Should Facebook Get You Fired? “Essence” Dumps White Male Editor Over His Conservatism

I am an avid avoider of Essence magazine ...but there is something odd about the managing editor being a male, let alone non-black. Thats two strikes before we even get to his political affiliations. Who hired the guy in the first place? A person's politics are personal...until they join the blogosphere. Who didn't essence do their due diligence and vet the man to make sure he and the company had similar views.

He's not  a conservative, he's a birther and a nutjob conspiracy theorist. There's a difference. There's nothing wrong with being a conservative. But there is plenty wrong with a person who insists on trying to "other" the President of the United States. Does he think the black women who read Essense magazines aren't real Americans.

Good riddance to him. He got what he deserved.

People find more ways to screw up their jobs. 

Want to survive in the work place?

"The Rev. Thomas Reese, the Jesuit priest who edited the Catholic Weekly America, once quoted a Vatican consultant who gave this advice on how to survive in the world's oldest bureaucracy.  It went like this:

Don't think.

If you think, don't speak.

If you think and if you speak, don't write.

If you think and you speak and you write, don't sign your name.

If you think and you speak and you write and you sign your name, don't be surprised."

-- Tom Ferrick

http://www.phlmetropolis.com/2012/04/dont-think.php

I would add this:

If you think and you speak and you write and you sign your name keep it off Facebook otherwise don't be surprised.

Good advice in this age of social media. 

"... Did he “manage” the schedule like..."

Looks like he managed to get himself fired. 

I don't use FB or Twitter; I have nothing to tweet and little worth sharing on FB. One of my associate physicians is all over FB and she monitors the other employees' pages or whatever they're called for derogatory statements. I have no idea what is said there. For all I know, my employees are reaming me out regularly on Twitter. ['he's such an arrogant distant cold rigid heartless SOB'] would just cause me to tell them to leave my mother out of it, LOL.

So, yeah, your employer follows your stuff; big corporations and universities do it all the time.

He wasn't fired for his conservatism.  He was fired for the nature of the things he posted.  Plus he wrote several statements about the president whom the magazine has a close relationship with.  If you talked trash about someone your boss had a relationship with you'd be out on your rear too.

Diversity is a powerful tool. Varying viewpoints, even those in direct opposition to your own, can provide powerful insight into a wider range of opportunities than surrounding yourself with like thinkers.

However, just because the First Amendment (here in the US) says you have freedom of speech, as Stan Lee/Spider man says - "with great freedom comes great responsibility". If you're dumb enough to post statements in direct opposition to your employer's position on the world wide web for all to see.... then "here's your sign" and you deserve what you get.

What an idiot. Obviously his hiring was a sensitive subject. I would think he would have done everything in his power to prove that he was sensitive to black women and their viewpoints. Instead, his facebook page mocks the views of the majority of his readership. Conservatism isn't all about race, but his facebook page seemed to support that strain of conservatives who are obsessed with it in a bad way. If he could be that clueless about his customers(readership), I have a hard time believing he could be competent in any other aspect of his job.

ridiculous. Prez Obama and Congress are writing a bill that will not allow employers to troll employee's FB pages. talk about an invasion of privacy.. another reason to start your own company..

Is it really that hard to find an black woman journalist with enough experience to run a fashion and lifestyle magazine? I thought journalism classes were chock full all over the country...

He will remain with Essence in a different position according to the Madame Noire article.  Since I no longer read Essence (used to be a subscriber), can't say I really care too much about the situation.  I have no problem with them hiring a White male editor as long as he was a good fit. It appears that this gentleman was not.

I don't know much about this story, but please correct me if i have it wrong.  They fired him because he is a conservitive and the public was outraged that he was a conservitive and white and male?

If that is the case, they shouldn't have let him go.  As long as his POV didn't cause him to do his job incorrectly, shouldn't matter.  Now, if they could tie him to declining sales and such, that is a different story.  But no one should be fired over their political viewpoints.  Much less if they are black/white or male/female.

Toni said what I was going to say: "But if they can hire someone who's POV is apparently the anti-thesis of their magazine and what it stands for with little thought as to the consequences and how it would reflect on them,...."

And that's why it good that Essence parted ways with this fellow, if his beliefs are the opposite of the mag then he has no business working there. 

"Essence readers would be shocked to find that Bullerdick, who under the prodding of Time Inc became the first white male editor at the magazine last year, openly espouses extremist Right-wing views that run counter to what Essence has historically stood for," the Journal-isms reader wrote in an email.

The thing is...I have a hard time believing this information was not available when he was hired. Which makes it seem like a red herring to me. I feel like this is an excuse and the real reason is the backlash. But they can't necessarily SAY "We decided to pull the plug because hiring this guy cost us customers." That might get them sued.

I didn't quite understand whose bright idea it was to hire this man in the first place, but I've not gone anywhere near their magazine...ever really. Never my thing. But if they can hire someone who's POV is apparently the anti-thesis of their magazine and what it stands for with little thought as to the consequences and how it would reflect on them, I have very little faith regarding who they'll pick as a replacement.