Corporate Thought Police

Just recently, I had a run in with the University of Hull 'student misconduct' team after a complaint was made by 'a member of the public' about words I'd used online. Allegedly, I had called someone a retard and they had been, wait for it, offended.

Unfortunately, in today's politically correct world, being offended is about on par with being a holocaust victim. I can't imagine the pain and suffering the perpetually offended must go through on a day to day basis, waking up in comfy beds, turning on their smart phones, opening twatter and screaming in pain at the new social justice cuntery that warps their fragile minds. I'm quite sure, had they the chance, they would exchange places with the millions of holocaust victims in a bid for a disconnected lifestyle, full of exercise and an extremely safe space - imagine having all of those guards around 24/7!

As it happened, it later transpired that the 'retard' comment was in a different context than proposed in the complaint and therefore this was an obvious trolling attempt by someone, who perhaps didn't even use their real name when complaining - after all, I had been posting in a hacker group.

None of this mattered to the University of Hull, whose student misconduct team made insinuations that my degree could be at risk if more complaints were made and that mentioning the university on my social media gave them rights to police my speech - of course, all of that is utter rubbish and corporate protectionism.

But it did get me thinking.

In the future, I intend to employ others, whether as part of Parentull or other ventures and I will have to perform audits, assessments and checks about these people; but how far is to far? Should I be policing their social media? What if these people are amazing at their job, but are also incredibly racist, sexist or make the rest of the team uncomfortable?

I mulled this over for a few days and came to the conclusion that I would not deploy thought police as part of audits etc. I certainly wouldn't compromise my privacy and principles for any employer, so why should I expect any potential employee to do the same for me?

Whilst I'm sure many companies would use such tactics to create 'safe spaces' and pander to politically correct mantra (to retain customers/profit margins, not because they actually believe in any of the mantra), I believe diversity of thought, opinion, views and expression create a much more vibrant and effective internal culture.

In some respects, I hope in the future I get brigaded by the usual twitter wankers about an employee....

"HOW DARE YOU HIRE SUCH A WOMAN HATING REEEEE"

I'll then have the opportunity to give the response the University of Hull should have given:

"This is not a matter for X's employer. I appreciate your time in contacting me, but this will not be escalated further and if you wish to pursue action against X, please contact your solicitor"