[52-6F-62]

If I disagree with somebody, I can grab a megaphone and shout in their face, hit them, or try to start a civilized discussion.

If I'm not mistaken, he was fired for breaching the company's civil code of conduct. That's different than being fired for an idea. If I started onto my company's social intranet and posted essays citing references about why something should change, I'd probably face equal back lash because it's abrasive and not at all socially graceful. There's a lot of conjecture flying around in all directions...

Anyway that's a whole other discussion, because I primarily disagreed with his issue in the first place. His being fired was most likely twofold: he created a hostile atmosphere either knowingly, or because of social ignorance or naivete. This resulted in bad press, the whole lot, and corporations are [probably inarguably, on average] heartless institutions that seek to maintain an even keel -- bad press is bad for business. That's again a whole other discussion, but it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody.

[Chris2048]

> he was fired for breaching the company's civil code of conduct.

We've yet to hear details of what this really mean, and if this CoC is applied fairly. It sounds like the violation i a) based on a particular interpretation of the memo, or b) based on the subjective offense of other employees. This sounds like the "cultural fit" loophole of the left.

> That's different than being fired for an idea

Is it? Have all the ideas you want, just don't express them, even in forums than are specifically for that purpose? Why isn't the leaker being punished?

> If I started onto my company's social intranet

There are plenty liberal/left essays floating about the google intranets, this is not you average employer.

> he created a hostile atmosphere

Did he? The leaker, and those who misrepresented the content of the memo seem to be implicit in that.

> This resulted in bad press

So does any whistle-blower. But again - He did not leak the memo.

[pcnix]

> There are plenty liberal/left essays floating about the google intranets, this is not you average employer.

Yeah, but do they call a third of their coworkers incompetent?

It's not the fact that it's an opinion piece, it's that it's a very tactless way of approaching the situation. I'm not defending the leaker here, but once it did get leaked, there really was little the company could do to keep him a productive member of the workforce.

[Chris2048]

> do they call a third of their coworkers incompetent

the memo doesn't either - If you disagree please quote the part that does.