Washington Post fires reporter Felicia Somnez who objected to misogynistic tweets

[Anonymous]

The person who needs to be fired is the person that hired her in the first place. She had a history.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

Agree with another PP that is is the best summary of the issue, and that the Post’s actions in firing her were entirely appropriate. She gave them no choice.

I do find it bizarre that some posters are minimizing Weigel’s retweet, though. That was not a “dad joke,” nor was it “corny.” It was extremely sexist and offensive, and if you think it’s funny, you need to ask yourself why. If this is the only time Weigel has done something like this, then I think the apology plus one-month suspension without pay is an appropriate disciplinary action. But I hope the Post has put him on notice that he’ll be fired if there are subsequent tweets or retweets like this.

I agree with this.

The posters who are minimizing the tweet are actually making the Post look a lot worse, not better. They sound incredibly clueless, and defensive in a very out of touch way.

Offensive is if he said “eff women. They belong in the kitchen. They can’t think and are all dumb.”

But his tweet was a really bad dad joke, at best. That’s a stupid joke that even my mom would make during dinner, people would just moan, and it’d be forgotten.

Both the one Weigel retweeted and your example are offensive and sexist, though your example is more offensive and more overtly hostile to women and can’t be passed off as “It’s just a joke, har, har, lighten up ladies” like people are attempting to do with the Weigel one for reasons that are not clear to me. They are at different points of offensiveness, but both well along the wrong side of the spectrum.

Not sure what to say about your mom’s sense of humor, but unless she is a journalist covering politics for a national publication and decides to tweet it to her multitudes of followers, thus harming her reputation for objectivity and her employer’s reputation, it’s your family’s business. I’d call my mom out if she tried to pass that off as something funny around my kids, but I know the elderly can be intractable.

[Anonymous]

Some of you put way too much thought into this. I wonder how you made it through life without being offended by the dumbest things. I seriously ponder how you make it out the house everyday without wrapping yourself in bubble wrap from being so fragile.

The guy retweeted a very dumb joke. On his personal account. Is it good? No. But Jesus the way some of you are reacting makes it seem like he murdered a woman.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about this fired reporter, but from where I'm standing the Washington Post looks bad, because they seem to be supporting the first reporter who made an unacceptably misogynist remark. Like PP said, that kind of comment does not exist in a vacuum - for someone to actually type and send this, it means he often thinks like that, and feels secure enough in his employment and colleagues to publish those remarks. It means the Post is a shitty place for a woman to work. He should have been fired first.

+1

I was just in the process of getting a Post subscription and I’ve decided against it after this.

Yup, I do have a Post subscription but I'm not happy with this. Fire the woman reporter for being a loose cannon, ok. Not firing the man who sent the sexist tweets, not ok.

I would have continued my subscription if both had been fired. But suspending him with a slap on the wrist for a deeply misogynist tweet while firing her? No, I don’t need to give that clearly sexist institution my money.

It wasn't "deeply misogynistic" - it was a dumb joke that he retweeted. Weigel isn't some guy with years of history of saying and doing sexist things. He's a smart reporter who also sometimes has a dumb sense of humor. And he was suspended for a month without pay - after he deleted the tweet and made a sincere apology. How much punishment does he need?

I agree that we need to stop firing people for stupid crap, but unless he’s a 23yo newbie reporter, he is mature enough to know what is workplace appropriate and also how to not tweet. Can everyone grow up and stop tweeting every offensive and stupid thought that enters their heads? Can’t he tell his stupid misogynist jokes to his buddy over beers one night? Grow up and stop tweeting like you’re twelve.

[Anonymous]

All I know is that I’m never going to again believe Weigel’s reporting on anything involving women. I will never believe he can fairly report on women. I will always wonder what he left off, what he considers “boys will be boys” behavior and excuses, and what he hides in his reporting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I know is that I’m never going to again believe Weigel’s reporting on anything involving women. I will never believe he can fairly report on women. I will always wonder what he left off, what he considers “boys will be boys” behavior and excuses, and what he hides in his reporting.

PP here. Oh, and I agree Somnez should have been fired. But I will still never trust Weigel’s reporting on women again.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

Agree with another PP that is is the best summary of the issue, and that the Post’s actions in firing her were entirely appropriate. She gave them no choice.

I do find it bizarre that some posters are minimizing Weigel’s retweet, though. That was not a “dad joke,” nor was it “corny.” It was extremely sexist and offensive, and if you think it’s funny, you need to ask yourself why. If this is the only time Weigel has done something like this, then I think the apology plus one-month suspension without pay is an appropriate disciplinary action. But I hope the Post has put him on notice that he’ll be fired if there are subsequent tweets or retweets like this.

