It also weaponized the outrage and ruined the lives of innocent people.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firin...

I don’t understand how people can justify the collateral damage; it is going too far.

This case seems to involve a white supremacist jerk experiencing road rage, then tricking a Latino guy into making the hand gesture, taking a photo, and then publicly lobbying his employer to fire him. Both the white supremacists and the intolerant and incurious (exclusively white) investigators/managers at the man’s company end up looking horrible.

But this doesn’t seem too relevant to the confederate flags in video games case.

Not everyone knows that white supremacist internet trolls have appropriated the OK hand gesture, but everyone living in the US understands that the confederate battle flag and other confederate symbols represent slavery, white supremacism, and treason.

Yeah, it's terrible that people can be fired for literally no reason in this country. This wouldn't have happened in a country that has any semblance of workers' rights.

"Literally no reason" ?? He was recorded flashing a white power symbol while driving a (presumably liveried) company truck.

Now I think, after hearing his story, that a public apology and explanation would have been enough. But he brought the company into disrepute. Firing him seems to be a valid option they could take. I personally think that raising awareness with a public apology and a statement from the company would have been better for everyone, but so often, a company's first response is to cover their ass. Or maybe they didn't believe him, while the reporter did? I wasn't there and can never know.

You're going to tell me this one guy "brought the company into disrepute" to a point that warranted firing him, when Equifax can expose the financial history of almost every American adult, and nobody gives a shit anymore? The guy worked for the power company. What are people gonna do, stop paying their electric bills? Buy electricity and gas from another supplier?

Stop giving the racists power to coopt innocent symbology. The swastika was virtually lost that way.

That's a great reason to pick an innocuous symbol for this purpose. We don't reasonably expect everybody to stop using the gesture. But when the symbol does attract unjust backlash, that becomes the story; nevermind the many more instances where the gesture has been used as a genuine symbol of white nationalism. It's the perfect dogwhistle.

That's a great reason to pick an innocuous symbol for this purpose. We don't reasonably expect people to stop using the gesture. But when the symbol does attract unjust backlash, it makes "the libs" look foolish and foam-mouthed because of the exceedingly few if any instances where the gesture has been used as a genuine symbol of white nationalism. It's the perfect troll.