The blog, gettingracistsfired.com , is self-explanatory.
According to the Washington Post, these admins search the web for, or publish submissions of, people espousing racist comments through social media. After a little bit of investigation, they find where they work and report to their employers all the racist comments their employee ?has made.
Naturally, once confronted with these allegations and not wanting to support what appears as a pro-racist stance, these employers fire said employee, and thus the blog finishes what it’s meant to do.
Though I certainly do support the general marginalization of racists in a society, resulting primarily from a natural ostracization from holding an unpopular viewpoint, I think it is a horrid act to get someone fired for holding a belief with which you don’t agree.
Holding racist beliefs should not affect one’s standing at a job unless it is a direct interference with that job.
With social media, the line between the private self, which typically would contain any and all unpopular beliefs, and the public self becomes blurry because, in most cases, social media is the thrusting of one’s private self into the ?public sphere.
However, the termination of a person’s job because of his or her beliefs is blatant ?discrimination.
Just because a worker is a racist does not mean he or she is not a good worker or that it will affect his or her job ?performance.
If it does, that is an entirely different matter. But, of course, a company cannot not fire the worker because once the worker is accused, it will appear the company supports a racist platform.
Gettingracistsfired.com is run by immature and narrow-minded admins who believe that consequence is the best way to teach a lesson that they, in their all-knowing wisdom, know exclusively.
It should be clear by this point in history that even conversation, which remains one of the most effective means of convincing others of the flaws in their viewpoints, oftentimes cannot change racist beliefs.
There is no reason to expect that punishment is the right form of rhetoric, if it is even rhetoric at all, to oppose a harmful view. It will create resentment, indemnify those beliefs and foster them.
Anyway, in the end, there will always be people who will oppose your beliefs. There will be those whom you consider ignorant, whom you consider immoral, whom you consider narrow-minded, but you should not seek to condemn all those who fall into these categories.
It is not your job to be the arbitrator of your vigilante-like justice. Time and progress will eventually erode these beliefs from our culture.
allenjo@indiana.edu