I agree with this.

The posters who are minimizing the tweet are actually making the Post look a lot worse, not better. They sound incredibly clueless, and defensive in a very out of touch way.

Offensive is if he said “eff women. They belong in the kitchen. They can’t think and are all dumb.”

But his tweet was a really bad dad joke, at best. That’s a stupid joke that even my mom would make during dinner, people would just moan, and it’d be forgotten.

You realize that every time you try to minimize this as a “dad joke” (which is insulting to all the good dads out there), you solidify the narrative that the Post tolerates open misogyny from men, but silences women who object to misogyny in the workplace?

+1 and like someone said upthread, dad jokes are corny, they’re not hostile to women (unless you have a really terrible dad)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

"Insubordinate". Yet she persisted... I don't know about your workplace, but I wouldn't want to work somewhere that let a guy tweet like that about women.

That tweet was lame, at best. If you get offended by weak crap like that, then I can’t imagine how you would be at a work happy hour.

The tweets and that he felt ok posting it says a lot about the workplace culture at WaPo. He knew he would ok.

+1

Honestly it’s a pretty clear indication of the type of abhorrent behavior that the Post tolerates from men. I would not want to work there as a woman.

Ummm he got suspended without pay for a month.

And she got fired for complaining about the tweet and the fact that the WaPo didn’t punish him

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

"Insubordinate". Yet she persisted... I don't know about your workplace, but I wouldn't want to work somewhere that let a guy tweet like that about women.

That tweet was lame, at best. If you get offended by weak crap like that, then I can’t imagine how you would be at a work happy hour.

The tweets and that he felt ok posting it says a lot about the workplace culture at WaPo. He knew he would ok.

+1

Honestly it’s a pretty clear indication of the type of abhorrent behavior that the Post tolerates from men. I would not want to work there as a woman.

Ummm he got suspended without pay for a month.

And she got fired for complaining about the tweet and the fact that the WaPo didn’t punish him

That’s not why she was fired. You can read her dismissal letter upstream. The guy screwed up and was disciplined for it. She could not let it go and continued to post attacks on her employer. Would your employer keep you on if you did that? Mine sure as hell wouldn’t. The punishment fit the crime and, as a woman, I find her an embarrassment. Completely unprofessional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

"Insubordinate". Yet she persisted... I don't know about your workplace, but I wouldn't want to work somewhere that let a guy tweet like that about women.

That tweet was lame, at best. If you get offended by weak crap like that, then I can’t imagine how you would be at a work happy hour.

The tweets and that he felt ok posting it says a lot about the workplace culture at WaPo. He knew he would ok.

+1

Honestly it’s a pretty clear indication of the type of abhorrent behavior that the Post tolerates from men. I would not want to work there as a woman.

Ummm he got suspended without pay for a month.

And she got fired for complaining about the tweet and the fact that the WaPo didn’t punish him

That’s not why she was fired. You can read her dismissal letter upstream. The guy screwed up and was disciplined for it. She could not let it go and continued to post attacks on her employer. Would your employer keep you on if you did that? Mine sure as hell wouldn’t. The punishment fit the crime and, as a woman, I find her an embarrassment. Completely unprofessional.

As a woman, I think the fact that she was firing for refusing to “let go” of the upset she felt about a coworker posting misogynistic tweets disturbing. If he posted racist memes about black people, would the Post have fired her for being upset by racism? Seems like a hostile work environment for women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

Agree with another PP that is is the best summary of the issue, and that the Post’s actions in firing her were entirely appropriate. She gave them no choice.

I do find it bizarre that some posters are minimizing Weigel’s retweet, though. That was not a “dad joke,” nor was it “corny.” It was extremely sexist and offensive, and if you think it’s funny, you need to ask yourself why. If this is the only time Weigel has done something like this, then I think the apology plus one-month suspension without pay is an appropriate disciplinary action. But I hope the Post has put him on notice that he’ll be fired if there are subsequent tweets or retweets like this.

I agree with this.

The posters who are minimizing the tweet are actually making the Post look a lot worse, not better. They sound incredibly clueless, and defensive in a very out of touch way.

Offensive is if he said “eff women. They belong in the kitchen. They can’t think and are all dumb.”

But his tweet was a really bad dad joke, at best. That’s a stupid joke that even my mom would make during dinner, people would just moan, and it’d be forgotten.

