Letting bygones be bygones. Or not.

A close friend called me recently and told me frantically that two people who work with her were getting fired for blogging about work. It is a RASH, people, and it's itchy, inflamed, and spreading wildly. These people left out the name of the company they worked for, but the one guy had his place of employment listed on his Myspace, so it's like a trail of clues. These people are INTERNET SLEUTHS, I tell you, and they're like, "HAH! WE WIN. And you're fired."

And, I get it. I get why they wouldn't want you running around saying a bunch of bad things about them, why they think that could be bad news. But, at the same time, where do you draw the line? Blogs published to the internet are totally public; anyone can look at it. But what if I stood in the middle of the street and starting yelling that my ex-boss was WOUND UP LIKE A CLOCK and really needed to be sedated? What if I stood there yelling these things as people were walking by, and a few passersby heard me? Could I get fired for that? What if I was sitting in a bar telling my friends that this boss couldn't speak correct English? Could I get fired for that? I just think it's a slippery slope that these employers are sliding down, because people should be able to talk about their lives, to say how their day went, and to vent about the things that bother them. If I had a bad experience at the doctor, or at the grocery store, or on the highway, I would come here and talk about it. I feel like it should be the same way with my work.

So, I think we should start a bloggers' union. The Union of Bloggers. UOB. I know at least two folks who'll join. UOB UNITE, MOTHERFUCKERS!