Too PC?

[justginger]

Is the US turning into the land of kid gloves or something? I read this: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/rep-labrador-2-broke-girls-tweet-fired-232745504--politics.html and was astounded. A man LOSES HIS JOB for a tweet that is obviously intended to be funny, and at no one's expense. I'm relatively sure this wouldn't happen in Australia - people the country over would be giggling and elbowing each other, wiggling their eyebrows and agreeing.

You can't have such societal double standards - you make it ok for a commercial of this explicit nature to be aired, in the biggest advertising time slot of the year, but don't make it ok for people to react in a natural manner. Or am I particularly un-feminist and others here agree that it was sackable offense?

 

[rosetta]

Wow. What a completely sexist ad.

I don't think he should be sacked for an immature comment though.

 

[yennyfire]

I agree with you justginger. Offensive ad, but the comment wasn't worth firing the guy for. He used poor judgement, but the comment was benign enough given the content of the ad.

 

[justginger]

That's how so much advertising is these days -- sex sells. Did you ever see the original Ali Landry Doritos ad? I still remember that, and it was in the Superbowl YEARS ago. Nothing more than a hot girl walking along, tonging Doritos and teasing boys.

ETA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZJm1taBsVI

 

[Lady_Disdain]

If the comment had been on his own Twitter account, then I would agree that it was no big deal. But it wasn't. It was on his boss's account, which he had been hired to generate content for and to care for. This led to his boss being mocked on a political site. So, yes, I would consider firing the guy or giving a serious reprimand because he isn't doing his job correctly and exposing me.

 

[JewelFreak]

Good point, Lady Disdain. Politics now is all & only appearance. We must look squeaky clean, no matter what sludge lies beneath the surface. We must also take our reaction to every incident to the furthest possible extreme. If he had sent it on his own account I'll bet he still would've been fired. The Congressman himself could bonk his secretary at lunchtime, but let's look prim, by all means.lllllllllllll

There's plenty of PC-ness everywhere, including Australia -- only on different subjects. The UK has turned into a police state, I swear -- very sad in the land of Magna Carta.

--- Laurie

 

[Tuckins1]

I absolutely think this country is too PC... People get their feathers ruffled about anything and everything. Toughen up, buttercups!

 

[ame]

Ohhhhhh yes. Everyone is catering to the religious right, it's taken over everything here.

 

[justginger]

Good point, Lady Disdain. Politics now is all & only appearance. We must look squeaky clean, no matter what sludge lies beneath the surface. We must also take our reaction to every incident to the furthest possible extreme. If he had sent it on his own account I'll bet he still would've been fired. The Congressman himself could bonk his secretary at lunchtime, but let's look prim, by all means.lllllllllllll

There's plenty of PC-ness everywhere, including Australia -- only on different subjects. The UK has turned into a police state, I swear -- very sad in the land of Magna Carta.

--- Laurie

Do you have any examples? I am constantly amazed by how relaxed and 'no worries' it is here in comparison to many other places, especially the States. It was quite a social shock to me when I first moved. I'd always be looking around like, "Really? That's ok here?"

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I don't think he should have been fired. I also don't think politicians should have Twitter accounts. It is bound to cause problems and eventually something stupid is going to be posted and cause some uproar. People have gone way overboard in all the social media and really do not need to make comments 24/7 everywhere.

 

[rubyshoes]

Honestly I feel like people veer between being overly PC and overly rude. It's like there's no in-between anymore.

 

[kenny]

Lots of factors here.
The political polarization of America has escalated into an all out war.
Both 'sides' look for any scandal they can exploit to make the other side look bad.

He got fired because this involved a republican politician and something shocking and sexy in Idaho (which is far right, chaste and pure Mormanland) ... need I say more?
Also sending out a message on another person's account is VERY serious IMHO, especially when it is a very important person.

Personally I see politicians as employees who are just there to do a job, not to be leaders, mentors for children, icons, examples of proper living, whatever the hell THAT is.
I don't shiv a git what any politician on either side does, as long as (s)he's not breaking laws.

