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If any of you follow baseball, or even watch sports (especially US based) you probably heard about Curt Schilling being fired by ESPN for expressing his view on transgendered individuals and bathroom use.
Whether you agree with his position or not, I think that this article is worth a read.
ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated."
What ESPN is really saying is: "We're an inclusive company. Unless you disagree with us, in which case we're exclusive. And you're fired."
How amazing is it that in this age of diversity, that companies only want diversity of color, not diversity of opinion? Wouldn't it arguably strengthen Disney to have people working for it that advance every opinion under the sun, liberal and conservative, so that they can better reflect the country as a whole? There have be thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of Disney employees who agree with Schilling's opinion. Some of them may have even shared the same meme. How nervous are they? What they've been told is pretty clear, you're welcome to have opinions, but they better be the same as ours.
Hello, George Orwell's 1984.
Interestingly, an ESPN employee recently used network airwaves to make a liberal political statement -- Bomani Jones wore a Cleveland Caucasions shirt on "Mike and Mike" in a hamhanded stunt designed to draw attention to his belief that the Cleveland Indians nickname was racist. Now that's a liberal proposition -- not endorsed by the vast majority of sports fans -- and it's a direct work act that's being distributed by ESPN. That is, Jones's politics, liberal and fringe in nature, were okay to be distributed by ESPN, but Schilling's non-work, conservative Facebook post was deemed unacceptable to the company.
How can you reconcile this disparate treatment? One employee advocates a fringe liberal position on the air while he's working and the other employee advocates a potentially majority conservative opinion on his personal social media page while not working. If you were going to treat everyone equally, isn't Jones's position more of an issue for the company? Of course it is. Disney is making decisions not based on political speech itself, but based on whether it agrees with the content of that political speech.
That's the very definition of arbitrary and unequal treatment.
"You discriminating against my discrimination is discrimination."
Edit: five seconds of browsing Curt's twitter shows me he is singularly unqualified to be the face of any professional organization.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/21 21:45:20
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Yes, 'Transgender people are monsters' is definitely an opinion that needs to be protected....for diversity!
That article is absurd. Describing the passive opposition to potential racism as equivalent to ham fisted scare mongering. Which part of that article did you think was 'worth a read'.
Ahtman wrote: A private entity let a private employee go for saying stupid things. I am shocked.
I know... what is this world coming to?
d-usa wrote: "When the Internet sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending posters that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing strawmen. They're bringing spam. They're trolls. And some, I assume, are good people."
2016/04/21 21:58:43
Subject: Re:Curt Schilling fired from ESPN over meme
It sounds like former Studio 38 employees got royally screwed over whne Shilling's game company tanked.
Yesterday, ESPN fired former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for posting an anti-trans meme on Facebook. It was an inglorious end for Schilling’s broadcasting job, which by now must be a feeling he’s used to.
Although today he’s best known for sharing conservative and often bigoted memes on social media, Schilling was once chairman of a major video game company, one that employed hundreds of developers and worked on several big projects. His company, 38 Studios, was once seen as the savior of Rhode Island, a studio that would, if all went according to plan, form the core of the small state’s burgeoning tech industry. Rhode Island’s government gave him $75 million of taxpayers’ money to make it happen.
Then, in May of 2012, employees stopped getting paid. At the time most of them had no idea, but 38 Studios was in financial trouble, and not long after the release of their first and only game, the under-appreciated RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the company collapsed.
The best reporting on 38 Studios came from this Boston Magazine piece by Jason Schwartz, who talked to Schilling and quite a few of his former employees to capture the full story of the company’s demise. Schilling is portrayed as gregarious and optimistic, treating his staff kindly, but also as a poor chairman, whose excessive ambition and lack of industry knowledge ultimately destroyed the company and wasted millions in public funding.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Schilling, who lost many millions in this endeavor and today resembles a sad cranky uncle. But his actions as chairman of 38 Studios hurt a lot of people, most of whom did not get to recover with lucrative contracts to be on ESPN. In fact, as Schwartz reports, the demise of 38 Studios left several employees to shoulder the responsibilities of their unpaid mortgages—mortgages that 38 Studios had agreed to take care of.
Writes Schwartz:
On May 24, the entire 38 Studios staff was laid off via e-mail. They hadn’t been paid since the end of the previous month, but their problems were just beginning. In short order, their healthcare disappeared and their 401(k)s were frozen. Then, MoveTrek Mobility — a company 38 Studios hired during the relocation to Providence to buy and resell employees’ Massachusetts homes — notified seven people that, because it had not yet sold their houses, they were potentially responsible for their old mortgages. And Atlas Van Lines alerted some individuals that they were on the hook for bills that management hadn’t paid.
