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Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

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Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#31

Post by newnewnew »

Poor guy. For what it's worth I agree with the tweets that got him fired, including this one[1] and the ones immediately around it. The "controversial" apps from the techcrunch disrupt hackathon weren't really "misogynist", so much as in bad taste. And I'm tired of seeing accusations of "hate" used to shut down discussion.

But it seems that tweeting that kicked off a PC feminist lynch mob that went back through his tweets combing for a way to get him fired. Most of the tweets that offended them are logically defensible, if against mainstream opinion.

The one that is beyond the pale is a quote from Mel Gibson. I'm not sure why he posted that. Anybody that has a reason to dislike you isn't going to give you the benefit of the doubt. You gotta be on your toes. Even in this thread on HN people are debating whether or not he should be fired, and then that tweet gets posted and people say "oh, I see".

This goes to show that the only way to have counter-cultural opinions on the internet is with a pseudonym. Or to never make mistakes. You hackers arguing about "women in tech", founder accents, or other sensitive topics under your real names are insane.

[1] https://twitter.com/paxdickinson/status/377139293136756736

Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#32

Post by leephillips »

andrew_gardener wrote: post #3
theorique wrote: post #2

That escalated quickly.

based on his history (links from inside article) it seems to have been building up over the years. Guess he finally crossed the line?

Guess he did. Joking about "niggers" gang raping Jesus didn't cross it, but suggesting that he preferred not to read about feminism in tech was just too much.

Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#34

Post by rit »

hosay123 wrote: post #26

For all the value of political correctness in the workplace, someone just lost their job for their honest views, because some found them too ugly to bear. If you're still thirsty for more ugly truth, check out a Twitter search for @paxdickinson just now. Apparently to many, honesty is objectively worse than endless vengeful hate. I don't support anything this guy said, but clearly some of it was sarcasm, and as for t…

He was in a position to hire people, and expressing views that clearly indicated bias towards certain protected classes.

That alone would be cause for concern. I don't know that I"d advocate his firing, but I'd certainly question his authority to hire & fire staff based on the things he's said.

Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#35

Post by fingerprinter »

fedvasu wrote: post #19

It is height of hypocrysy! That dude is not entitled to his opinion. :facepalm: I hate this entire feminism in tech agenda. Yeah, He is a douche, so what? Everyone is a little bit on varying topics.Because of things like that our industry is stranded in politics. Pax: Salute! business insider: you are anti-democratic and pro-feminist douche bags. fuck feminist agenda.

Dude...wtf?

He can surely have an opinion, even a minority, rather ridiculous opinion. What he can't do is be a complete asshat and think there are no ramifications.

It shows a complete lack of empathy as well as judgement. Guy is a CTO of a rather public company and feels the need to rant off like this on twitter? 1. extremely poor judgement and 2. shows he "doesn't get it".

However you look at it, this guy shouldn't be anywhere near leading other people and should have all access to public communications revoked. Not to mention the possible lawsuits this exposed the company to! I mean, come on! Think!

Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#37

Post by runn1ng »

Karunamon wrote: post #24
untog wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much the last straw. How about this tweet: "In The Passion Of The Christ 2, Jesus gets raped by a pack of niggers. It's his own fault for dressing like a whore though." https://twitter.com/paxdickinson/statuses/18546571881

Wow. Suddenly this article makes sense.

He is a fun guy.

http://valleywag.gawker.com/business-insider-ctos-is-your-ne...

Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#38

Post by minimaxir »

andrew_gardener wrote: post #3
theorique wrote: post #2

That escalated quickly.

based on his history (links from inside article) it seems to have been building up over the years. Guess he finally crossed the line?

More likely, the Valleywag article forced BI's hand.

Re: Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm

#40

Post by hosay123 »

rit wrote: post #34
hosay123 wrote: post #26

For all the value of political correctness in the workplace, someone just lost their job for their honest views, because some found them too ugly to bear. If you're still thirsty for more ugly truth, check out a Twitter search for @paxdickinson just now. Apparently to many, honesty is objectively worse than endless vengeful hate. I don't support anything this guy said, but clearly some of it was sarcasm, and as for t…

He was in a position to hire people, and expressing views that clearly indicated bias towards certain protected classes. That alone would be cause for concern. I don't know that I"d advocate his firing, but I'd certainly question his authority to hire & fire staff based on the things he's said.

This generalizes further than just antifeminism. Christians and atheists are usually in positions to hire people. I guess we should just fire everybody who ever believed in anything, and then we'd have a perfect world, right?
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