You realize that every time you try to minimize this as a “dad joke” (which is insulting to all the good dads out there), you solidify the narrative that the Post tolerates open misogyny from men, but silences women who object to misogyny in the workplace?

+1 and like someone said upthread, dad jokes are corny, they’re not hostile to women (unless you have a really terrible dad)

If the PP posting incessantly about “dad jokes” had a dad who made jokes like the misogynistic Twitter on the regular, no wonder he’s going out of his way to defend the WaPo reporter who kept his job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

Agree with another PP that is is the best summary of the issue, and that the Post’s actions in firing her were entirely appropriate. She gave them no choice.

I do find it bizarre that some posters are minimizing Weigel’s retweet, though. That was not a “dad joke,” nor was it “corny.” It was extremely sexist and offensive, and if you think it’s funny, you need to ask yourself why. If this is the only time Weigel has done something like this, then I think the apology plus one-month suspension without pay is an appropriate disciplinary action. But I hope the Post has put him on notice that he’ll be fired if there are subsequent tweets or retweets like this.

I agree with this.

The posters who are minimizing the tweet are actually making the Post look a lot worse, not better. They sound incredibly clueless, and defensive in a very out of touch way.

Offensive is if he said “eff women. They belong in the kitchen. They can’t think and are all dumb.”

But his tweet was a really bad dad joke, at best. That’s a stupid joke that even my mom would make during dinner, people would just moan, and it’d be forgotten.

You realize that every time you try to minimize this as a “dad joke” (which is insulting to all the good dads out there), you solidify the narrative that the Post tolerates open misogyny from men, but silences women who object to misogyny in the workplace?

You realize that you aren’t making the point you think you’re making, right?

Get some therapy if that stupid joke offended you. I don’t even think it was funny and I’m not even defending the dumb joke, but seriously, you aren’t making a point. At all.

Try to be coherent. You are just foaming at the mouth now. The grown-ups are talking, and you should listen rather than just spewing nonsense.

You’re not a grown up. You get offended by a joke a middle schooler would say. Now go back to your moms basement, kid.

Sorry the WaPo thinks the appropriate standards for reporters is to behave like middle schoolers. And that people who point out that the WaPo standards for decent human behavior are too low are fired.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

"Insubordinate". Yet she persisted... I don't know about your workplace, but I wouldn't want to work somewhere that let a guy tweet like that about women.

That tweet was lame, at best. If you get offended by weak crap like that, then I can’t imagine how you would be at a work happy hour.

The tweets and that he felt ok posting it says a lot about the workplace culture at WaPo. He knew he would ok.

+1

Honestly it’s a pretty clear indication of the type of abhorrent behavior that the Post tolerates from men. I would not want to work there as a woman.

Ummm he got suspended without pay for a month.

And she got fired for complaining about the tweet and the fact that the WaPo didn’t punish him

That’s not why she was fired. You can read her dismissal letter upstream. The guy screwed up and was disciplined for it. She could not let it go and continued to post attacks on her employer. Would your employer keep you on if you did that? Mine sure as hell wouldn’t. The punishment fit the crime and, as a woman, I find her an embarrassment. Completely unprofessional.

As a woman, I think the fact that she was firing for refusing to “let go” of the upset she felt about a coworker posting misogynistic tweets disturbing. If he posted racist memes about black people, would the Post have fired her for being upset by racism? Seems like a hostile work environment for women.

DP, but (as another woman) your take is bizarre. Have you never had a job? If you think it’s OK for you to attack all your co-workers for days on end because you are “upset” about something, and continue to do so after your boss tells you you absolutely need to stop, you are wrong, and you too are likely to find yourself fired. For the millionth time, this reporter was not fired for objecting to her co-worker’s obnoxious and clueless retweet. She was fired for repeated violations of her company policy and for ignoring her boss’s directives.

How anyone can stick up for this reporter’s actions is beyond me. She showed zero professionalism throughout the whole saga, and she completely undercut any point she otherwise might have been able to make about how offensive Weigel’s retweet was. Good riddance.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

"Insubordinate". Yet she persisted... I don't know about your workplace, but I wouldn't want to work somewhere that let a guy tweet like that about women.

That tweet was lame, at best. If you get offended by weak crap like that, then I can’t imagine how you would be at a work happy hour.

The tweets and that he felt ok posting it says a lot about the workplace culture at WaPo. He knew he would ok.

+1

Honestly it’s a pretty clear indication of the type of abhorrent behavior that the Post tolerates from men. I would not want to work there as a woman.

Ummm he got suspended without pay for a month.

