J.Says Online
  • Home
  • Entertainment
    • THE J. LIST
    • J.LIST BLOG
    • GENERAL HOSPITAL
  • Seriously Beyonce`, WTH?!?
  • Society/Culture
  • So This is Life?
    • J.Says Daily
    • J.Says & the "Quarter-Life Crisis"
  • Contact/ Info
  • Feedback

Petraeus, Facebook & Your Job

12/3/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
David Petraeus
As most likely know, highly decorated and revered military general and CIA director David Petraeus resigned in early November after his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, was exposed. Petraeus joins the lengthy list of American government officials caught in extramarital scandal, but this time, the response of the media and public was a little different. Usually angry, unforgiving, critical and demanding a resignation from a position of power, crowds seemed to feel sorry for the officer and wished he hadn’t stepped down. Does this mean our morality is deteriorating as a culture or have we become more benevolent and merciful? I think we’re just starting to better evaluate relevancy.

In the years after President Bill Clinton’s 2001 impeachment in which he lied under oath about the details of his own affair, many in media began to question whether the punishment fit the crime. Yes, he broke the law, but media and political analysts were looking at a bigger picture. Some made the argument that our cultural reactions to the transgressions of public figures is so harsh, that it could’ve pushed Clinton to lie to cover it up and we ended up losing a president who stabilized the economy over an issue that only affected his home life. Taking it a step further, imagine the reduction on smear campaigns if we only responded to scandals that correlate with the duty of public office. Politicians might have to actually rely on only politics to get ahead of their opponents, but that’s another issue for another day, I suppose.

Picture
All of these events have us talking about fairness and when a personal indiscretion should cause you to lose your job, consider resignation or be denied a position (by the way, as of this time, it hasn’t been concluded that Petraeus’ affair lead to confidential information being compromised). It’s been widely reported that employers and college admission counselors are now taking advantage of social media and browsing what they can of candidate profiles before making a decision. This is absolute crap to me. I have so many issues with this practice. First, let me say I find a lot of things about the traditional interview process discriminatory and unfair (for example, the over-emphasis on appearance. Not everyone can afford nice dress-wear, but they might be able to do a job well). Assessing a candidate based on their Facebook or Twitter page opens all kinds of doors for discrimination, not to mention it’s an infringement of privacy (are they going to ask for personal diaries or talk to our priests next?). If job-seekers are regularly discriminated against in the traditional process with laws in place, imagine the rate of prejudice when social media is factored in. Who’s to say that an employer won’t disqualify a job-seeker simply because they have opposite political views or over something petty like being a fan of Britney Spears? It might be over an unsavory status or suggestive picture, but how do we formally and fairly define “unsavory” and “suggestive” and how it correlates to the job position? Formal background checks, job references, resumes and interviews should tell you all you need to know about a candidate’s ability to perform a task well. Whether they hit the gay bar last week has nothing to do with it. 

The reality of it is if everyone was denied a job for personal gaffes, no one would have work. My stance is that if one’s missteps or personal choices doesn’t harm anyone or literally damage an establishment or company, they should be able to get and keep a job. Thoughts?

2 Comments
C. Dyer
12/3/2012 09:17:47 am

I agree that many of these cases have little to do with job performance. We live in a society that likes to sensationalize things more than it probably should. The only reason affairs would be anyone's business is because it reflects a pattern of deceitful behavior. If someone can lie to the person who knows them best and get away with it, what sort of lies might they tell the public? Facebook is a public forum even though some people treat it as a diary. In general, it is probably a good idea to use privacy settings and not add your boss to your friends list. It's also a bad idea to use Facebook to vent about specific people. Things have a way of getting back the ppl you wrote about.

Reply
find me a job brisbane link
5/26/2013 03:34:11 pm

I’m not a guru on this topic, but I do know good writing when I read it. This is excellent content with great useful information.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture

    Society/Culture

    My personal commentary on politics, race, gender, religion, social class, news media and several other things related to our society and culture.

    Note: Occasionally, other individuals will be writing posts and they will be marked as such. Want to be contributor for this section of the site? Click the "Contact/Info" tab and fill out the form to apply.

    Archives

    May 2014
    August 2013
    July 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    November 2009
    October 2009
    June 2009

    Picture
    Picture
    Click to support a cause

    Tags/Categories

    All
    18 20 Yr Olds
    18 20yr Olds
    50 Shades Of Grey
    Abortion
    Abstinence
    Abuse
    Activism
    Alexandra Wallace
    Arizona
    Bad Boys
    Barack Obama
    Beauty
    Birth Control
    Black Community
    Black Hair
    Books
    Bullying
    Bush
    C.Dyer
    C.G. Seymore
    Christianity
    Classism
    College Life
    Contributing Writers
    Corporate America
    Crime
    Cultural Egocentricism
    David Petraeus
    Debates
    Demi Lovato
    Depression
    Disabled Community
    Donald Sterling
    Education
    Employment
    Entertainment
    Evil
    Feminism
    Foreign Affairs
    Gender
    Gender Roles
    Hair
    Hate
    Healthcare
    Humanity
    Human Nature
    Immigration
    Independence
    Infidelity
    Iran
    Jersey Shore
    John Mayer
    Jordin Sparks
    Journalism
    Justin Bieber
    Lasheena Allgood
    Law Enforcement
    Lgbt
    Life Choices
    Marriage
    Media
    Men
    Morals
    NBA
    Oil Leak
    Parenting
    Partisanship
    Petraeus
    Political Cartoons
    Politics
    Politics On Facebook
    Pornography
    Race Relations
    Racism
    Rape
    Relationships
    Religion
    Reusable Coffee Cups
    Reusable Cold Beverage Cups
    Rihanna
    Rolling Stone
    Rush Limbaugh
    September 11th
    Sex
    Sexism
    Social Awareness
    Social Media
    Society & Culture On Twitter
    Suicide
    Taylor Swift
    Teens
    Teen Violence
    Terrorism
    Toxic Relationships
    Video Blogs
    Voting
    V. Stiviano
    War
    Workforce
    Youth

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.