Personal Life vs. Professional Life

I've been sort of following the case of the bloggers who worked for the John Edwards campaign who were either fired or asked to resign for nasty things they wrote on their blogs about religion in general and Catholicism specifically. Keep in mind that these opinions were written on their personal blogs before they were hired by the campaign.

I firmly think that the activities you participate in that benefit your personal life should have nothing at all to do with your professional life. Personal issues should not be a part of politics and the focus should be on who can get the job done, not who wrote a nasty blog, who smoked a joint when they were twelve, who smokes cigarettes now, or who gets a blow job even though he's married. By their very nature, personal lives are just that - personal. It's a sad state of affairs when people are forced to resign or get fired for having opinions. If people get offended because those bloggers made fun of religion, or an NBA star is homophobic, or a television actor said "faggot", or a comedian said "nigger", those people need to build a bridge and get on over it. In America the right to speak freely is protected by the constitution, unless that speech can cause bodily harm. Nowhere in the constitution are feelings protected. But opinions are, therefore professional life should be all that is taken into account for employment purposes - personal life should remain personal.

As offended as I personally was when I read about the unfortunate incidents above, I still firmly believe that those jackasses had a right to say what they did and to hold the opinions that they do. I think the NBA star, the television actor, and the comedian are ignorant bigots and do you know how I'm going to show them how little I think of them? By doing the same thing I do because of the low opinion I hold of Oprah Winfrey - I won't read news stories about them, I won't go to their movies, games, etc., and I won't support them in any way with my money. They were offensive to me and I would rather spend my money on things that benefit society and I don't feel those people are benefiting society in any way except that they have allowed us to open a dialogue regarding the nature of idiots.

I am certain that people have found the things I post on this blog to occasionally be offensive. The best way to handle that is to stop reading this blog. Don't try to get me fired or ostracized by society. Don't not hire me because you disagree with my opinions. These are my opinions and I have a right to express them in any way I see fit. My opinions exist because they do - I'm not an expert on anything, I just really like to talk.