Free Speech - For Some

An L.A. Unified teacher's remarks at Occupy Los Angeles crossed a line. Her dismissal was justified.

An Editorial Written by the Los Angeles Times

This newspaper ardently supports the right to free speech, even when that speech is controversial, hateful or ignorant. But no right is absolute, and Patricia McAllister, a substitute teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, crossed a line with her anti-Semitic comment at Occupy Los Angeles."The Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and the Federal Reserve … need to be run out of this country," she said in the taped interview with Reason TVthat then went viral on YouTube. On Tuesday, Supt. John Deasy fired her.

Good for him. As obnoxious as McAllister's remarks were, this probably wasn't all that easy a decision for Deasy to make. McAllister wasn't at work when she spoke. Though she identified herself as a school district employee, she was careful to note that she was not speaking as a representative of L.A. Unified. And Deasy knows as well as anyone that courts have historically — and correctly — protected teachers' free-speech rights.

But there are limits. As a teacher, McAllister works with a captive audience of vulnerable children. Her comments certainly raise questions about her ability to treat them all equally and fairly. What's more, even if she's been the soul of discretion on the job, as well as kind and evenhanded with all her students, by making herself a public symbol of intolerance, McAllister no longer can serve effectively as a teacher.

For one thing, Jewish students likely would feel intimidated in her classes, no matter how nicely she treated them; their parents and many others might storm the principals' offices demanding her removal. Other students and parents might rally to her cause, or, alternately, they too might feel threatened by her bigoted positions. She would be a disruptive element on campus, and her future effectiveness as a teacher would almost certainly be compromised. (After she was fired, McAllister expanded on her views in an interviewwith Fox TV: "The word Jew is similar to communism today … Jews have been run out of 109 countries through history and we need to run them out of this one.")

As execrable as her comments were, it might be a different matter if McAllister were, say, a Department of Motor Vehicles clerk. There, she would be dealing with adults who could hold their own, and would have little direct authority over them. It also might be different if she had expressed a controversial opinion that was not an inflammatory attack on a particular ethnic or religious group.

We're reluctant to restrict anyone's ability to express even the most loathsome views openly and publicly. But when a teacher trumpets hateful opinions that could intimidate the impressionable young people she's supposed to be serving, that's not just free speech — it's a performance issue. In speaking out so intemperately, McAllister's ability to do her job was fatally compromised.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Comment:

Folks, the LA Times is owned by the Chicago based Tribune Company. Below is a list of the company's executives. Need I say more? The Jewish executives are highlighted in bold face. Those are the top eleven people at Tribune. There are 18 names there. Twelve are Jewish. If it is not by design that Jews dominate the media, then why are two thirds of those positions filled by by an ethnic group that comprises only three percent of the population? Coincidence? Yeah, right. If you believe that, then I have a few bridges I'd like to sell you.

Please bear in mind that Jews often change their names to hide their Jewishness. They would tell us that their families changed their names back in the day to avoid prejudice and Anti-Semitism, and not to deceive anyone. And since their names were changed so long ago, they didn't see a reason to change them back.

Well, I believe that about Joe Average Jew little guy, but not the big boys. The big boys often try to deceive us so we won't know what they're up to - until it's too late.

The above editorial makes perfect sense when you read the list below.

Dan 88!

Tribune Company Board of Directors

	Samuel Zell Chairman of Tribune Company
	Jeffrey S. Berg Chairman and CEO of International Creative Management, Inc.
	Brian L. Greenspun Chairman and CEO of The Greenspun Corporation
	Betsy D. Holden Former President of Global Marketing and Category Development for Kraft Foods
	William A. Osborn Chairman of Northern Trust
	William Pate Chief Investment Officer of Equity Group Investments, LLC
	Mark Shapiro Partner and CEO of Dick Clark Productions
	Maggie Wilderotter Chairman and CEO of Frontier Communications Corporation
	Frank Wood CEO of Secret Communications

Executive Management

	Eddy Hartenstein President and CEO, Tribune Company Publisher and CEO, Los Angeles Times
	Tony Hunter CEO, Tribune Publishing President, Publisher and CEO, Chicago Tribune
	Nils Larsen Chief Investment Officer, Tribune Company President and CEO, Tribune Broadcasting
	Chandler Bigelow Chief Financial Officer
	David P. Eldersveld Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
	Steve Gable Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
	Donald J. Liebentritt Chief Restructuring Officer
	Gary Weitman Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations