Many of us wondered ten years ago when radical college snowflakes started their careers. Given their hypersensitivity to criticisms and penchant for pursuing confrontation over trivial issues, what kind of employees they would make?
Felicia Sonmez, Washington Post political reporter. Somnez was notified by David Weigel, a noted WaPo journalist, that he had tweeted a sexist joke about women. Somnez responded with a series of tweets that made the veteran reporter apologize in just minutes.
Cam Harless, a YouTube host, shared a joke with Weigel that said “Every girl’s bi.” It’s just a matter of determining if the polarity is sexual or polar. Tasteless? Inappropriate? Absolutely in a workplace.
Sonmez then attacked the Post for not firing Weigel that moment without pay. The Post eventually suspended the reporter for one month without pay.
The story didn’t stop there. Sonmez began a Twitter war, pursuing any Twitter colleague who supported the Post and claimed Somnez was overreacting.
The Post editorial staff finally had enough. They fired Sonmez for “insubordination.”
Politico:
But the infighting continued from there. Another Post reporter, Jose A. Del Real, accused Sonmez of trying to publicly bully Weigel over a mistake for which he had apologized. Sonmez responded in kind: “When women stand up for themselves, some people respond with even more vitriol.”
Sonmez continued to rail against the paper’s leadership from there, with lengthy threads arguing that it had done little to create an inclusive culture or protect reporters from internal and external harassment. The New York Times reported on Thursday that in its termination letter to Sonmez, Post leadership wrote that her conduct amounted to “insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violating The Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity.” POLITICO has not been able to authenticate the letter.
What makes this story significant is that it may mark a turning point in the untrammeled ability of these spoiled, entitled young people to create havoc over meaningless controversies. Simply asking Weigel to delete the offending tweet and apologize would have been more than enough for any reasonable manager or company. It should have been enough for Sonmez.
Sonmez is a MeToo survivor and has made a big deal of it. She needs special treatment, or else she will collapse in a pile of Jello, unable even to move or speak.
I stand by what I wrote in that email. In 2018, I was punished after I told my editors I needed to take a walk around the block after reading a difficult story.
Other colleagues have been punished for their trauma far more recently, but their stories aren’t mine to tell. 1/ https://t.co/uLXvL2fVmA
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
The world is filled with ugliness and tragedy, mean-spiritedness, and hate. The Post might need someone more solid to cover the story if you are unable to do so without falling apart. One thing is certain: at least 20 young people are available to cover any story that the Washington Post needs without having to “walk around the block”. They are almost certainly far more talented than Felicia Sánchez. This woman is not special.
Before she bragged to her superiors about it and got fired, she should have known what she was talking about.
