Wait, I thought GAF was okay within people getting friend for posting racists/sexist things in social media. How did this thread get to seven pages of disagreement?
Well she did basically accused an entire continent of having AIDS, even if it was just a joke.
Some things shouldnt be joked about
Was anyone laughing? I sure as hell wasn't.
Regardless of your personal reaction to it, it was clearly an attempt at humor and the fact her life was so upended by it is ridiculous.
How is it even possible for so many people to get so mad at a twitter length comment?
Well she did basically accused an entire continent of having AIDS, even if it was just a joke.
I'm going to Africa i hope i don't get AIDS lol
She didn't deserve the sack though.
Well she did basically accused an entire continent of having AIDS, even if it was just a joke.
I'm going to Africa i hope i don't get AIDS lol
She didn't deserve the sack though.
It's sad to me that people aren't allowed to make mistakes these days without their lives being ruined.
There's a not a person on this forum who hasn't said something stupid in their lives. Maybe even a few times. It's not really how you feel, but maybe you were trying to make a joke, make a point, or be funny and it just came out wrong or it wasn't funny and offended someone or a maybe a lot of someone's.
There's no chance to talk to, educate someone, or explain how hurtful things can be. No, instead we go straight for the throat and don't stop until we've completely stripped that person of every inch of their livelihood and left them on the floor a broken mess in the fetal position.
There's no humanity in this. It's nothing but straight up mob justice and bullying without repercussions.
There are millions of people who go their whole lives without saying something really dumb in public
It's not hard
I'm not trying to be an asshole with this remark but.... Do you get out much?
She was Director of Communications, and she couldn't communicate.
It's such a simple concept,There are millions of people who go their whole lives without saying something really dumb in public
It's not hard
I'm not trying to be an asshole with this remark but.... Do you get out much?
If she had been bad at actually doing her job, she would've been fired long before that point.
Nearly every job involves interpersonal skills to some extent. She could've been working at McDonald's and you'd see people saying "and THIS person is expected to serve black people in line without being racist toward them?! Fire her!"
It's such a simple subject.
But is he wrong?
When will people gain self awareness and take personal responsibility?
It's called being a human being.
And here's a great revelation for you: human beings aren't perfect. Most of us are flawed, some more deeply flawed than others. Part of humanity is being able to learn and grow from your own mistakes. You're not given the opportunity to actually learn anything in scenarios like this because you end up stripped of whatever livelihood you had and end up living a life of seclusion.
There are millions of people who go their whole lives without saying something really dumb in public
It's not hard
And there are also millions of people who do say something really dumb in public. Should they all lose their jobs be harassed by a mob of self-righteous internet strangers?
And there are also millions of people who do say something really dumb in public. Should they all lose their jobs be harassed by a mob of self-righteous internet strangers?
It came back to bite her in the ass a year later. She got fired as well, because the guy's story gathered sympathy from the corners of the web.
She had 30 years and a job in PR that should have helped her realize that was a bad idea
Enjoy your outrage though
If I recall people started digging through her twitter and found just as tasteless jokes she had made. The thread on that was one of the first times I visited gaf.
Losing their job? Depends on how stupid their comment was.
Then why condone it some of the time? I just don't get it
Which is why she isn't in jail. Whats your point?She didn't commit a crime.
And there are also millions of people who do say something really dumb in public. Should they all lose their jobs be harassed by a mob of self-righteous internet strangers?
She had 30 years and a job in PR that should have helped her realize that was a bad idea
Enjoy your outrage though
Which is why she isn't in jail. Whats your point?
Twitter came out 9 years ago and only recently became a pr tool. Most people dont have enough experience to truly understand the repurcussions of using twitter yet.
Twitter came out 9 years ago and only recently became a pr tool. Most people dont have enough experience to truly understand the repurcussions of using twitter yet.
That's completely untrue. Even if it had only been used for five years as a PR tool, it's a method of communication and communications moves fast.
I'm still confused why people can't seem to understand why this isn't just any old job. The Director of Corporate Communications is in charge of managing several people and training them on ensuring that they train their clients how to speak to the masses--who may or may not be hostile to begin with. She was the face of her organization's CorpComms department.
And she couldn't even manage her own communications. Every single prospective or current client that came across her name on a pitch would know immediately, and this is regardless of whether or not there was an Internet mob out after her.
Google the person you're about to meet to decide whether or not you want to work with them and find a Tweet about AIDS--satirical or not--that was obviously not thought through. Do you want this person in charge of your communications?
Doesn't surprise me it was some asshole from Gawker that got this whole ball rolling...
What she said was dumb, but the backlash was far worse than what was called for.
Yes, her job title was ironic. The thing is, "she couldn't manage her own communications" is a shortsighted statement. It overemphasizes the outcome, and with a dose of better luck, chances are no one would have remembered that tweet within a week. People in all positions occasionally say dumb things, and she may very well have been incredibly good at her job most of the time.
Once this shit blew up on her, the company had little choice but to fire her, but that had little to do with how good she was at her job. Same with the other people who were mentioned in the article who were fired from their jobs.
Go into a PR meeting with a client and say "with a dose of better luck" and see what happens.
This is a non-response.
Read the dongle story from the OP. You don't even need to have a twitter/Facebook account to have your life ruined.Everything should be joked about. On the topic, I do find it rather sad that the first thing people do now if they get offended/feelings hurt is try to go after someone's means to support themselves/make it so they can't find gainful employment again. Having said that, the mob is easily avoidable, don't post every stupid thing that pops into your mind on Twitter. Twitter/Facebook are not necessities to live, just avoid them. If you're someone that has to post every stupid thing, on a long enough timeline you'll probably offend someone/some group. The only way to win is not to play.
No it's not. You're not talking about an Account Coordinator who's been on the job for three weeks. You're talking about the Director of a major department in a massive communications company. Predicting the public's response is unfortunately a big part of the job, and not being able to do it for something as simple as an Africa/AIDS joke reflects really poorly on her quality as a Director.
If you messed up on client work for exactly the same reason and went into the meeting with "a dose of better luck," you'd be making up a serious budget shortfall when they fired your agency's ass.