Watch this first.
For every hundred people to comment on this TikTok, at least a few condemn it and demand the officer’s resignation. An overwhelming majority find it amusing and daring. Daring, because it bravely depicts the white cop’s dilemma.
Who’s reality prevails?
Organisations, being intrinsically risk-averse and cowardly, buckle at the potential for a minority-incited Twitterstorm. The officer would be lucky to get suspended on pay. In this instant, Deputy Nate Silvester from Bellevue, Idaho, was suspended without pay.
So the skewed-reality of the few cancels the reality of most. No wonder we’re feeling frustrated and nervous. We all need to make a living, and precedural fairness seems to be a thing of the past in risk-averse organisations.
So it might be an opportune moment to highlight some of the ways you can risk your livelihood by speaking truth to power, or by standing up for yourself, or by dispaying intellectual or ethical rigor:
Getting into an argument and misgendering your opponent — permanent ban from Twitter.
Drinking a Pepsi while on the job as a delivery driver for Coca Cola — fired from his job.
Blog posts 20-30 years ago which objectify women — forced to resign.
Anonymously donating $25 to a controversial GoFundMe campaign — fired from his job.
Asking the presenter of a lecture about microaggressions to define ‘microaggression’ — suspended for being aggressive
Being related to someone who made anti-Semitic social media posts 10 years ago — business destroyed
For insisting that your employees are entitled to due process — fired from his job.
Making a distinction between women, men, and trans people — forced resignation.
Social media posts ten years ago (at the age of 17) which invoked stereotypes about Asians — forced resignation.
Wearing a ‘drunk wives matter’ hat in a social media post — fired from her job.
Failing to publicly condemn somebody for cultural appropriation — forced to resign.
Saying a Chinese word (‘nega’) that was misheard as the n-word — suspended from duties.
Posting how excited you are to be going on a holiday a trip to India — accused of ‘imperialist mindset’, business lost
English man uses an American accent while talking to a Black man, overheard by a white woman who reports him for racism — fired from his job.
When rioters began looting a store next door, accused of racism for calling police — business destroyed
For tweeting ‘men aren’t women tho’ — permanent ban from Twitter.
For publishing research that shows polar bear populations are stable — fired from her job
For flirting five years ago — forced to resign
For asking students not to wear offensive Halloween costumes — forced to resign
Being photographed next to a person wearing an Islamophobic t-shirt — fired from job
Saying that your country is not racist — forced to resign
For training your girlfriend’s pug dog to perform a Hilter salute as a joke — fines and imprisonment.