Sunday, February 26, 2006

Blog fallout

The NYT Magazine has published this question, from Ciara Healy, of Augusta, GA, to The Ethicist (Randy Cohen)

After I was scheduled for a job interview at a university, a member of the search committee Googled me and found my blog, where I refer to him (but not by name) as a belligerent jerk. He canceled the interview. It was impolitic to write what I did, but my believing him to be a jerk does not mean I would not be great at that job, and the rest of the committee might agree. Was it ethical of him to cancel the interview?


It would seem that one might usefully follow the old (Arabic?) dictum, which goes something like, before saying anything, consider - Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

2 comments:

CapitalistImperialistPig said...

It would certainly make blogging duller!

Th. said...

.

I worry about that a lot. I only recently made my blog address available to, for instance, my family. I really don't spew venom that much, but that type of issue is always in the back of my mind.