Ruining morale, proving to be a bad member of the team, and proving your judgement is piss poor, and tarnishing the reputation of the organization as a whole would all be perfectly valid reasons to fire someone even if you think being a racist piece of shit isn't.
I disagree that it "proves" one is a bad member...perhaps I could see an argument regarding it hurting morale and tarnishing the reputation of the organization if this person did so openly and publicly, but there is a vast difference in posting or even trolling through an alias on a random message board.
We all need to let off a little steam from time to time and I think doing so anonymously can be one of the most plausible and morally-conscious ways of doing so...going so far as to ask for someone's livelihood to be turned on its head seems rather draconian and makes a mountain out of a molehill.
Furthermore, "racism" is a catch-all term to place blame and guilt at one's whim...you can tell and laugh at a racist joke and not be "racist"...again, actions speak louder than words. Moreover, I would go so far as to say that every human being is "racist" according to the rhetoric and arguments I hear regarding what "racism" actually is.
"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
But I agree, every one of this officers actions should be held under a microscope in the coming weeks and every bit of evidence, reporting, and testimony he's produced should be called into question. Any lawyer worth his salt should be able to get any case this guy ever touched overturned, thrown out, or reopened.
I think the error in this perspective is that it is hypocritical. What about all the people who have racist thoughts but don't have their aliases revealed? Furthermore, what about the people who discriminate through their actions but never reveal so through their words? I think that is a lot more dangerous than someone who says discriminatory things but doesn't act upon them.
I feel this kind of thinking is simply a primal desire in the human species to create some kind of "pariah"...an iconic figure upon which all hate can be directed towards...very akin to human sacrifice.
We all feel "the elephant in the room" or "the emperor's new clothes" but only punish the ones who don't play along with the game correctly.
Also someone should have to answer for how this guys attitude (and any potential actions) went undetected.
probably because his actions and attitude weren't discriminatory...as I mentioned before I've had a ton of students who, personally, I would like to fail (and I could have failed them) but my actions were moral and I gave them the grade they earned.
