Man displaying Confederate flag fired from job site

[shocktrooprx]

That would matter if it was South Carolina that this happened in... but it was in Hamilton, Ontario

need more coffee >.< i misread the quote about the south carolina courthouse... no idea how it works in canuck land.

[Egomaniac]

hanging a flag was used as an expression of opinion, it is not the action itself. similarly to if he hung a peace flag instead, there would be no repercussions. what exactly is the point you're making here? that the agreed upon definition of bigotry is wrong? if so, you're not doing a very good job.

There is a long running debate over whether the intolerance of bigotry is itself bigotry. I find it easier to use the Cambridge Dictionary definition of the word....it clears things up substantially

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/d.../english/bigot

bigot: a person who has strong, unreasonable ideas, esp. about race or religion, and who thinks anyone who does not have the same beliefs is wrong.

With this definition...being intolerant of bigotry is not bigotry because it is not unreasonable to be intolerant of someone that believes, for example, black people are inferior to white people.

[kail]

It isn't hypocritical to support freedom of speech while being against certain kinds of speech and not allowing them to be part of your company.

It kind of is, they would have been better off simply not mentioning freedom of speech even if it legally doesn't apply. "We support freedom of speech, but will still fire you because of your speech." That's an ass backwards statement right there.

Don't get me wrong, the company is very well within their rights to fire him but it doesn't make their statement any less hypocritical. In my apartment, I won't advertise freedom of speech there. You insult me or get on my nerves and you're out.

[minteK917]

need more coffee >.< i misread the quote about the south carolina courthouse... no idea how it works in canuck land.

Work is not protected either, an union protects your job by negotiating with employers. Like i said earlier, pretty sure the Union would have went with the fire option after his public display. Its something every adult must remember, freedom of speech is only against the government, it cant stop your dumb ass from having issues with private industries and citizens over what you do or say. Companies have marketing requirement, giving your company a bad public name is not an option thats worth one worker, because that puts every single worker of theirs at risk of having diminished quality of life. So firing one will always be justified in those cases.

[Machismo]

same as being able to fire gays, atheists, muslims, socialists, left-handed people as well as everyone else we don't like, right?

Sure, I think an employer should be able to fire anyone who works for him, for any reason. I also think the public should be free to point out that such an employer is a racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic employer.

[Skayth]

You do realize that the first amendment only protects you from the government right? Private businesses do NOT have to respect the first.

Also Freedom of Speech does not equal Freedom of Consequence. You have the right to say (express) what you want, But try yelling fire in a theater or streak down the street and see what happens.

If you are going to preach about the first amendment at lease know it....

No, you don't have freedom of consequence, which is alright by me. But you do have the right to freely express your speech. If you burn the national flag and then get fired for it, it's the same damn thing here.

[prwraith]

Getting fired is not at the core of freedom of speech.

Why don't more people realize this.

Why is free speech so misunderstood? This is no different than wearing assless chaps to a white collar job. Is it your free speech? Yes, will you get fired, almost certainly.

[Planetdune]

This can only be a good thing.

[Deleted]

Can't say I know American law but are they in there rights? Just wondering if this will get turned around and he can say he broke no laws and was therefore fired without cause and end up cashing a rather large cheque at the end of all this.

You don't have to break laws to get fired. You have to break company policies. And usually there is some kind of catch-them-all clause in one's employment contract that says that if you in any way is disloyal or hurt the company, then they are allowed to terminate your contract.

[Skayth]

Why don't more people realize this.

Why is free speech so misunderstood? This is no different than wearing assless chaps to a white collar job. Is it your free speech? Yes, will you get fired, almost certainly.

So if someone decides to fire someone over having an lbgt flag or even has any sort of head scarf (since its constantly said to not be religious ) or anything that someone might not like, like a lord of the Rings tattoo... it's fine because it's the private sector?

[Flarelaine]

Conflicted, he seems like a fucking tool which I guess is ironic given his work at a construction site, but now he is gonna be unemployed and resentful.. Thats not a good combination.

I've always thought people flying Confederate flags must be resentful to begin with. Why else would they commemorate a defeated rebellion?

(And that's speaking from experience... Two out of three national holidays here in Hungary are in remembrance of failed revolutions and boy, are we resentful.)

[Deleted]

No, you don't have freedom of consequence, which is alright by me. But you do have the right to freely express your speech. If you burn the national flag and then get fired for it, it's the same damn thing here.

It is about when the action is done. If you burn the national flag at the place of employment, then your employer could probably fire you due to damaging the company's reputation. If you burn it at home without any ties to the company, you can express any opinion.

[dreamdaddy]

The internet has created the potential for dangerous echo chambers where people with counter-cultural views can galvanize each others' views, creating segments that act like cults where the only trusted news comes from within the group and everything that goes against the teachings of the group is instantly dismissed. It's important to remind people who carry hateful agendas from these groups that they still live in a real, offline society made up of people to whom their views bring up echoes of a history where life and death were at stake. A 'respect for history' and 'pride in one's heritage' should not take priority over the legitimate concerns people have about history potentially repeating itself.

[Skayth]

I've always thought people flying Confederate flags must be resentful to begin with. Why else would they commemorate a defeated rebellion?

(And that's speaking from experience... Two out of three national holidays here in Hungary are in remembrance of failed revolutions and boy, are we resentful.)

Not i. I think they are simply dumbasses that are either very intellectually repressed or do not know that that is technically not the confederate flag. That and I hate anything to do with confederates. But they have a right to free speech, I just think they are morons

[Xandrigity]

It's kinda stupid to display any controversial symbol at work. You asking for confrontation.

[Skayth]

It is about when the action is done. If you burn the national flag at the place of employment, then your employer could probably fire you due to damaging the company's reputation. If you burn it at home without any ties to the company, you can express any opinion.

Tell that to twitter and Facebook where they check that out

[Gorgodeus]

Can't say I know American law but are they in there rights? Just wondering if this will get turned around and he can say he broke no laws and was therefore fired without cause and end up cashing a rather large cheque at the end of all this.

All 50 US states recognize at-will employment. At-will employment is a term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships in which an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason (that is, without having to establish "just cause" for termination), and without warning.

[Deleted]

Tell that to twitter and Facebook where they check that out

Unless there is some direct link to the place of the employment, then they can't rightfully fire you. Sue -> profit.

Unless, as Gorgodeus said, that the employment contract is an at-will employment. then you can just fire you for whatever reason.

[Trassk]

So is waving the Confederate flag tantamount to hate speech now?

[Skayth]

So is waving the Confederate flag tantamount to hate speech now?

Apparently. Might need to tell a fair amount of black southerners that they hate themselves