Thom Ang is one of those people suddenly stuck with his old mortgage. With two young kids, no salary, rent due on his Rhode Island home, and now a mortgage in Massachusetts to pay, he’s afraid his credit is about to be ruined. “I wasn’t even aware that this could or would happen,” he says, “and then having it affect where I could possibly live and where I could possibly work?”
Even today, four years later, the 38 Studios story is far from over. Last month, the SEC filed charges against both the Rhode Island agency and the bank Wells Fargo for defrauding investors with the loan. “Investors weren’t fully informed when deciding to purchase the bonds that 38 Studios faced a funding shortfall even with the loan proceeds and could not develop the video game without additional sources of financing,” they wrote.
Correction: an original version of this story mistakenly referred to Schilling as “CEO” of 38 Studios. He was actually founder and chairman.
2016/04/21 22:02:01
Subject: Re:Curt Schilling fired from ESPN over meme
It sounds like former Studio 38 employees got royally screwed over whne Shilling's game company tanked.
Yesterday, ESPN fired former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for posting an anti-trans meme on Facebook. It was an inglorious end for Schilling’s broadcasting job, which by now must be a feeling he’s used to.
Although today he’s best known for sharing conservative and often bigoted memes on social media, Schilling was once chairman of a major video game company, one that employed hundreds of developers and worked on several big projects. His company, 38 Studios, was once seen as the savior of Rhode Island, a studio that would, if all went according to plan, form the core of the small state’s burgeoning tech industry. Rhode Island’s government gave him $75 million of taxpayers’ money to make it happen.
Then, in May of 2012, employees stopped getting paid. At the time most of them had no idea, but 38 Studios was in financial trouble, and not long after the release of their first and only game, the under-appreciated RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the company collapsed.
The best reporting on 38 Studios came from this Boston Magazine piece by Jason Schwartz, who talked to Schilling and quite a few of his former employees to capture the full story of the company’s demise. Schilling is portrayed as gregarious and optimistic, treating his staff kindly, but also as a poor chairman, whose excessive ambition and lack of industry knowledge ultimately destroyed the company and wasted millions in public funding.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Schilling, who lost many millions in this endeavor and today resembles a sad cranky uncle. But his actions as chairman of 38 Studios hurt a lot of people, most of whom did not get to recover with lucrative contracts to be on ESPN. In fact, as Schwartz reports, the demise of 38 Studios left several employees to shoulder the responsibilities of their unpaid mortgages—mortgages that 38 Studios had agreed to take care of.
Writes Schwartz:
On May 24, the entire 38 Studios staff was laid off via e-mail. They hadn’t been paid since the end of the previous month, but their problems were just beginning. In short order, their healthcare disappeared and their 401(k)s were frozen. Then, MoveTrek Mobility — a company 38 Studios hired during the relocation to Providence to buy and resell employees’ Massachusetts homes — notified seven people that, because it had not yet sold their houses, they were potentially responsible for their old mortgages. And Atlas Van Lines alerted some individuals that they were on the hook for bills that management hadn’t paid.
Thom Ang is one of those people suddenly stuck with his old mortgage. With two young kids, no salary, rent due on his Rhode Island home, and now a mortgage in Massachusetts to pay, he’s afraid his credit is about to be ruined. “I wasn’t even aware that this could or would happen,” he says, “and then having it affect where I could possibly live and where I could possibly work?”
Even today, four years later, the 38 Studios story is far from over. Last month, the SEC filed charges against both the Rhode Island agency and the bank Wells Fargo for defrauding investors with the loan. “Investors weren’t fully informed when deciding to purchase the bonds that 38 Studios faced a funding shortfall even with the loan proceeds and could not develop the video game without additional sources of financing,” they wrote.
Correction: an original version of this story mistakenly referred to Schilling as “CEO” of 38 Studios. He was actually founder and chairman.
A whole lot of that company was shady as hell, but to be fair, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was fun as hell to play.
It sounds like former Studio 38 employees got royally screwed over whne Shilling's game company tanked.
Yesterday, ESPN fired former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for posting an anti-trans meme on Facebook. It was an inglorious end for Schilling’s broadcasting job, which by now must be a feeling he’s used to.
Although today he’s best known for sharing conservative and often bigoted memes on social media, Schilling was once chairman of a major video game company, one that employed hundreds of developers and worked on several big projects. His company, 38 Studios, was once seen as the savior of Rhode Island, a studio that would, if all went according to plan, form the core of the small state’s burgeoning tech industry. Rhode Island’s government gave him $75 million of taxpayers’ money to make it happen.
Then, in May of 2012, employees stopped getting paid. At the time most of them had no idea, but 38 Studios was in financial trouble, and not long after the release of their first and only game, the under-appreciated RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the company collapsed.
