FIRE has a list of people fired for making offensive comments after Kirk’s killing [0]. FAMA has something similer for people fired for making offensive comments after Floyd’s killing [1].
FIRE calls it the tragedy cycle: "A tragedy happens. Someone reacts by celebrating that tragedy for whatever reason. Then the social media mob comes to demand this person be fired, expelled, or otherwise punished for their views."
Those lists are pointless if we can't see exactly for what words those people have been fired.
If my employee makes a slur against "n*ggers" while he has black coworkers, it is not the same thing as simply copy-pasting Kirk's own words on gun violence being an acceptable consequence of the 2nd amendment.
Europe has laws against hate speech that Americans think reach too far, but the positive side effect is that employers are not the one doing the calls - which they do instantly, under pressure, without any chance for the employees to defend themselves. A European firm has no basis to fire an employee until a court has reached a conclusion - the best they can do is suspend the employee.
docdeek · 1h ago
The FAMA story links to examples, though not all of the links remain live.
One of the first was from a police officer who had posted on social media, "If he can scream he can breath, something else was going on. I’ve been pepper sprayed with CS gas and it messes with your breathing but you can definitely still breath.”
Another was a sports broadcaster who was forced out/resigned after tweeting: "Longtime Sacramento Kings TV broadcaster Grant Napear resigned Tuesday after he tweeted "ALL LIVES MATTER" when asked by DeMarcus Cousins for his opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Some of the links, and therefore the comments, are not accessible from Europe, but the actual comments (or stories including the comments) are all there.
aredox · 31m ago
And a black writer (the last black colomnist at WaPo) has been purged for literally quoting Kirk.
But again, my point isn't to dish anecdotes. If we want to set a standard, norms, we have to get more than one data point.
ivewonyoung · 28m ago
> for literally quoting Kirk
It wasn't literal and it wasn't quoting. Kirk named 4 people in his actual quote, she maliciously changed it to make it appear he said it was about all women of a certain race, and put it in quotes so that people think she was quoting verbatim.
huhkerrf · 2h ago
Just proving that nobody* really cared about their stances on cancel culture except as that they could use it as a cudgel for their existing views, as we see the "accountability culture" and "free speech absolutists" meant nothing.
*Rounding to nobody; there are some small handful of principled people to be sure.
aredox · 2h ago
""Really, this is as much the fault of the SPD as of the NSDAP, both are to blame for this", I think, while the Obersturmführer's dogs tear down the prisoner next to me."
FIRE calls it the tragedy cycle: "A tragedy happens. Someone reacts by celebrating that tragedy for whatever reason. Then the social media mob comes to demand this person be fired, expelled, or otherwise punished for their views."
[0]: https://www.thefire.org/news/we-are-cancel-culture-part-trag...
[1]: https://fama.io/post/fired-racist-comments-george-floyd-prot...
If my employee makes a slur against "n*ggers" while he has black coworkers, it is not the same thing as simply copy-pasting Kirk's own words on gun violence being an acceptable consequence of the 2nd amendment.
Europe has laws against hate speech that Americans think reach too far, but the positive side effect is that employers are not the one doing the calls - which they do instantly, under pressure, without any chance for the employees to defend themselves. A European firm has no basis to fire an employee until a court has reached a conclusion - the best they can do is suspend the employee.
One of the first was from a police officer who had posted on social media, "If he can scream he can breath, something else was going on. I’ve been pepper sprayed with CS gas and it messes with your breathing but you can definitely still breath.”
Another was a sports broadcaster who was forced out/resigned after tweeting: "Longtime Sacramento Kings TV broadcaster Grant Napear resigned Tuesday after he tweeted "ALL LIVES MATTER" when asked by DeMarcus Cousins for his opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Some of the links, and therefore the comments, are not accessible from Europe, but the actual comments (or stories including the comments) are all there.
https://karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-washington-post-fired...
But again, my point isn't to dish anecdotes. If we want to set a standard, norms, we have to get more than one data point.
It wasn't literal and it wasn't quoting. Kirk named 4 people in his actual quote, she maliciously changed it to make it appear he said it was about all women of a certain race, and put it in quotes so that people think she was quoting verbatim.
*Rounding to nobody; there are some small handful of principled people to be sure.
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