
Cyclist Lost Her Job After Raising Middle Finger at Trump’s Motorcade - pm24601
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/us/middle-finger-trump.html
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ggg9990
If Brendan Eich lost his job for supporting Prop 8, and James Damore lost his
job for writing his famous memo, of course a company can fire someone who
flips off the President. For better or worse (my opinion is worse), Internet
activists have created strong precedents for private companies to terminate
employees who aggrieve the Internet with their off-duty activities.

~~~
chasing
I won't speak to Damore's essay except to say that I thought it revealed
Damore to be somewhat intellectually immature.

But Eich supported something that actively aimed to rob people of the right to
pursue their own happiness through marriage. That's a big step beyond giving
the bird to one of the richest and most powerful men in the world because he's
doing a shitty job as a public servant.

~~~
tailrecursion
Somehow I don't think Eich and supporters of Prop 8 would characterize it that
way. You believe that Eich is evil but it is possible that he is on the
correct side of the issue and you are on the incorrect side. In any case he
was participating in politics just like everybody does and should. He was
fired for disagreeing.

The bicyclist was fired because she worked for a government contractor that
felt it necessary to do its own kind of virtue signalling, to ward off the
potential for lost business.

~~~
ggg9990
I think that the idea that there is a "correct" and "incorrect" side is a
cognitive trap. If we try to break free of this trap, even for the things
where there seems so clearly to be a correct side, we can better understand
and talk to each other.

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thrden
While I understand that people are frustrated by this outcome, she worked as a
federal government contractor. This is akin to being fired for flipping of the
chairman of the board of directors in a company. I understand that there are
issues of free speech that can certainly be discussed, but the outcome was
anything but surprising given her position.

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sidlls
HR is not your friend. One of her mistakes was going to them first. HR exists
to protect the company. Employees are liabilities in many respects from their
point of view.

~~~
burntrelish1273
Yes^2. Protesting has inconsistent, disproportionate costs to the "tall blade
of grass." Regardless of customer image issues making her radioactive to
government contractors, from a management perspective, her behaviors signaled
impulsivity, pettiness and naïveté. They fired her for all these reasons and
more perhaps. I hope she uses this wake-up call to self-select a more ethical
line of work that isn't contingent on the government-industrial complex.

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ankushnarula
I would also fire my employee if she flipped the bird at the CEO of my top
customer - in view of the press no less.

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pulisse
The president is not a CEO.

~~~
toomanybeersies
He is the chief of the executive branch, and the commander in chief of the US
military, so arguably he is a CEO.

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eplanit
This reminds me of the rodeo clown who lost his job after he mocked Obama:

[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/rodeo-clown-who-mocked-
ob...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/rodeo-clown-who-mocked-obama-
missouri-state-fair-banned-performing-f6C10901988)

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equalunique
She worked for Akima - another company that does much business around the
Washington DC area. Companies in that area never want to seem too anti-
establishment.

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RestlessMind
Would it be okay if a cyclist had raised her middle finger at Pres. Obama? If
we want to restore civility to our politics, we need to hold everyone to high
standards.

No matter what you think of Trump, he holds the Office of the President and
that Office should be respected. If you are angry with him for whatever
reason, then the most effective way to channelize your anger is every
subsequent election where he or his supporters are on ballot.

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Twirrim
You have the right to free speech. You don't have the right to freedom from
the consequences of exercising your right to free speech.

~~~
sjg007
Well you can't be persecuted, prosecuted or retaliated against necessarily by
a state or Federal government (subject to reason.. e.g. don't yell fire in a
theater).. even if they employ you.. but with private employers all bets are
off... except not sure what happens if you are a government contractor.. my
guess is yes* which is why they asked her to resign.

My guess is flipping off the President is free speech.

*[http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/29/us/the-supreme-court-free-...](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/29/us/the-supreme-court-free-speech-government-contractors-get-first-amendment-shield.html)

~~~
Fjolsvith
Nah, I bet asking her to resign was for not having to give severance pay or UI
benefits.

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drivingmenuts
She was employed in a state where the employer does not need a reason to
dismiss. They could have fired her because "Hey, you're an employee and that
starts with 'e'".

Not a sensible reason, but that's not a legal requirement there.

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hackeraccount
At will employment means you can be fired for no reason but not any reason.

That is still my favorite HR joke.

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Boothroid
It seems like a series of unfortunate or possibly rash choices on her part:
the first flipping off, the second when she caught up with the motorcade
again, deciding to use the picture as her profile pic, and then going to HR to
forewarn them. I'd like to think that even if tempted to do the first of these
actions I would have stopped there and kept quiet until it had all blown over,
not kept upping the ante.

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JCharante
Who goes to HR to brag about flipping off the head of state when your company
relies on business from the government?

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Overtonwindow
I didn't see that she was identified anywhere in the media. It wasn't until
she made it her profile photo on Facebook that her employer found out. Does
anyone know if this is accurate?

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RickJWag
So glad she's fired.

Civility and decency must again become the norm. People should not live like
animals.

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no29
must've missed the chapter on schadenfreude in civics and ethics.

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f4rker
Title is incorrect. She lost her job because she outed her self on a
controversial image that went viral. She then shared that image on her own
social media.

tl;dr - she played herself

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csours
Agreed. From the article:

> _Ms. Briskman said she became aware of the photograph the next day, when
> Indivisible Loudoun ACTION, an anti-Trump Facebook group, posted Mr.
> Herman’s tweet and asked, “Who is this?” Ms. Briskman replied in the
> comments section that she was the cyclist._

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draw_down
I expect there will be no outpouring of sympathy from the “free speech” folks
for this person.

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Boothroid
Free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequence. As this case proves. I feel
bad for this woman but it was entirely of her own making.

