Some tool of an academic [redundancy alert] named Ken Storey suggested that for Tropical Storm Harvey’s deluge on Texas, “I don’t believe in instant Karma but this kinda feels like it for Texas. Hopefully this will help them realize the GOP doesn’t care about them.”
Naturally, because he’s just a sociology professor, Storey wasn’t to know that Houston’s Harris County (which bore the brunt of the storm’s fury) actually went for Hillary Clinton in 2016, so perhaps this “karma” of which he wrote was actually punishment for them… if I believed in that karma nonsense, of course, which I don’t.
Regardless, maybe the real karma is that the shithead has since been fired by his employer, University of Tampa. Maybe he can blame that on Trump, just like all his little Leftist buddies do whenever catastrophe strikes.
I have to say that ordinarily, I wouldn’t agree with his firing simply for expressing an opinion. I would, however, suggest that someone in a position of public trust (i.e. a teacher) who acts like a total dickhead definitely needs a lesson in manners. Firing him is no good — he’s sure to be welcomed with open arms somewhere like Oberlin or UMass — and I’d have simply demoted him or suspended him without pay for a couple semesters.
But hey, if it makes other Lefties think twice before yapping their nonsense, maybe this will be worth it.
Seems like a tasteless, but mostly harmless, statement that reeks of the subjunctive and speculative. I suppose, too, that I say far worse on a daily basis, and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. The real problem, in my mind, is that firing him is pointless. As an assistant professor, he’s almost certainly subject to a term appointment, and entitled to internal due process — hearing, representation, etc. It doesn’t look like that happened here. So he’s got a very decent shot at being rehired (along with damages) if he sues. It would have been better to disavow his statement, convene a disciplinary panel, and embarrass him in front of his peers. If the school would have done it “right,” the students would see consequences, and he’d be forced to cringe and grovel a bit. As it stands now he’s just going to get a check and, like you recognize, a job somewhere else. And even if he loses, the case is still going to cost UT money. Remember Ward Churchill?
Rule,
We don’t know his history — this might have been his third infringement or whatever. As he’s not a full professor with tenure, and Florida being an “at will” state, I don’t think he has a leg to stand on. I’m pretty sure they will have got legal advice before canning him.
Could not have happened to any one better. Looks to me like the university did not share his sentiment.