Is Mark Jen the Blogosphere’s dumbest blogger?
Duncan Riley> Yes, I know I’m going to get blasted for this headline but tough, after reading over and over again about poor Mark Jen who got sacked from Google for blogging, here it is:
Is Mark Jen the Blogosphere’s dumbest blogger?
Mark has given an interview to the IDG News Service where he talks about his experience, and I’ve come to the conclusion that he is. But alas, I may be wrong in the way that some people speculate that Paris Hilton is not really a dopey blonde bimbo but an extremely smart manipulator, because if Mark Jen is not a dill on steroids, then he is a master manipulator who has created a situation to propel himself to the top of the blogs and to deliver himself his 15 minutes of fame. Being the nice person that I am though, I’m betting on the first option.
Let’s take a look at a few choice quotes from the interview:
IDGNS: Are there any lessons you learned that you can share with others who may be in a similar position of blogging about work in their personal blogs?
Jen: I’ve learned quite a few lessons from this entire episode. First of all, I learned that blogging is a public forum, and ideas you express are going to be read by more people than you think. That’s a crucial lesson. Another lesson is to clear up with your employer before you blog what exactly [it considers] acceptable and unacceptable
Wow! Blogging in the public forum might mean the public might read what you right, shucks, and we only though the internet was accessible to the 5 members of the secret council of Zion. And jee-whiz, make sure that before you openly criticize your employer that you make sure that your employer, the one paying your wage and putting food into your mouth (or in Mark Jen’s case, medicine) is ok with you slandering and attacking them in an open forum, because employers might not all be like the ones in Marks head who while skipping around a Kombi van signing songs whilst smoking pot, enjoy and encourage their employees to go for the jugular.
But wait, there’s more:
Jen: I definitely was surprised at being terminated. It’€™s a shocking thing.
That’s right again, Jen thinks it’s acceptable to criticise his employer openly on the net. Future employers beware.
IDGNS: Are you going to make a claim against Google in any way?
Jen: No, I’m not interested in that. I don’t think that’s going to be productive.
Translated this means: not productive because it might highlight how stupid he is.
Now, some may be shaking there heads by now and saying, Tssk, Tssk, Duncan, you are becoming far to jaded and are being mean. Tough. Bloggers like Mark Jen give other bloggers a bad name. As someone who has managed a business in the past and has been responsible for hiring and firing employees before, I wouldn’t have thought twice about sacking him. On what planet is it acceptable to openly trash your employer and expect your employment to be ongoing?
I’ve personally supported the call for blogging policies to be introduced, as is being pushed by Ellen Simonetti, because I believe her situation, and that of a number of others, notably Jeremy Wright, was unjust and unfair, but it takes a real Grade A moron to think that its acceptable to do what Mark Jen has done and get away with it.
As an advocate of free speech I respect Mr Jen’s right to exercise it, but I also more respect Google’s right to disagree with him and sack him.
My only wish going forward is that we all move on and quickly cut Mr Jen’s 15 minutes of fame to 10 minutes, and leave the tale for the 1st episode of America’s Dumbest Bloggers, premiering on Fox in 2009.
He should be able to say what he likes on his blog without fear of being fired. If he said something that was untrue then the employer can always take legal action – but the idea of employees being too afraid to write or say what they think for fear of being thrown onto the scrapheap strikes me as being decidedly dangerous – employers would then more or less have the right to “police” their workers opinions and writings outside of the hours in which their services are rented. I don’t know what this person said in his blog, but people aren’t simply economic units employers can hire or fire at will. Every employer owes their employees a duty of care, so equating his “right” to say what he likes in his blog with an employers “right” to fire him is misleading.