 

[AP1976]

I think this is such bullshit!! And it pisses me off. Really sorry for the bad language, my friends, but this kind of thing just drives me crazy. Yes, he made a mistake. But he corrected that mistake in 14 seconds. 14 seconds!!! And all because of some idiot platform that saves deleted tweets from politicians, this innocent guy loses his job? A staffer loses his job over something so benign and harmless, when COUNTLESS politicians are currently cheating on their spouses at this very moment and doing all kinds of illegal things? BULLSHIT!

 

[kenny]

I blame American voters who base their decision on soundbites and image rather than substance.

If politicians want to stay employed they have to kowtow to this stupid BS.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I am sorry he lost his job, but it was a major mistake to post something like this from his BOSS's twitter acccount!!! Not too smart, IMO!

Blame this on politics and stupidity, not fair to blame it on religion.

And while we are talking about stupid, the politician needs to fire himself for having someone else post on his Twitter account! I mean, WHY HAVE ONE????

 

[AP1976]

This is a major downfall to the era of instant information that we now live in. How many of us have made mistakes, both personal and professional, and weren't able to correct the mistake within 14 seconds?! He did, in fact, correct his mistake. But because everything we do now is captured for all eternity, people expect their employees (politicians or not) to be robots. We're not robots, we're human, and we make mistakes.

I'm just glad I'm not in college anymore. I certainly wouldn't want to go through that stage of my life with YouTube around to save all of my "experiences" forever, LOL!!

 

[aviastar]

I am sorry he lost his job, but it was a major mistake to post something like this from his BOSS's twitter acccount!!! Not too smart, IMO!

Blame this on politics and stupidity, not fair to blame it on religion.

And while we are talking about stupid, the politician needs to fire himself for having someone else post on his Twitter account! I mean, WHY HAVE ONE????

Once again, I am in complete agreement with DS!

 

[AP1976]

I am sorry he lost his job, but it was a major mistake to post something like this from his BOSS's twitter acccount!!! Not too smart, IMO!

Blame this on politics and stupidity, not fair to blame it on religion.

And while we are talking about stupid, the politician needs to fire himself for having someone else post on his Twitter account! I mean, WHY HAVE ONE????

Because his advisors are telling him it's important to have a social media presence, but he couldn't care less about it

 

[VRBeauty]

I am sorry he lost his job, but it was a major mistake to post something like this from his BOSS's twitter acccount!!! Not too smart, IMO!

Blame this on politics and stupidity, not fair to blame it on religion.

And while we are talking about stupid, the politician needs to fire himself for having someone else post on his Twitter account! I mean, WHY HAVE ONE????

I mostly agree with you, but I think religion might come into the picture... not because religious of how religious people might have reacted, but because his boss was probably catering to what he figured the religious right would want and making a statement to that part of his constituency when he fired the staffer. I mean... the boss could just have laughed it off (the offensive tweet being out there for all eternity anyway) and re-assigned the guy. Of course it's also possible that the guy was sub-par in other aspects of his work... and this was the final straw/convenient excuse.

 

[justginger]

I don't tweet, so can't say for sure - but others I've spoken with have explained that if you regularly use multiple Twitter accounts from one computer, they remain on a common platform and you simply flick between them. This was a 14 second human error in which the wrong account was selected. I am astounded that the public is not going to bat for this guy and demanding his reinstatement. Goodness knows that has happened in other scenarios when it was obvious an innocent was being screwed over.

 

[VRBeauty]

I am astounded that the public is not going to bat for this guy and demanding his reinstatement. Goodness knows that has happened in other scenarios when it was obvious an innocent was being screwed over.

When you work directly for a politician, or if you're a political appointee - you serve at the pleasure of the boss and you can be fired at any time with or without cause. That's just part of the unwritten contract. Figuratively (and I suspect in some cases, in reality) you give the boss an undated resignation letter - for him or her to use whenever it becomes convenient for them - on the day you accept the job. If something goes wrong on your watch and you're called on to throw yourself under the bus for appearances's sake, that's what you do, even if you and the boss and all intelligent people know you did nothing wrong. It may not be fair, but that's life in the political arena.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Its not about PC.

