Blowing It Scenario #78-Freedom Of Speech Ceases When Money Is On The Line.

Freedom Of Speech Is Part Of The Constitution But Not Necessarily A Good Thing When Practiced In Business.

It could end up being the catalyst to set your entire world crumbling down. Recently, soon after the passing of the former first lady Barbara Bush, a Fresno State professor tweeted a message calling the former first lady and first mother a racist saying “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F*** outta here with your nice words,” and concluded with “I’m happy the witch is dead. Can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have.” This professor has every right in the world to say this and I’ll defend everyone’s right to do the same. This whole website is an act of free speech. We exercise these rights daily.

However in this case, this is quite the tasteless act. It’s this spit on the grave mentality, that’s slightly appalling. Respect those who are mourning the loss, any loss for that matter, respect the recently deceased.  How is this women who made these remarks even a professor? Is she a professor in hate speak? I do understand her frustrations though, the bush family were not saints. But their is a time and a place for venting those frustrations and right after a death is not the best time. That is unless you are trying to draw negative publicity to yourself and your business you operate under. Now donors of Fresno State are considering no longer making contributions to the school. Money will force the school to act counterintuitive to freedom of speech.

That is often the case in our society we vote with our dollars. The brands you buy, the institutions you donate to, the businesses you frequent, are all votes with your dollars. It will be interesting to see how Fresno State handles this situation since some of their voters are voting against this professor by withholding their checkbooks. Yet the professor has tenure so the school will be between a rock and a hard place. Another risky status a business to give another, is that of tenure. Giving them the right to do whatever they want without ever being fired. It’s a lot of trust and you can only hope those with it don’t betray that trust. I’m sure it will all get sorted and brushed under the rug some way or another. Just know one event, one action, one tweet, even if you’re exercising your right to free speech, can send a cascade of events crashing into to you or down around you. Make sure that cascade is a positive one. Because you can gain so much, or lose it all, in just the blink of an eye.



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