The best reporting on 38 Studios came from this Boston Magazine piece by Jason Schwartz, who talked to Schilling and quite a few of his former employees to capture the full story of the company’s demise. Schilling is portrayed as gregarious and optimistic, treating his staff kindly, but also as a poor chairman, whose excessive ambition and lack of industry knowledge ultimately destroyed the company and wasted millions in public funding.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Schilling, who lost many millions in this endeavor and today resembles a sad cranky uncle. But his actions as chairman of 38 Studios hurt a lot of people, most of whom did not get to recover with lucrative contracts to be on ESPN. In fact, as Schwartz reports, the demise of 38 Studios left several employees to shoulder the responsibilities of their unpaid mortgages—mortgages that 38 Studios had agreed to take care of.
Writes Schwartz:
On May 24, the entire 38 Studios staff was laid off via e-mail. They hadn’t been paid since the end of the previous month, but their problems were just beginning. In short order, their healthcare disappeared and their 401(k)s were frozen. Then, MoveTrek Mobility — a company 38 Studios hired during the relocation to Providence to buy and resell employees’ Massachusetts homes — notified seven people that, because it had not yet sold their houses, they were potentially responsible for their old mortgages. And Atlas Van Lines alerted some individuals that they were on the hook for bills that management hadn’t paid.
Thom Ang is one of those people suddenly stuck with his old mortgage. With two young kids, no salary, rent due on his Rhode Island home, and now a mortgage in Massachusetts to pay, he’s afraid his credit is about to be ruined. “I wasn’t even aware that this could or would happen,” he says, “and then having it affect where I could possibly live and where I could possibly work?”
Even today, four years later, the 38 Studios story is far from over. Last month, the SEC filed charges against both the Rhode Island agency and the bank Wells Fargo for defrauding investors with the loan. “Investors weren’t fully informed when deciding to purchase the bonds that 38 Studios faced a funding shortfall even with the loan proceeds and could not develop the video game without additional sources of financing,” they wrote.
Correction: an original version of this story mistakenly referred to Schilling as “CEO” of 38 Studios. He was actually founder and chairman.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Apparently this wasn't his first offence, I saw his previous meme about comparing Muslims to Nazi's. Nothing but a total donkeycave, so... when is he signing his Fox contract?
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
1750 pts Blood Specters
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2500 pts Prophets of Fate
Lizardmen 3000 points Tlaxcoatl Temple-City
Tomb Kings 1500 points Sekhra (RIP)
2016/04/21 22:35:21
Subject: Re:Curt Schilling fired from ESPN over meme
jreilly89 wrote: A whole lot of that company was shady as hell, but to be fair, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was fun as hell to play.
Yeah, it was a pretty awesome game and severely underrated. I still have it installed on my computer.
d-usa wrote: "When the Internet sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending posters that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing strawmen. They're bringing spam. They're trolls. And some, I assume, are good people."
LordofHats wrote: Oh look. Another douche nozzle got caught being a douche nozzle and was fired. Life lesson: don't be a douche nozzle.
Whether you agree with is opinion or not is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that he was on his own free time, not expressing his opinion at work, and was fired because of something he did that had nothing to do with his job. His political opinion is related to his job how? Do a little research and you'll soon see how some ESPN Anchors said far worse things during broadcasts that had nothing to do with sports and not a peep was heard.
Would you be cool with that? If your job fired you because they disagreed with your position posted on Facebook?
We need to THINK as a society and be open to controversy and discussion. Especially when we disagree.
LordofHats wrote: Oh look. Another douche nozzle got caught being a douche nozzle and was fired. Life lesson: don't be a douche nozzle.
Whether you agree with is opinion or not is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that he was on his own free time, not expressing his opinion at work, and was fired because of something he did that had nothing to do with his job. His political opinion is related to his job how? Do a little research and you'll soon see how some ESPN Anchors said far worse things during broadcasts that had nothing to do with sports and not a peep was heard.
Really? Worse than Muslims=Nazis? I highly doubt that. But feel free to find something to change my mind.
Would you be cool with that? If your job fired you because they disagreed with your position posted on Facebook?
His job is not the same as mine. I have an expectation of anonymity. He is a public face of a communications company. His job has a much reduced expectation of that.
Don't be a sheeple.
For future reference, using that word unironically gives one an automatic -10 to your credibility check.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Guess this wasn't worth discussing since so many are missing the point.
You don't at all notice the irony of complaining about people "fishing for outrage" while fishing for outrage?
And it's not like we don't have one of these threads regularly and they always end the same way.
Mdlbuildr wrote: Would you be cool with that? If your job fired you because they disagreed with your position posted on Facebook?