It was posting a comment that is a little racist and a little sexist from his political boss's account! I think that last part is the key.

Maybe it was the icing on the cake of screw ups. Fire away I say.

 

[justginger]

VRB, you've raised some points I had not really considered before, thank you. Having shied away from the political arena myself for many years now (as an expat I have chosen to only vote in US presidential elections, and as a non-citizen in Australia I am ineligible to vote), perhaps my view of its workings are far off base. I read the article as if it were any other job, but it is not. Standards and appearances are far more intense, and lesser incidents result in firings. Right or wrong, the answer is YES, things must be extremely POLITICALLY correct in the world of politics.

Does this mean he will struggle to find his next position? Or will everyone forget about him in a few weeks and he'll be picked up by another politician?

And D, how was his tweet racist?

 

[ascari_2]

Damn straight there is way too much PC in this country. Living here in Chicago you get to see it first hand with all the crooked politicians like Jessie Jackson, his son, and DIL. But no one dare say anything because that would be discrimination. Same goes for the whole idiotic contravercy over the VW Super Bowl ad and how it's supposed to be racist.

And what's so sexist about his comment? There are 2 half naked girl dancing around. What type of a reaction would one expect out of a guy watching this ad..."gee, I bet they would make for really smart librarians"?

 

[JewelFreak]

There's plenty of PC-ness everywhere, including Australia -- only on different subjects. The UK has turned into a police state, I swear -- very sad in the land of Magna Carta.

--- Laurie

Do you have any examples? I am constantly amazed by how relaxed and 'no worries' it is here in comparison to many other places, especially the States. It was quite a social shock to me when I first moved. I'd always be looking around like, "Really? That's ok here?"

Here's one, Ginger. Made me roll my eyes: http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/07/n...irthday-cake-candles-for-australian-children/

I don't see how that comment was racist either.

 

[justginger]

There's plenty of PC-ness everywhere, including Australia -- only on different subjects. The UK has turned into a police state, I swear -- very sad in the land of Magna Carta.

--- Laurie

Do you have any examples? I am constantly amazed by how relaxed and 'no worries' it is here in comparison to many other places, especially the States. It was quite a social shock to me when I first moved. I'd always be looking around like, "Really? That's ok here?"

Here's one, Ginger. Made me roll my eyes: http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/07/n...irthday-cake-candles-for-australian-children/

I don't see how that comment was racist either.

This makes me roll my eyes too. But I don't consider it PC. Australia is full of red tape especially when it comes to a) health and b) children (like the banning of ALL nuts from schools), but I don't consider this a political-type of move. Just yet another OTT way to protect our all-too-delicate children.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I just watched the video. I think it's beyond ridiculous that the man was fired. Oh my, the poor politician might be embarrassed by the comment. He must take action! Do you wonder why our politics are in such a state. Over react on the small stuff, do nothing on the big stuff.

The answer to your question is yes, we are way too PC in this country. Extreme reactions to most anything occur often. People do not seem to be able to see which ones are important and which ones are of little consequence.


Annette

 

[wildcat03]

This is not about PC. This is about making a public gaffe on a public social media platform which you are PAID to manage. I havea few friends who work as "social media PR specialists." Any one of them could be fired for an error like this.

If it has been his personal twitter then this might be a discussion.

 

[Tuckins1]

Its not about PC.

It was posting a comment that is a little racist and a little sexist from his political boss's account! I think that last part is the key.

Maybe it was the icing on the cake of screw ups. Fire away I say.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all, but I wonder how that post was racist? I'm not even sure it was sexist. Definitely a sexy commercial, but nothing was said that was derogatory or inflammatory...

 

[Circe]

It used a stereotypically "Chinese" - I use the quotes 'cause it isn't anything like an actual Chinese accent - patois. Me love you long time, that sort of thing, really racist through the 1940s, and now normalized by the likes of Abercrombie and Fitch with their line of caricature shirts.

I'm with Dreamer on this.