was briefly suspended during the investigation of the incident. Kuenzle, who had recounted the surgeon’s comments on social media, did not respond to a request for comment.
…
In Texas, more than 100 teachers are facing investigation and the possible loss of their certification to teach in the state over social media reactions to Kirk’s killing, Gov. Greg Abbott said in an X post Monday. The state’s education agency sent out a letter late last week warning that it would investigate staff who posted or shared “reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media related to the assassination of Charlie Kirk” that could have violated its code of ethics.
…
A columnist for the Opinion section of the The Washington Post, Karen Attiah, said on Monday in a Substack post that she was fired last week over comments she made on the Bluesky social network in the wake of Kirk’s killing. A Post spokeswoman declined to comment on a personnel matter.
Here is her substack post. In the article, she posts the tweets that apparently got her fired. They seem fairly mild as these things go, so I don’t know what’s going on there.
I’m glad the Washington Post at least mentioned it, though they didn’t link. I guess this is how Washington Post covers itself these days.
Fired By The Post Status news has the letter but does have a login wall Washington Post Termination Letter to Karen Attiah Revealed It also references "documented performance concerns" but it's so...
Among the cited posts were comments including: “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is… not the same as violence” and “Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.”
It also references "documented performance concerns" but it's so vague as to be unhelpful. (HR doing it's HR thing.)
There’s a lot of nuance, and I feel like bucketing together all the firings make things seem too black and white. A lot of these are more on the innocuous side, but on the other hand, you have this example
Jesus Christ, what are you expecting?
I imagine that some people have been exposed to so many hot takes on social media (and maybe on college campuses?) that calling for violence has become normalized, at least in their own minds, and they forgot that professionals aren’t supposed to do that publicly. Meanwhile, management remembers how it used to be.
You have to actually explain why it’s wrong nowadays, which is a sign of an old taboo breaking down.
While it's not professional, notable figures on the right (Mace, Musk to name a couple) are calling for violence and not being punished for it.
Yes, that's part of it becoming normalized. Instead of it being "we're not like them" it's "they're doing it, so why shouldn't we?"
This works both ways. It's how gang violence escalates.
"They go low we go high" is on its way out.
It's on its way out because they kept going lower and lower to the point where we had thousands storming the capitol building and then pardoned after their guy won another election. So going high seems to be pretty fucking useless.
The trouble is when people are inspired to do things that are worse than useless.
I'm afraid it's going to escalate into something like the Troubles in Ireland. None of this is good news.
I honestly think people forget that threatening to kill someone/calling for someone to be killed can actually be illegal, and even if not your employer has absolutely no obligation to ride that out with you.
Between stuff like streamers adding "in minecraft" and getting away with it constantly, the litany of games where that kind of "trash talk" is just expected, and yeah the simple fact that social media isn't really policed for this (from very public stuff like twitter to much less public like discord) lead to people acting like there's no consequences for suggesting violence. Hell eat the rich and guillotine emojis were all the rage not that long ago.
To be fair I'm sure that any police department that spent time investigating people for possible incitement to violence charges or whatever would be outright attacked (maybe justifiably) for wasting time/resources/attacking free speech/etc, but the number of circles I travel in where people will casually drop stuff that's, at the very least, something I'd 1000% expect to be fired for if I said it anywhere near work is huge.
I think it's pretty clear a lot of people never grew up in the old days of the internet and never learned not to post stuff like that on their main account. You've gotta be careful out there, you never know what kind of psycho might freak out about your internet posts!
On the old days of the internet the mods would ban your ass for suggesting that we should start murdering anyone at all.
You’d get banned so fast your employer would never know.
Depends on the site, I think. Relatively normal forums with relatively normal people would ban people for that, but there were plenty of unhinged corners of the internet.
Yeah and I guess if you wanted to you could go make an entire website and lay out your exact plans for mass murder and still no one would take it seriously
Man, times have changed.
From the article:
…
…
…
…
…
…
Here is her substack post. In the article, she posts the tweets that apparently got her fired. They seem fairly mild as these things go, so I don’t know what’s going on there.
I’m glad the Washington Post at least mentioned it, though they didn’t link. I guess this is how Washington Post covers itself these days.
Fired By The Post
Status news has the letter but does have a login wall
Washington Post Termination Letter to Karen Attiah Revealed
It also references "documented performance concerns" but it's so vague as to be unhelpful. (HR doing it's HR thing.)
That's really not many at all in a country the size of the US. I don't bring that up for any particular reason, I guess I'm just surprised.
Talk about cancel culture Jesus Christ
SMH, they should've just criticized Horst Wessel instead.