Venting & Vigilance
At first, this story of a woman who was fired for items on her blog was something I was going to pass without comment. After all, writing publicly about work (and even private life, when including people by name) is risky, and placing a link to the same in one's signature line only makes it more dangerous. Common sense.
However, it does make me wonder - in an age of lawsuits - how vigilant a person, or especially an organization, has to be about public statements made by an employee, or a student, especially those of a violent nature? In the vast majority of cases it's simple venting, being done by people who'd never tak violent action. However, what happens in the case where the person does go from rant to rage? Is a fellow employee, student, boss or teacher going to be liable if he was aware of what the person was saying beforehand, and has mentioned to someone that he's seen it but not taken any action? What if it's a thinly fictionalized effort, where the real life counterparts are apparent to anyone familiar with them?
No answers here, just something to consider.
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