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Workers fired over Charlie Kirk comments learn the limits of free speech on the job
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2025
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Private enterprises do not have to honor the tenants of free speech in the employment practices, nor should they be required to. They should be able to, for example, fire someone who spouts racism, sexism, xenophobia... or any other form of hate speech, which has happened many times. But likewise, we do not have to support private enterprises that are more worried about PR blow back than basic decency and liberty to allow their employees to speak your mind, that use their position of authority to curb speech that might be distasteful to them or their customers but otherwise does nothing wrong. We can boycott and protest these enterprises, and we should. And for those enterprises that are public, that answer to us, we should make sure they know that the jobs of those responsible are on the line too.
Some of the things said in this article amount to celebrating violence, and I can see good reason to distance your company from that. But there is no reason to fire anyone that simply expresses reasonable dislike for one's behavior and words, or for warning others that words can have consequences. Actually, the irony for firing someone for warning that words can have consequences is almost comedic, except the wrong people faced the consequences. Anyone firing anyone for simply speaking ill of the dead, for pointing out that they weren't the hero or beacon of righteous truth people are pretending they are, should be fired as well.