(image: kenanmalik.wordpress.com – click)
From the comments stream following an article by Mathew Ingram Public shaming and free speech: Why the rush to attack Pax Dickinson makes me nervous (worth a read):
Um? Pax Dickinson is free to say whatever he likes. And when his free speech potentially exposes his employers to legal ramifications of that speech, they are free to part ways with him. No one’s right to speak has been impaired here. Making this a free speech issue badly misses the mark.
I think part of the problem here is a category error, in that Mr Dickinson probably believed that his audience was primarily made up of people much like himself, “brogrammers” who would be amused and not offended by his jokes. It’s possible – even likely – that his tweets seem playful in the right context. However, on twitter, EVERYONE can hear you. Twitter has no context. And it behooves someone with a C-suite position at a very public-facing company to watch what he says in public. Else he may lose that C-suite employ. That is a normal social consequence.
Free speech does not mean consequence-free speech. Adults are free to say whatever they like. And they are also free to face the consequences of that speech. [emphasis added]
— commenter ‘Subway Suicide’ Friday, September 13 2013
Yeah, I’ve copped it for stuff I’ve said online, and castigated others for their so-‘published’ comments.
I do, as we have discussed, draw a line at any moves to have someone fired or their employment otherwise affected in an offline way simply for their online statements of opinion, however hateful or idiotic I see them — a scruple not universally shared (in fact, demonstrably not shared by vindictive nothing-to-lose rissoles like Cameron Slater, as we have seen, but that’s another matter.)
‘Don’t embarrass the company‘ is, at bottom, a fair rule, however. In a realistic (as opposed to idealistic) economic world, people jus’ gotsta realize their actions have consequences. These are not tricky calculations like the rotating vectors I studied in Telecommunications Maths.
A little empathy for one’s employer or workmates can go a looooong way.
There’s no free lunch. The ‘joy’ of self-expression enabled by having or using a ‘public’ online platform comes with its consequences.
We are each, or should be, accountable for our words. One needs to own that.
– P
I have come to the conclusion recently that the fewer opinions i share online regarding pretty much anything – the better / easier / more productive my future will be.
In an age where everyone has an opinion and and everyone seems to want to blurt those opinions out via social media like Twitter, blogs etc…people don’t seem to think about how those opinions can be found by anyone and we leave ourselves open to all sorts of forms of unnecessary discrimination that we will not even be aware is happening.
IE: I blog about my views on say abortion and take a hard line pro life stance. I apply for a job and am interviewed by someone who happens to be pro choice. She googles my name and sees my views, strongly disagreeing with them and comes to the conclusion that i am an idiot. I lose job before i even get it – and will never know why. All of this despite the fact that abortion or my views on the topic have nothing to do with the job that i have applied for.
I have stopped sharing any opinions online – pretty much. No one cares about them anyway and why risk making life harder? That stance makes for kind of boring blogging but at least the offline future is looking sweet.
Good on you Jackie.
It seems to me we Homo sapiens are (at least) two things:
(1) social animals
(2) learning organisms.
In this dangerous area, we need to exhibit both traits.
Full marks. 🙂
– P
Thanks Peter. More learning, less social – at this end these days.
Enjoy your windy Saturday. I think trees are about to fall on my little house.
I wrote recently “self-expression on the new black”.
Well, perhaps not that new…
“I have no desires, save the desire to express myself – in defiance of all the world’s muteness.”
— Vladimir Nabokov
On your other point about people not caring about your opinion — yeah, I get what you’re saying.
I feel lucky to be able to engage with a ‘micro community’ here and on Twitter, people whom I respect and whose opinions and advice I actually seek out.
I’m privileged to have those interactions — I don’t see them as a reflection on me but more on the ideas we discuss (I can be idealistic, cerebral, even (gasp) a bit ‘intellectual’ about media matters. It’s good to have people say, ‘Yeah, sure, but…’)