Two TV newsmen were suspended -- and their boss was fired -- when they tried to add some humor to a weather report by donning afro wigs and saying that the temperature was going to “return to the 70s.” Get it? Maybe a juvenile joke, maybe a bad joke, but a firing offense?
"John Seabers, a Sinclair Broadcast Group vice president and group manager in charge of local stations in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma...issued the following apology: 'We apologize to all viewers who were rightfully offended by the segment, and we promise to enact and enforce new measures to prevent future incidents from occurring.'
What, if anything, does it mean to be "rightfully offended"?
Taking offence is an emotional reaction. There is nothing "right" or "wrong" about it. It happens to us or it doesn't. If I take offence at something that someone says or does, it doesn't necessarily mean that anyone intended to offend me or did anything wrong. Maybe I'm just an easily offended guy, or maybe I imagine an intention to offend where none actually exists.
"Seabers called the cultural Afro-priation 'abhorrent' and 'juvenile,' adding that he was especially disappointed as the staff had undergone six weeks of racial sensitivity training prior to the segment...
"KATV has since pledged to implement 'further training for sensitivity and workplace conduct, in line with our commitment to ensuring events like this don’t happen again,' the spokesperson said."
Yes, and the beatings will continue until morale improves!
This bit bears repeating: "the staff had undergone six weeks of racial sensitivity training prior to the segment..."
SO MUCH FOR SENSITIVITY TRAINING. Maybe the people who should be suspended or fired are the ones who developed and led that apparently ineffective training program.
I suggest that instead of undergoing even more sensitivity training, the entire staff should sit down together, enjoy a few adult beverages, and watch a bunch of Don Rickles comedy routines in which he skewers every race, ethnicity, and religion known to man (and woman). And the participants would be encouraged to laugh out loud every time they heard something that struck them as funny, even if it was politically incorrect!
ZERO TOLERANCE = 100% INTOLERANCE.