He was not trying to be a moral compass and he was not some random person. He is on the National Space Council that oversees NASA. He recognized the fact that NASA wouldn't want it's name associated with such language, especially when used by a new hire. He was trying to politely give her the heads up. That's it.

If you publicly announce you work for such, then you need to be aware that you are now representing them in some sense.

What she did was both obnoxious and stupid. I don't really think she deserves Mr. Hickman's kindness here, though his actions have impressed me and I've now followed him on Twitter.

I'm also thinking I need to try harder to swear less online. Cuz (reasons). Though I already make some effort to clean up my language and I cannot imagine cussing someone out in the manner that happened here.

If he had said, "I work with NASA and your language here is inappropriate" then we wouldn't have heard anything about the incident. He approached this poorly.

In the end, I think the least that can be expected of anyone who chooses to attack a stranger is that they take the 5 seconds required to click that person's profile and skim their bio, and even Google it if that person uses their real name. To me, Naomi H's major screwup is not necessarily her profanity, but what appeared to be a total lack of discretion. If you have time to tell someone to fuck off, you have time to look up there info; there's no excuse in this age of Google and high-speed internet to do otherwise.

I do stand by my feelings on people saying one word and expecting anything besides annoyance or being ignored. Why should I take the energy to research a person if they can't be bothered to type something more clear.

We don't know for sure why exactly NASA fired her, but it's understandable if they did it out of political fear, like a Goldman Sachs manager firing an intern for shitting on a member of the board of directors. But it's possible the intern was fired not out of fear, but concern that if she could be such an asshole to a legend at NASA who was not being explicitly rude, then imagine how less empathetic she might be toward someone with far less privilege and institutional standing.

Again, imagine if it were an intern at Goldman Sachs, or some other institution that's considered as elite in its industry as NASA is in science and engineering.

You are basically saying its okay to cuss someone out because you didn't realize they were important and basically your boss. I fundamentally disagree. Her behavior is terrible, no matter who the guy is. It's just that much worse that she is also proving how clueless she is in so very many ways on top of showing her butt generally.

Disagree. It's ok for people to address bad behavior in a public space. Especially when the person is now representing you or your group.

He made an error here and clearly he feels guilty about the way he addressed it.

It depends on the public space. Walking through the mall with friends? No. Standing on a platform in front of a crowd with big NASA flags behind me, and speaking into a microphone?

This situation was more like the second, IMHO.

I don't think he feels guilty about it. I think he recognized the impact this kids mistake could have and wanted to help.

He felt responsibility because of his involvement.

>Would you expect a kind response...

Actually, sadly I would not. I feel like selfishness, entitlement, and respect have been taken to a new low in the last 30 something years in the majority of youth.