Update on Terry Frei of the Denver Post and tweet about Japanese Indy 500 winner

Great. What's the next word we're gonna analyze linguistically? How about "dickhead"? I mean, is a person really a dickhead? An actual dickhead? Or are you basically using the term to just designate them as a fucking idiot? Because I'm very comfortable in saying that Terry Frei is a racist dickhead.

 

I think it's pretty well understood that it's a figurative term.

 

And it's pretty well understood (by everyone except you) that someone who hates nationalities is a racist.

 

Disagree. Strongly.

 

Does it have to be "racist" or even "nationalist" for him to be fired, though?

If it's an ill-advised tweet, which he admits, reflects poorly on his employer and he shit the bed when given a chance to apologize, that's enough.

For him to provide this update, where he really doesn't do anything more than say, "I've got much worse in my bag" shows he still doesn't get it - and doesn't really care that he doesn't get it.

 

I'm amused by your vehemence. Strongly.

 

He would have said nothing had a Japanese driver won any OTHER race on any OTHER day. It happened to be Memorial Day (when the Indy 500 is always run), so that's what set off a nerve in him, however stupid it was.

Likewise, the Tanaka hypothetical does not fit, either. Until the World Series gets moved back to December and he wins it on Pearl Harbor Day.

 

That's a fair point. But I would submit that being mad when Americans don't win sporting events on American War Days is jingoistic, at least, to use @playthrough's advised term.

 

What Frei tweeted was ill-advised, stupid and an invitation for some sort of disciplinary action, if not a firing (would almost surely have led to his departure in my shop, where the atmosphere is very much zero tolerance). And he's certainly not helping his cause by writing an advance on his hearing and making the "I've got much worse in my bag" statement.

But I'd be interested in hearing everyone's opinion on whether what he did was more or less of a fire-able offense than Bart Hubbuch's tweets that led to his dismissal from the New York Post. I'm not sure of the answer to that one (and if that makes me a "dickhead," so be it).

 

You're a dickhead! Kidding ...

I thought Hubbuch's Tweet was much worse, and a no-brainer firing, if only because it was for a NY paper and equated the election to 9/11. That tweet showed a remarkable and complete lack of judgment, IMO.

 

Perhaps more would buy his sincerity if he didn't work a plug for his book into every tweet.

 

I wish you all the success in your new job @Dick Whitman but if you ever feel the urge to switch careers, this thread is proof you'd be an excellent professor.