Here’s why social media posts can get you fired

You’re never going to believe this, but your friendly Gazette opinion columnists sometimes write things that make people mad. We’re no strangers to demands for our firing over something we wrote.

A lot of similar demands have been made elsewhere over the last week and a half. Social media has exploded with opinions about influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of conservative group Turning Point USA. Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 by a young man with a stated hatred for Kirk’s political positions.

Many of the millions of social media posts have expressed sorrow for Kirk’s death or appreciation for his impact on the movement of young conservatives nationwide. Other posts, made by people who disliked his politics, have been rather grotesque, leading to personal trouble for those who apparently didn’t see any harm at the time in sharing them.

Some have likely since seen the harm. A growing number of teachers or college professors and employees are finding themselves suddenly without a job due to the offensive nature of their expressions.

Iowans haven’t been immune to the fallout.

IOWA TEACHER FIRED, OTHERS PLACED ON LEAVE FOR OFFENSIVE POSTS

So far, a Creston Community Schools teacher has been placed on leave pending review of a district policy and applicable law. The teacher had called Kirk a “terrible human being” on Facebook, going on to say that Kirk “not being here is a blessing.”

A North Tama teacher was placed on leave last week over a post she shared from a Trump resistance-themed account that mocked part of a statement Kirk had made about gun rights with the caption, “Too soon?”

After a financial adviser at Iowa State University posted a comment on Facebook saying “this jackass got what he deserved and I’m happy he’s rotting in hell,” a pair of Republican state legislators wrote a letter to the Iowa Board of Regents calling for “any university employees who celebrated the death of their fellow American to be terminated immediately.”

Most significantly so far, Oskaloosa art teacher Matthew Kargol was fired after a vote of the school board Wednesday. Kargol had written “1 Nazi down” in a public post on his Facebook account shortly after Kirk was shot. His account appears to have since been deleted.

INTERNET: NEVER PRIVATE, ALWAYS PERMANENT

It hardly matters if users limit the visibility of their social media posts to a smaller, more specific group of users. Once a person makes a post on their social media accounts, anyone who does see that post can take a screenshot (a digital photo of the computer or phone screen on which the post is displayed) and do with it as they choose.

The post shared by the North Tama teacher was intended only for an audience of friends, or people with whom a user is already linked on the Facebook platform. One of the North Tama teacher’s “friends” was apparently bothered enough by what she shared that they captured a screenshot and shared it publicly, noting that the action was taken by a public schoolteacher and calling for the school district to act.

The remark by the ISU financial adviser wasn’t a post but a comment presumably made on someone else’s Facebook page in response to something that person had posted. Of course, anyone who could see the other person’s post could also see the ISU adviser’s comment, click on her profile to see whatever details were available and share them, saying, “Hey everybody, look at the disgusting thing this person employed by a taxpayer-funded institution said.”

Other people saw it, got mad and shared it with larger social media followings. On one popular social media account, the ISU adviser’s post was seen over 7.7 million times.

That’s why people say “the internet is forever.” It is never private, and always permanent.

FREE SPEECH BACK IN FOCUS

Now that some people, including at least one Iowan, are losing their jobs over offensive social media posts, the conversation turns to the question of free speech. It’s ironic given the occasion: the murder of a man who passionately believed in free speech, (allegedly) at the doing of someone who hated the things he had to say.

Let’s get a few things straight here.

One, the comments made by these public employees are objectively offensive.

I say “objectively” because every argument I’ve seen so far defending their validity appears subjective, as in, subject to one’s already-negative opinion of Kirk and what he stood for, perception of which was often based on information that was distorted, mischaracterized or just plain false.

Two, no one should be punished for the rest of their lives for a remark made in poor taste and even poorer judgment. Nor does it seem appropriate to do that in the name of a man who championed free and open debate (and died for it.)

Three, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from the consequences of that speech, such as losing one’s job.

CAN EMPLOYERS FIRE YOU FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS?

A private employer has always had the right to fire an employee for a problematic social media post. There are only a few legal exceptions to that, such as union activity or whistle-blowing or whether the firing was done in violation of antidiscrimination laws.

Notwithstanding those, private employers have a right to safeguard their business interests. That means making sure that their ability to do business isn’t stymied by actions taken by employees.

The owner of a pharmacy, for example, relies on business from customers who buy medicine and get shots. If a pharmacy tech writes on their social media account, “had to give a COVID vax to this lady who still wears a mask everywhere and it was prob her 47th shot lol,” that’s going to result in a loss of confidence in the pharmacy itself, damaging to the whole business.

The First Amendment was not written to stop private employers from punishing employees over things they say. It was written to stop government from punishing you for things you say.

When the government is the employer, it does have less leeway to discipline employees for the things they say. But not a whole lot less.

LAWSUIT FILED THURSDAY

Kargol, the fired Oskaloosa teacher, filed suit in federal court Thursday against the Oskaloosa Community School District alleging his termination over his Facebook post violated his First Amendment rights.

Download: Kargol Filing.pdf

In his lawsuit, Kargol cites Pickering v. Board of Education, a landmark 1968 case from which a legal test was established. The Pickering Test, as it’s known, balances a public employer’s interest in operating efficiently versus a public employee’s interest in speaking out on public matters to determine whose should prevail.

Should his case proceed, the burden will be on Kargol to prove that his interest outweighs the interests of Oskaloosa schools to operate efficiently.

That might be a tall order. The Pickering test examines multiple factors, including whether an employee’s conduct was a detriment to working relationships that necessitate confidence and whether the conduct impaired the harmony among colleagues and/or their superiors.

Importantly, the Pickering test also examines whether the employee’s conduct interfered not only with their own duties, but also with the operations of the employer as whole.

In the court of public opinion, it’s not that hard to consider why Kargol’s post disrupted the operations of Oskaloosa Community Schools. Many parents are going to be rightly concerned at sending their child to be taught by a person whose character is so apparently lacking as to celebrate a man’s assassination while falsely implying his association with Nazism — and not appear to think twice about it. As of Friday morning, Kargol has not issued any apologies.

Furthermore, with recent school choice laws, state per-pupil funding now follows a student to any accredited Iowa school, including private schools. If the Oskaloosa school district were to have continued Kargol’s employment, any resulting loss of confidence in the district could have meant students transferring elsewhere — and taking their state funding with them.

For his petition to be granted, Kargol will seemingly have to prove that his right to celebrate the murder of a widely admired figure and falsely call him a Nazi is more important than a school district’s ability to keep its students enrolled and its residents content.

CONSERVATIVES TURN TO CANCEL CULTURE

The opinion of your friendly neighborhood opinion columnist is that Oskaloosa Community Schools and its superintendent were acting necessarily within their interests by terminating Kargol’s employment.

But I also will offer a warning to conservatives feasting on ugly social media posts like red meat: Don’t envelop yourselves in the cancel culture you only recently loathed. Indiscriminately going after people’s jobs and livelihoods because someone said something you find odious isn’t a much better of a use of free speech.

For a nation that loves its free speech, we don’t treat it very well. Sometimes one of the best ways to exercise free speech is to say nothing at all.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com