Firing Charlottesville Fascists

There’s an upcoming TV series starring Jeremy Piven, “Wisdom of the Crowd,” in which Piven’s character gathers the combined input from millions of computer users/observers in order to solve crimes. That appears to be happening in real life as pictures of the far right protestors in Charlottesville are being widely circulated and their lives are crashing down around their ears. There are already several instances where they have been fired from their jobs because their employers didn’t know that they were employing right wing Nazi sympathizers. Observers are cheering these results because they are determined to destroy these guys. Indeed, that’s why members of the KKK always wore hoods, so they could do whatever they wanted while avoiding the consequences those actions might result in.

This may outrage fans of mine, but every time I hear about another far right guy losing his job or having his life destroyed, I hate it. Just hate it.

Now if it’s someone who performed a criminal action–he assaulted somebody, for instance–then I’m all for it. Bring him down.

But if all he did was open his mouth or wave a sign, I’m sorry, no. He shouldn’t lose his job for that. He shouldn’t be prosecuted for that. I mean, obviously it didn’t interfere with his ability to do his job because his employer was fine with keeping him on as long as he didn’t harass others with his views. But now they’re being fired because their employer knows where his sympathies lie? That’s just not right. For two reasons.

First of all, all it’s going to do is drive him further underground. He might indeed start wearing a hood and, cloaked in anonymity, do worse things than he was already doing. His boss and fellow employees couldn’t sit him down and say, “Why do you feel this way? Have you ever considered maybe you’re wrong?” Engage in conversation that might change his mind (as unlikely as that may seem.).

And second, getting him fired is simply going to galvanize his hatred of the left. Before his reasons for prejudice were all lies that were fed to him by right wing sources. Now, though, he has a genuine reason to hate those who were opposed to him: they got him fired. They wrecked his life. What’s to stop him from planning revenge against his enemies? What’s to stop him from hopping behind the wheel of a car and running over some of those lefty bastards and exacting some payback? Before he was just an asshole. Now he’s a genuine enemy.

It is NEVER a good idea to punish somebody just because you don’t like their opinions.

PAD