http://madisonian.net/2009/10/08/fake-profile-poster-barred-from-public-job-for-life/ a blog about law, tech, culture, and related things Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:06:26 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://madisonian.net/2009/10/08/fake-profile-poster-barred-from-public-job-for-life/comment-page-1/#comment-295612 Timon Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:45:18 +0000 http://madisonian.net/?p=3127#comment-295612 What is remarkable about this is how unlikely the same outcome would have resulted from the officer shooting an unarmed bystander during an overheated traffic stop or drug raid. I wish it were this easy to fire bad cops all the time -- how typically sad that we even have to go to court following the dismissal of a merely disturbed, intemperate and obnoxious armed officer of the law. I don't know any teenagers who do this kind of thing, the fact that he dares to walk into court with his head high is insulting. What is remarkable about this is how unlikely the same outcome would have resulted from the officer shooting an unarmed bystander during an overheated traffic stop or drug raid. I wish it were this easy to fire bad cops all the time — how typically sad that we even have to go to court following the dismissal of a merely disturbed, intemperate and obnoxious armed officer of the law. I don’t know any teenagers who do this kind of thing, the fact that he dares to walk into court with his head high is insulting.

]]> http://madisonian.net/2009/10/08/fake-profile-poster-barred-from-public-job-for-life/comment-page-1/#comment-295572 Bruce Boyden Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:06:58 +0000 http://madisonian.net/?p=3127#comment-295572 "Instead, in this case, one moment’s really poor judgment sticks." This is something I've been mulling over the last year or so. We're in a moment of transition, I think, in which standards of current behavior are being judged by the availability of evidence of pre-Internet behavior, to the detriment of current actors. But one possibility here (I'm not wedded to this) is that this isn't such a bad long-term development, once the situation stabilizes. That is, is a lack of full transparency that someone can occasionally, temporarily, be a massive jerk something worth keeping? I can see my way to a conclusion that the answer to that is "no." “Instead, in this case, one moment’s really poor judgment sticks.” This is something I’ve been mulling over the last year or so. We’re in a moment of transition, I think, in which standards of current behavior are being judged by the availability of evidence of pre-Internet behavior, to the detriment of current actors. But one possibility here (I’m not wedded to this) is that this isn’t such a bad long-term development, once the situation stabilizes. That is, is a lack of full transparency that someone can occasionally, temporarily, be a massive jerk something worth keeping? I can see my way to a conclusion that the answer to that is “no.”

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