Too PC?

[Wednesday]

I agree with wildcat03.

Also, if Twitter makes it so easy to mistakenly post on another's account, maybe this guy should not have had his personal account open on the same computer or device as his boss's. In his position, he had to be aware of the repercussions of such a mistake, so he should have taken precautions.

 

[sapphirering]

I'd fire him, too. It's not about PC or not PC. It's the fact that as a media specialist, he was careless enough to tweet on his boss's account. Who knows how big his next blunder would be? Politicians especially can't afford these kinds of mistakes. That guy has become a liability - so he had to go.

 

[justginger]

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.

Interesting. I honestly did not think of it that way. I have a couple of friends who use "me" instead of "I" when they are trying to be cute or funny. Baby talk. That's how I read it.

 

[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.

Interesting. I honestly did not think of it that way. I have a couple of friends who use "me" instead of "I" when they are trying to be cute or funny. Baby talk. That's how I read it.

If it had been "me want" or something, that's how I would have seen it, too. But that specific combo? Very Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

 

[LaraOnline]

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.

Interesting conversation! I wonder how they guy would have survived if this had happened in Australia?

The media in Australia can't resist making a mountain out of a little 'I am human' mess up like this, either.
He did delete in 14 secs!!

And yeah, managing social accounts between work and play IS difficult.

So wish politics was less about 'big vision' money-churning (and politicians' retirement plans cough) and more about health care / other very basic government services. If only we could take the politics out of politics.

 

[Malbec54]

I work at the U.S. Capitol and really wish that I could comment, but unfortunately that wouldn't be very "PC" of me.
Let's just say that when you work on Capitol Hill you should always be one step ahead of your boss. There are days when I wish I could buy a one-way ticket to a remote island where there are no tv's, radio talk-shows, or newspapers.

 

[mich_t]

I definitely think Australia is deep into the too-PC thing. I can definitely give you a few off the top of my head, Justginger (and could probably find heaps more if I think about it):

We're not allowed to sing Christmas carols at schools, not allowed to say "Merry Christmas", only "Happy Holidays" in certain places (particularly in the corporate world, where you get "Many happy returns" on a card which is not decorated in a Christmassy way at all).

http://www.cis.org.au/media-informa...olitically-correct-christmas-is-un-australian

You're not allowed to describe people by their ethnicity, so you'll always hear on the news the generic description that a robbery was committed by a person "of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance"!! I don't mind being described as of Mediterranean descent, because that's what I am and to mind it implies that it's an insult.

We're not allowed to film our children at daycares, schools or other group events, because you may inadvertently film someone else's child without their permission (although I ignore this rule...I'm not going to miss filming my children just to please other parents)!

I'm still not sure what we should call our indigenous Australians! http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3731552.html

You can buy the old fashioned dolls which used to be called "Golly Wogs" but they're now called "Gollies" (I'm actually of Mediterranean descent and so was called that insult many a time), but the use of it in the context of the dolls is not the same!

One thing which I think is very sad for the entirety of humankind is our intolerance of satire today, which in previous times, was crucial to the formulation of a person' opinions on political and social matters. In ancient Rome, you get texts like Seneca's Apocolocyntosis or Petronius' Satyricon and during the Napoleonic regime, there were daily satirical articles and cartoons on Europe's world leaders which cut to the heart of the real issues. Today, this type of satire would be unacceptable, which is really sad and anti-intellectual.

A good discussion though!