Firings - Political correctness gone too far?

[adios]

I don't know the circumstances of the incident. The person it was directed against could have been on the receiving end of a lot of "jokes" and simply was tired of putting up with it. I've witnessed situations where people were picked on before in places of employment because they were different somehow. Cliques develop sometimes at places of employment and if you aren't in, your out. Perhaps that was part of it. Obviously somebody didn't think it was rip roaring funny.

[MMMMMM]

I think a lot depends on the particulars.

[John Cole]

M,

I would object because an obvious homophobic term jumps into someone's mind rather than, say, "right wing conservative hate radio idiot." I don't suppose many people would find it funny if she, or the email crowd, had used an ethnic slur instead.

John

[Ray Zee]

i agree with you glenn. this type of firm is a loose goose thing and the people that make these firms are the same breed. so they need some rope. too many people get upset when faced with a little crap. we have created a society of total wimps, with nothing better to do than worry about what someone thinks of them. and then complains about not having any protection for their sweet little posteriors.
hey, what happenned to real men, boys.

[John Ho]

At the very least they should have been given a warning rather than just fired. But even if they were given a warning their careers, for the most part, would have been over anyways. There's no way you can promote people who have exercised such bad judgement (since other employees will be outraged and it sets a bad example). So either they were stuck in the positions they had forever or eventually would have quit on their own.

But I don't agree that being personally sensitive has any bearing on the ability to navigate the stock market. It is pathetic though to go crying to a manager because you're getting these stupid emails. I was about the only Asian guy there (and the only Asian in sales) and got the jokes all the time. Some of them went over the line but I accepted the fact you just can't fix someone who is stupid.

[MMMMMM]

Somehow an ethnic slur would have seemed much worse.

I object to what she said in principle too; I'm just saying it struck me as insensitive, crude, out-of-place, ridiculous--and somehow funny. It's certainly not something that would spill out of my mouth, and I'm not defending my sense of humor.

I do however believe in free speech and if someone wants to display their ignorance and crudeness, I say let them. I don't think the government, or corporations, or universities, should assume the role of policeman as to what free people can or cannot say.

Perhaps I tend to favor Libertarianism over Conservatism.

The email incident above all showed poor judgment IMO.