Software company GitHub is taking a lot of heat for firing a Jewish employee for referring to the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 as "Nazis." The Verge has the details:GitHub reportedly fired a Jewish employee after he posted a message in Slack that said "stay safe homies, Nazis are about" the day of the attack on the US Capitol….
The message sparked controversy inside the company, with one colleague criticizing him for using divisive language. GitHub's HR team chastised the employee for using the word "Nazi" in a company Slack channel. Two days later, GitHub allegedly fired him, citing vague patterns of behavior.
This is the definition of insane political correctness run amok. If the employee had called a co-worker a Nazi, I'd talk to him about the importance of professionalism and maintaining a respectful workplace. But absent extenuating circumstances, I'd not recommend termination. In this case, the employee was referring to others (those acting in open and violent rebellion against our government). And he was accurate in his description. There was a guy among the seditious mob wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" shirt and the mob was trying to overthrow a democratic election.
GitHub's employees are 100% correct. Companies need to take a firm stand about what happened in Washington D.C. last week and what is rumored to happen nationwide over the next week. Now is not the time to stand idly by. White supremacy is wrong. Racism is wrong. Anti-Semitism is wrong. Fascism is wrong. Hard stop. Those involved should be fired. Those who support what occurred and is continuing to occur should be fired. Those who speak out against it absolutely should not.
How we react to what is happening in America defines who we are. I am 100% comfortable with who I am. Are you?
* Photo by Mert Kahveci on Unsplash