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Igel

(35,300 posts)
3. Doesn't matter if I agree.
Tue Oct 25, 2016, 04:53 PM
Oct 2016

Some jobs have clauses built into their contracts because they're not just nameless, faceless burger-flippers or factory workers.

Some jobs are staffed by people that are role models, like it or not.

Teachers, for instance. A Spanish teacher was fired for using and teaching the word "negro." When referring to people, she used and taught the word "moreno", but for colors in general "negro" just means "black." Some Af-Am parents pitched a fit over her racist language and she got fired. Along the way, the acrimony was such that the school district was taking some serious PR hits. So they cut the correct person off their staff and placated the dweebs with no clue. Because education is political.

Same for, well, politicians.

And professional athletes. A big bruiser's accused of raping and beating his wife, and, well, others who want to be like him think, "How wrong could it be?" If he's exonerated, that bit of info never gets to the dorks who emulate him. Bad news travels faster than good news. In fact, if he's exonerated some of the idjits will assume he was let off because he was an important athlete and in fact he got away with it--something even more admirable for idjits. The whole "the law doesn't matter, rich and powerful folk have a separate legal system." The "OJ defense" according to many.

Take the now-defunct accounting firm Arthur Anderson. It was caught up in the Enron scandal, filed bankruptcy, and was liquidated. Thing is, the liquidation was finished after it was exonerated. It didn't matter to those who had been its customers. It stank of corruption and malfeasance and nobody would go to their boards and say, "Hey, let's re-hire Arthur Anderson!" In some public jobs, what's said about you is more important than the truth. That's sad, but it's how it works with real people.

Notice that nobody defends Anderson, even though many tens of thousands of people were laid off as a result. Some people we defend, others aren't worth it.

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