Yesterday I read an article about a BP employee who lost an unfair dismissal application for sharing a Downfall parody video .
The employee was sacked for breaching BP’s “Code of Conduct” for helping to produce, and share on a private Facebook group, the parody video which was “objectively offensive”.
A Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission said “The Hitler video had the potential to undermine, demean and denigrate the BP senior management team amongst an audience which they were charged to lead,”.
Think about the word potential for a minute.
Literally everything has the potential to do something negative.
A simple box of matches has the potential to burn down a house.
Yet, that doesn’t stop us from being able to buy matches at the supermarket.
The Deputy President “also found it was arguably worse that he shared the video in a private Facebook group as it was made up of the workers who “could easily draw parallels” with the identities involved.”
So, what if, as a vegan, I shared this version of the video?
Would I be sacked from BP for the potential to suggest that those who aren’t vegan are Nazis?
In all seriousness, if management are concerned about something that has the potential to “undermine, demean and denigrate the BP senior management team”, the company has far bigger problems than the video.
These parody videos have been going on for at least a decade.
In 2009, The Telegraph made a list of what they thought were 25 versions that were worth watching.
So, I ask you.
Is political correctness hurting us?
Or, are we simply looking for something to be upset about?