I don't have Facebook/Twitter/Social Media whatever. That stuff is a cancer that eats at your soul I'm sure Mr. Schilling is quite perturbed, and I do feel for him cause you know that does suck, but exactly who isn't upset upon being fired regardless of reason? But then he didn't learn from the 5,000 other times this has already happened somehow, and at the end of the day freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence. He's also just kind of douche nozzle so...
Don't be a sheeple.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/21 23:16:50
LordofHats wrote: Oh look. Another douche nozzle got caught being a douche nozzle and was fired. Life lesson: don't be a douche nozzle.
Whether you agree with is opinion or not is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that he was on his own free time, not expressing his opinion at work, and was fired because of something he did that had nothing to do with his job. His political opinion is related to his job how? Do a little research and you'll soon see how some ESPN Anchors said far worse things during broadcasts that had nothing to do with sports and not a peep was heard.
Would you be cool with that? If your job fired you because they disagreed with your position posted on Facebook?
We need to THINK as a society and be open to controversy and discussion. Especially when we disagree.
Don't be a sheeple.
Oh wow, bringing out the sheeple argument. He is a personality for a very large company. Of course they would want to distance themselves from somebody who is spewing out hatespeech on a very controversial issue. ESPN wants to include as many people as it can to get more viewers. Having a personality associated with them that is going to drive a certain demographic away and give the company a bad name is probably not a good idea.
Stop being sheeple and look at the whole issue here.
We seem to be well off the rails here. Let's drop a) trying to dismiss one side as sheeple and b) posting videos laughing at the side doing that. Why not just focus on the subject
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/21 23:21:09
I wish I had time for all the game systems I own, let alone want to own...
2016/04/21 23:21:21
Subject: Re:Curt Schilling fired from ESPN over meme
Well, the laughing ork was to show that I was joking, to try and lighten the mood. Sorry it fell flat.
But yes, if you want to have a discussion, you want to be taken seriously. Otherwise, you are just ranting into the void.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Those aren't political views those are bigoted views. You see there is a difference between believing in a hands on or hands off economy (political views) and disparaging against transgender people
Would you be cool with that? If your job fired you because they disagreed with your position posted on Facebook?
His job is not the same as mine. I have an expectation of anonymity. He is a public face of a communications company. His job has a much reduced expectation of that.
This right here... He is a very public figure. Teachers get fired for much less than this, in many was related to being a "public" person.
Thing is, those who have mentioned anchors at ESPN mentioning "worse" things on air, and "not a peep" was heard... This is generally how things go at that circus:
-Anchor says something stupid
-Public and ESPN say, "you can't say that"
-Anchor says, "my bad. I'm sorry"
-ESPN says, "OK, just make sure you don't make a habit of it"
In the case of Schilling, not only did he "say" it, when he got called out about it, says, "Feth you! You're darn tootin' I said that! IF you don't respect mah Opinion, then you are being intolerant!"
@Mdlbuldr.... We wouldn't be hearing about this story if some low level accountant at ESPN posts some gak to their social media page. Imagine what would happen if Peter Jennings had heil hitler'd on air? Or Barbara Walters said, "I hate [insert whatever racial epithet you want], I think we should [do whatever action is commonly associated with previous racial group] and make America Great Again"... what would happen?
This isn't a 1st Amendment thing. Schilling is definitely exercising his rights, just as ESPN is by firing him. I have zero sympathy. He is, love him or hate him, a public figure and still quite prominent in the baseball world. Ergo, when a company potentially stands to lose money over a "private" comment/post on a rather public stage... you bet the company is going to protect itself.
Ustrello wrote: Those aren't political views those are bigoted views. You see there is a difference between believing in a hands on or hands off economy (political views) and disparaging against transgender people
Whoa. I'm a bigot because I want a Man to pee in a Men's bathroom?
There is nothing wrong with being a transgender, and we are back at the same argument that was brought up in another thread where I was made fun of so I'm going to stop there.
Ustrello wrote: Those aren't political views those are bigoted views. You see there is a difference between believing in a hands on or hands off economy (political views) and disparaging against transgender people
Whoa. I'm a bigot because I want a Man to pee in a Men's bathroom?
There is nothing wrong with being a transgender, and we are back at the same argument that was brought up in another thread where I was made fun of so I'm going to stop there.
Ustrello wrote: Those aren't political views those are bigoted views. You see there is a difference between believing in a hands on or hands off economy (political views) and disparaging against transgender people
They become political when the government passes laws/etc and people then "take sides".
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I'm sure Mr. Schilling is quite perturbed, and I do feel for him cause you know that does suck, but exactly who isn't upset upon being fired regardless of reason? But then he didn't learn from the 5,000 other times this has already happened somehow, and at the end of the day freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence. He's also just kind of douche nozzle so...
