Having worked closely with email for a long time, and having watched what happened to folks like Oliver North, it is a truism that once you press Send, an email can never be deleted. And even if that isn't entirely true you should act as though it is.
Or, in the words of an older generation, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all."
Many emails have circulated since the latest news about the troubles at NPR caused by the "journalist" James O'Keefe. Anyone receiving federal funds needs to be very careful about what they say, even if you are not being recorded, even while in private, even if you are just talking to yourself out loud. And The Fear has spread beyond those receiving federal funds, to anyone working in the non-profit world. If your Development Department hasn't yet reminded you that the boogeyman, or James O'Keefe could be lurking around the corner, then they haven't been doing their job.
And what does that mean for the millions of folks who work at non-profit or charitable institutions, not to mention any institution that gets even a nickel of money from the Feds? It means that you can bend over and kiss your sweet little first amendment rights goodbye.
At the same time that these institutions are targeted by the James O'Keefe's of the world, they also are being assailed on the policy front, they being fiscally gutted (after being grossly underfunded for decades), and now they are being threatened with total destruction should so much as a single employee mis-step. Lest you think I exaggerate, look at what happened to Acorn.
I don't know what else to say...this is ugly.
2 comments:
Apropo of spsech-- Remember the microphone is always on.
Some one during the Frank Costtllo Congressional hearings ( I thought it wss Senator George Akin of VT) saieminod "Anything I have ever done or said can stand the light of day to any man."
Is that like free speech? or is it like speek up and be herd?
If NPR receives 6% of their funding from the feds, then why do they kiss goodbye their first amendment rights because some sleazeball tricked them into an ACORN trap? Do they not have 94% remaining? PS.. I just sent in my contribution.
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