The Real problem with cancel culture

[Razgovory]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

[grumbler]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

Not very surprising.  I hope she gets some help for dealing with criticism.  She's a good reporter, by all accounts, but way too belligerent.

[HVC]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

Not very surprising.  I hope she gets some help for dealing with criticism.  She's a good reporter, by all accounts, but way too belligerent.

Maybe she's bipolar. Then everything could come full circle.

[Berkut]

Wow, there is some small measure of justice at least.

What a mess.

[Grey Fox]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

Not very surprising.  I hope she gets some help for dealing with criticism.  She's a good reporter, by all accounts, but way too belligerent.

Maybe she's bipolar. Then everything could come full circle.

I feel it that it's a form of PTSD.

[Barrister]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

Not very surprising.  I hope she gets some help for dealing with criticism.  She's a good reporter, by all accounts, but way too belligerent.

Maybe she's bipolar. Then everything could come full circle.

[DGuller]

I was very surprised it came to that, not because it wasn't the right thing to do, but because I didn't think WP had the balls to do that.  Just yesterday I was wondering if any company would ever have the courage to enforce its HR rules against workplace bullying to the same extent they enforce their diversity and inclusion rules.

[crazy canuck]

I was very surprised it came to that, not because it wasn't the right thing to do, but because I didn't think WP had the balls to do that.  Just yesterday I was wondering if any company would ever have the courage to enforce its HR rules against workplace bullying to the same extent they enforce their diversity and inclusion rules.

 

Bullying and harassment policies are well established and are commonly used.  The same cannot be said for DEI policies.

[Berkut]

I was very surprised it came to that, not because it wasn't the right thing to do, but because I didn't think WP had the balls to do that.  Just yesterday I was wondering if any company would ever have the courage to enforce its HR rules against workplace bullying to the same extent they enforce their diversity and inclusion rules.

 

Bullying and harassment policies are well established and are commonly used.  The same cannot be said for DEI policies.

Source?

[Sheilbh]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

Also madness - and the single easiest way to make this story keep going with more attention (and lawsuits) for the Washington Post.

Was there no-one in the room to tell everyone to just calm down

Yes - that's one of the main difference between being an intellectual and hogging for attention. An intellectual usually has to venture out of their area of expertise (otherwise, they are just experts). But it takes time to reflect, and intervene properly. The constant need for reaction encourages people to go for low-hanging fruit with quick dopamine fix...

There's a few professions that could benefit from a little "don't let daylight in on magic" right now.

[DGuller]

Also madness - and the single easiest way to make this story keep going with more attention (and lawsuits) for the Washington Post.

Was there no-one in the room to tell everyone to just calm down

My impression is that everyone was indeed told to calm down, and the fact that she continued was the insubordination part. 

I don't think it was mad to fire her, but it was brave, for obvious reasons.  You just can't have an employee who continues publicly shitting on their co-workers, you also have to consider the well-being of everyone else on your team.

[Barrister]

Felicia Sonmez just got canned.

Also madness - and the single easiest way to make this story keep going with more attention (and lawsuits) for the Washington Post.

Not sure it's madness.

Will there be a burst of attention now?  Yes.  Will there be a lawsuit?  Yes.

But the lawsuit won't be heard for a year or two, and will likely be settled anyways.  They'll have to pay Sonmez something, but now she's no longer a WaPo employee and will attract less attention going forward vis-a-vis anything to do with WaPo.

[Sheilbh]

Not sure it's madness.

Will there be a burst of attention now?  Yes.  Will there be a lawsuit?  Yes.

But the lawsuit won't be heard for a year or two, and will likely be settled anyways.  They'll have to pay Sonmez something, but now she's no longer a WaPo employee and will attract less attention going forward vis-a-vis anything to do with WaPo.

I meant it's madness in that the entire situation just got wildly out of hand. I think this is also an overreaction just as Weigel's suspension was.

You might be right that it's worth it for the Post - but I'm not sure. She's a prominent journalist who's worked for them, the WSJ, AFP - I'm not convinced a firing will make this go away. Also the court hearings may be a year away but that will be an absolute delight to report on for all of the Post's competitors.

[Berkut]

Not sure it's madness.

Will there be a burst of attention now?  Yes.  Will there be a lawsuit?  Yes.

But the lawsuit won't be heard for a year or two, and will likely be settled anyways.  They'll have to pay Sonmez something, but now she's no longer a WaPo employee and will attract less attention going forward vis-a-vis anything to do with WaPo.

I meant it's madness in that the entire situation just got wildly out of hand. I think this is also an overreaction just as Weigel's suspension was.

You might be right that it's worth it for the Post - but I'm not sure. She's a prominent journalist who's worked for them, the WSJ, AFP - I'm not convinced a firing will make this go away. Also the court hearings may be a year away but that will be an absolute delight to report on for all of the Post's competitor

So they should let someone slander them and their employees forever without consequence because otherwise their competitors might report on them not letting that happen?

[Sheilbh]

So they should let someone slander them and their employees forever without consequence because otherwise their competitors might report on them not letting that happen?

My base position is that the entire thing got out of hand and none of this should have been public. In my view they'd probably be best trying to get it back in-house and dealt with in that way - I don't quite know what you would have needed to do to get there and there's a judgement call on that.

On your question - maybe. The difference here is that she's a reporter who they've employed. But there will be examples in every media organisation, I imagine, of prominent columnists or commentators who are known for awful workplace behaviour who are kept on because of all sorts of bad resons. They may have a devoted following of readers, just be good (or surprisingly affordable) at their job, or you know they'll spend their time after they've been fired slagging you off.

I mentioned earlier but I know papers here who have had issues of very prominent reporters or columnists (normally freelancers/not staff) publicly going after junior reporters for some reason - maybe something personal or from the office - or routinely attacking the way their paper covers/frames an issue. When it's done on social media given the size of the following a big commentator or star reporter is likely to have it's tough not to see it as instigating pile-ons. But they'd rather have that bigger star writing for them than a competitor.