Teacher Suspended For Free Speech

Alias said:
Seems you can't speak your mind any more on social media if you work for the Government. Big Brother is watching and ready to report you. Kinda hard to believe how far this nation has fallen and the direction it has taken. Anyone had enough?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/1...-anti-gay-marriage-post-on-personal-facebook/
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Teachers walk a thin line on social pages. I have numerous friends who are teachers and most of them have two FaceBook pages. One is them as a teacher, and one is their personal page.
 
Alias said:
Seems you can't speak your mind any more on social media if you work for the Government. Big Brother is watching and ready to report you. Kinda hard to believe how far this nation has fallen and the direction it has taken. Anyone had enough?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/1...-anti-gay-marriage-post-on-personal-facebook/
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Absolutely right. When you post on facebook, it's public record. And what you say may be held against you, as in a court of law. He's an idiot, for posting his private thoughts, publicly.
 
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poet said:
Absolutely right. When you post on facebook, it public record. And what you say may be held against you, as in a court of law. He's an idiot, for posting his private thoughts, publicly.
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Would you support the same decision if his private thoughts were pro-gay rather than the opposite?
 
Employees in the private sector are fired all of the time for things written on their fb and other social networking sites. It is now very common for large corporations to insist you give them access to your facebook account even when you have your privacy settings to private. Before they hire you they are now demanding access. That is becoming more and more common with larger corporations.

This is life in the brave new world technology has created. Get used to it, we're not going back.
 
poet said:
Absolutely right. When you post on facebook, it public record. And what you say may be held against you, as in a court of law. He's an idiot, for posting his private thoughts, publicly.
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Yup, no doubt and I keep that in mind when I post on FB too. I never ever, for example,ever say anything negative about my employer or a co-worker or suggest something that would be illegal.
 
Doctor Flower Power said:
Employees in the private sector are fired all of the time for things written on their fb and other social networking sites. It is now very common for large corporations to insist you give them access to your facebook account even when you have your privacy settings to private. Before they hire you they are now demanding access. That is becoming more and more common with larger corporations.

This is life in the brave new world technology has created. Get used to it, we're not going back.
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Now that I"m unaware of. I work for a large corporation and they've made no such request.
 
I ask myself this when I post on FB....."Would I say this in public?" If the answer is no, then I don't post it.
 
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Damocles said:
Would you support the same decision if his private thoughts were pro-gay rather than the opposite?
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Depends. If he voices a pro-gay opinion, and is subsequently fired for expressing a liberal view, shouldn't he have thought about the repercussions, beforehand? One has to pick one's battles.
I tend to speak my mind on fb, as I do here. And since I'm beholding to no one, if someone doesn't like it...oh well.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Now that I"m unaware of. I work for a large corporation and they've made no such request.
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It's only for potential new hires. I think I read about it in the NY Times, but I don't remember for certain. They're asked during the hiring process to expose their facebook. Some companies now also hire private investigators and these firms are digging up much more obscure information than what is usually found in a casual or even less-than-casual google. Like blog posts. Some of your bigger blogs like Think Progress are attempting to eliminate anonymity by trying to get people to post with their real names, via fb and twitter. Of course, you can get around that with a phony account, but I'm sure a lot of people are thoughtlessly doing that. And with corporations so political it's a very bad idea. I personally don't agree with its being legal but I feel the same way about credit checks. We are in a terrible recession and the long-term unemployed are going to have taken a hit in their credit ratings. Credit checks are a way of winnowing them out. It's a vicious circle. However, with corporations now being worshiped by the American people, and holding a higher value than human beings, we have no shot of turning back the clock. People should conduct themselves accordingly. Also you should google yourself from time to time just to make sure your ex-husband isn't trying to destroy your life online or something. I foresee a lawsuit over just that type of circumstance and then we shall see how the courts react.
 
poet said:
Absolutely right. When you post on facebook, it's public record. And what you say may be held against you, as in a court of law. He's an idiot, for posting his private thoughts, publicly.
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He has a constitutional right to speak his opinion.

The scary thing is that people actually think like you do in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
 
poet said:
Absolutely right. When you post on facebook, it's public record. And what you say may be held against you, as in a court of law. He's an idiot, for posting his private thoughts, publicly.
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should someone be fired for saying they support gay marriage?
 
poet said:
Depends. If he voices a pro-gay opinion, and is subsequently fired for expressing a liberal view, shouldn't he have thought about the repercussions, beforehand? One has to pick one's battles.
I tend to speak my mind on fb, as I do here. And since I'm beholding to no one, if someone doesn't like it...oh well.
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damo already asked...

the issue here is whether the government can restrict speech on facebook. presumbly he is not in the classroom and not on the job. what if he was at a park and had 25 friends for a bbq and expressed the same views and someone from the school overheard this....do you hold the same opinion?
 
Yurt said:
should someone be fired for saying they support gay marriage?
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I don't think so. But if you work in an conservative environment and you know that your social networking is being monitored, for the sake of your job, it might be best that you keep your proclivities to yourself. But it's one thing to post resistance to gay marriage, and quite another to gay bash...which, seemingly, is what the teacher also did.
 
poet said:
I don't think so. But if you work in an conservative environment and you know that your social networking is being monitored, for the sake of your job, it might be best that you keep your proclivities to yourself. But it's one thing to post resistance to gay marriage, and quite another to gay bash...which, seemingly, is what the teacher also did.
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then you support the government's ability to restrict your speech off campus. please see post 18, i realize now i was the second person to ask you this.
 
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