And she got fired for complaining about the tweet and the fact that the WaPo didn’t punish him

That’s not why she was fired. You can read her dismissal letter upstream. The guy screwed up and was disciplined for it. She could not let it go and continued to post attacks on her employer. Would your employer keep you on if you did that? Mine sure as hell wouldn’t. The punishment fit the crime and, as a woman, I find her an embarrassment. Completely unprofessional.

As a woman, I think the fact that she was firing for refusing to “let go” of the upset she felt about a coworker posting misogynistic tweets disturbing. If he posted racist memes about black people, would the Post have fired her for being upset by racism? Seems like a hostile work environment for women.

DP, but (as another woman) your take is bizarre. Have you never had a job? If you think it’s OK for you to attack all your co-workers for days on end because you are “upset” about something, and continue to do so after your boss tells you you absolutely need to stop, you are wrong, and you too are likely to find yourself fired. For the millionth time, this reporter was not fired for objecting to her co-worker’s obnoxious and clueless retweet. She was fired for repeated violations of her company policy and for ignoring her boss’s directives.

How anyone can stick up for this reporter’s actions is beyond me. She showed zero professionalism throughout the whole saga, and she completely undercut any point she otherwise might have been able to make about how offensive Weigel’s retweet was. Good riddance.

DP. But I agree. And why does PP always have to bring in black people to prove their terrible point? Just lazy.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

I don't get why this poster is calling this a dad joke. Dad jokes are puns or corny humor. They're not insulting to half the population. Dads have daughters too.

I think maybe we are just going to disagree over how offensive the tweet was. I thought it was stupid, and offensive, but not burn it all down bad. I thought Weigel responded appropriately with his apology - and that a month's suspension without pay seemed extreme, but ok. You clearly see it as much worse than I did, and than many other people did. But there's a lot of you, too, so I have to acknowledge that as well.

I don't know. This whole thing just seemed to spiral out of control in a pretty crazy way.

I think you're used to a permissive work culture. I think many companies would have fired staff over that tweet--social media policies govern staff behavior and you're not supposed to do things publicly that make you/your employer look bad. Which is why I think it's awful that they fired the lady reporter...saying she had been criticizing other staff (i.e. making the WaPo look bad).

She was insubordinate. He wasn't. I think this is pretty clear. The workplace had devolved into chaos, and she kept making it worse - and they would never have any control whatsoever if she didn't face consequences.

I've worked places with permissive social media cultures and some without (I am freelance now but my last full time job forbade us from posting anything about politics at all on our personal social media, because we worked with a lot of lawmakers on both sides and it was thought that this could hurt our ability to do that if we expressed any thoughts about policies - that one was hard to abide during the Trump years, let me tell you).

"Insubordinate". Yet she persisted... I don't know about your workplace, but I wouldn't want to work somewhere that let a guy tweet like that about women.

That tweet was lame, at best. If you get offended by weak crap like that, then I can’t imagine how you would be at a work happy hour.

The tweets and that he felt ok posting it says a lot about the workplace culture at WaPo. He knew he would ok.

+1

Honestly it’s a pretty clear indication of the type of abhorrent behavior that the Post tolerates from men. I would not want to work there as a woman.

Ummm he got suspended without pay for a month.

And she got fired for complaining about the tweet and the fact that the WaPo didn’t punish him

That’s not why she was fired. You can read her dismissal letter upstream. The guy screwed up and was disciplined for it. She could not let it go and continued to post attacks on her employer. Would your employer keep you on if you did that? Mine sure as hell wouldn’t. The punishment fit the crime and, as a woman, I find her an embarrassment. Completely unprofessional.

As a woman, I think the fact that she was firing for refusing to “let go” of the upset she felt about a coworker posting misogynistic tweets disturbing. If he posted racist memes about black people, would the Post have fired her for being upset by racism? Seems like a hostile work environment for women.

DP, but (as another woman) your take is bizarre. Have you never had a job? If you think it’s OK for you to attack all your co-workers for days on end because you are “upset” about something, and continue to do so after your boss tells you you absolutely need to stop, you are wrong, and you too are likely to find yourself fired. For the millionth time, this reporter was not fired for objecting to her co-worker’s obnoxious and clueless retweet. She was fired for repeated violations of her company policy and for ignoring her boss’s directives.

How anyone can stick up for this reporter’s actions is beyond me. She showed zero professionalism throughout the whole saga, and she completely undercut any point she otherwise might have been able to make about how offensive Weigel’s retweet was. Good riddance.

I’m not that PP. I don’t object to her being fired. I object to how leniently he was treated by the Post for overtly misogynist behavior.