
Woman loses NASA internship after Twitter fight with member of space council - cpncrunch
https://www.wric.com/news/weird-news/woman-loses-nasa-internship-after-twitter-fight-with-member-of-space-council/1388183987
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jachee
...and then the person she "fought" with said he was going to do everything in
his power to get her a position as good as or better than the one she lost.
[0]

0\.
[https://mobile.twitter.com/realgamer07/status/10319975097853...](https://mobile.twitter.com/realgamer07/status/1031997509785346049)

Edit: p.s. I know this is in the article, but that headline is _a bit_
sensational.

~~~
danso
The headline is accurate and concise. Not just in the chronology, but the
likely cause and effect. Note that Hickam may not himself have caused the
firing, but someone at NASA likely saw the controversy (because people started
dogpiling both Hickam and Naomi H and tagging @NASA) and made a decision based
on it.

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BaronVonSteuben
This sends a horrible message to young people that are already over-entitled
(I mean really, tweeting like that??).

Young people learn from this: You should be offensive, insulting, and
disrespectful. Then when it blows up on you, reach out and apologize, and
you'll end up with an even better position.

~~~
Hnrobert42
Another interpretation is that if you say something mildly offensive, you will
lose your job. If you act like an adult and apologize, you may be benefit from
being humbled and learning your lesson.

~~~
dsajames
"suck my dick" is considered more than mildly offensive.

Go say it to a 20 year old girl at work and see what happens.

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gb_
I'm having trouble following my _own_ thoughts on this one.

\- Posts about an exciting thing to online friends with the word Fuck - This
is ok.

\- Random person inserts themselves into the conversation trying to be a moral
compass - Good intentions, but not ok.

\- tells person to suck dick and balls - Not ok.

So, while the offer was rescinded due to the mob mentality of Twitter
following up on this exchange, I would definitely have second thoughts on
hiring someone if that's their go-to attitude.

In the end, I'm glad one stupid tweet didn't ruin this person's life, but I
hope it's a wake up call that there is no wall between online and offline.

~~~
DoreenMichele
_Random person inserts themselves into the conversation trying to be a moral
compass - Good intentions, but not ok._

He was not trying to be a moral compass and he was not some random person. He
is on the National Space Council that oversees NASA. He recognized the fact
that NASA wouldn't want it's name associated with such language, especially
when used by a new hire. He was trying to politely give her the heads up.
That's it.

If you publicly announce you work for such, then you need to be aware that you
are now representing them in some sense.

What she did was both obnoxious and stupid. I don't really think she deserves
Mr. Hickman's kindness here, though his actions have impressed me and I've now
followed him on Twitter.

I'm also thinking I need to try harder to swear less online. Cuz (reasons).
Though I already make some effort to clean up my language and I cannot imagine
cussing someone out in the manner that happened here.

~~~
gb_
For you this is true since you're fully aware of the context, but if you're
being flooded with thousands of notifications and someone just inserts
themselves with a single word "Language" I would imagine many people would
react in a similar manner.

If he had said, "I work with NASA and your language here is inappropriate"
then we wouldn't have heard anything about the incident. He approached this
poorly.

~~~
danso
I agree that his terse reaction left itself open to interpreting it in bad
faith. That said, maybe Mr. Hickam is someone who isn't inclined to declare
his authority in a normal situation. As he said in his blog post, he has no
power over hiring or firing and so even saying "your language here is
inappropriate" may feel out of bounds for him.

In the end, I think the least that can be expected of anyone who chooses to
attack a stranger is that they take the 5 seconds required to click that
person's profile and skim their bio, and even Google it if that person uses
their real name. To me, Naomi H's major screwup is not necessarily her
profanity, but what appeared to be a total lack of discretion. If you have
time to tell someone to fuck off, you have time to look up there info; there's
no excuse in this age of Google and high-speed internet to do otherwise.

~~~
gb_
I don't disagree at all about the language used - really childish and shows a
lack of discretion.

I do stand by my feelings on people saying one word and expecting anything
besides annoyance or being ignored. Why should I take the energy to research a
person if they can't be bothered to type something more clear.

~~~
danso
You shouldn't be expected to acknowledge any stranger on the Internet. But if
you have time to say something angry and rude at them, then you have time to
do literally the few seconds it takes to do due diligence.

We don't know for sure why exactly NASA fired her, but it's understandable if
they did it out of political fear, like a Goldman Sachs manager firing an
intern for shitting on a member of the board of directors. But it's possible
the intern was fired not out of fear, but concern that if she could be such an
asshole to a legend at NASA who was not being explicitly rude, then imagine
how less empathetic she might be toward someone with far less privilege and
institutional standing.

Again, imagine if it were an intern at Goldman Sachs, or some other
institution that's considered as elite in its industry as NASA is in science
and engineering.

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mvanveen
I had several encounters at my time as an intern at Jet Propulsion Laboratory
where I was alerted to my immaturity and the responsibilities that were in
front of me. I'm tremendously thankful for each one of those lessons.

There are many different types of personality on lab and they all contribute
the extremely unique innovation culture there but there is also always the
north star about the responsibility of shepherding a successful space mission
which needs to be internalized by all the members in order for these efforts
to succeed. I'm ultimately very sensitive to the underlying ethos of both
parties in the exchange documented in this article.

Towards the end of the article it becomes clear that both parties apologized
for the encounter and Mr. Hickam apparently said "After talking to her, I am
certain she deserves a position in the aerospace industry and I'm doing all I
can to secure her one that will be better than she lost. I have also talked to
the folks that had to do with her internship and made absolutely certain that
there will be no black mark on her record."

I feel like this is ultimately a very good outcome. Everyone involved learned
something and grew from the experience.

~~~
loco5niner
I don't believe Hickam apologized, he certainly didn't need to. He accepted
her apology and chose to help make sure her life wasn't ruined due to this
mistake.

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0x7f800000
Genuinely surprised that someone applying for an internship at NASA does not
know who Homer Hickam is.

~~~
mcphage
She probably got a lot of responses, and wasn't really looking at the names
anymore.

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p3nt3ll3r
Sorry, NASA should not sacrifice its standards for this woman. Life is a
bitch, next time don't act like one.

