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The Spectacle Blog
Look out, the thought police are hard at work. From Slate's Dear Prudence column:
Albuquerque, N.M.: I manage an accounting department. Recently, my boss showed me an e-mail from a worker who reports to me. The e-mail indicated that the writer believed my boss was of the same opinion and would enjoy a rant by Ben Stein against the president of the United States. She was sufficiently savvy as to NOT send me a copy. My boss, a very kind and gentle man who does not like conflict, was appalled, as was I. How could this employee be so misguided as to think my boss would enjoy that e-mail? [...] I now think very differently about this reliable worker. I hesitate to clue her in that sending this type of e-mail is, well, just plain stupid, because I have been protecting her against layoff. Knowing her true political opinions, I am no longer inclined to protect her. I would not want her to suspect the true reason for being part of the next layoff. Am I being reasonable?
Too bad the flag@whitehouse.gov is no more; the underling's email is exactly the kind of "fishy email" that they would have loved.
My only hope is that "Albuquerque"'s boss's boss hates Dear Prudence, and decides to fire her ("Albuquerque") upon being forwarded this Dear Prudence column.
I'm guessing that the Ben Stein article in question was this one, "We've Figured Him Out," from July. It was the most widely-read article we've this year, I think, so I hope that there aren't vast legions of readers out there in danger of losing their jobs because they forwarded the article in the workplace.
But Prudence comes through in the clutch:
.... How insidious to maneuver to lay her off because you realize you have the chance to punish someone whose views you find repugnant. I assume this would be the kind of thing that would appall you if people on the other end of the spectrum were doing it.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/08/18/read-ben-stein-lose-your-job
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PolishKnight| 8.18.09 @ 11:31AM
There's so much hypocrisy in the letter. I love how he objects to the "rant" because it's against "The president of the United States". How DARE someone say something bad about someone in that position? Yet, no doubt this guy probably happily listened to leftists rant against George Bush calling him "shrub" or "stupid" or "idiot."
Next, it's strange that the author would write an advice columnist asking if he's being "reasonable". He clearly knows he's going behind the employee's back and engaging in a politically motivated firing. I suspect that the manager is really proud of what he's doing and wants to warn others of what will happen if they commit a thought crime. I have seen this kind of threat before on blogs where liberals brag that they know of non-believers getting the axe.
They're Stalinists to the core including the fact that they don't think being called a Stalinist is that big of a deal.
Smitty| 8.18.09 @ 1:11PM
It's that vaunted liberal "tolerance" on display once again.
"gunner"| 8.18.09 @ 2:58PM
if i were this person's boss i would fire her for abusing her position to punish another employee for non-job related reasons. smitty, you got it right.
sinanju| 8.18.09 @ 5:21PM
Admit it. That's the secret fear of most of us conservatives--that workplace snoops and HR types secretly check our computers, emails and google our names to find out about our private political activities--that Obama and co. is secretly putting together a database that monitors our political activities from high school onwards to make sure that none of us ever gets a government job or employment above ditchdigger.
How many of us lie awake nights wondering if our application/resume/promotion was rejected because we are on some secret government s--t list designed to keep conservatives poor and downtrodden?
Terri| 8.19.09 @ 8:34AM
sinanju,
You hit it right on the head. Poor and downtrodden is where they want us all. They are the political party that benefits when the economy is in trouble, and when people need them. If only the poor and downtrodden would catch on!