On Monday, a newspaper editor was fired for daring to question the idea of a “third” gender option offered for driver’s licenses in Vermont. The Burlington Free Press, which is part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, quickly moved to oust editor Denis Finley for refusing to toe the liberal line on social media.
Finley’s WrongThink was committed when he reacted to a Twitter user calling a move to add a third gender option on Vermont licenses “awesome!”
“Awesome! That makes us one step closer to the apocalypse,” mocked Finley.
One triggered leftist decided to engage Finley. “So your ‘thoughts’ are that allowing people the identification they prefer on their driver’s license brings us one step closer to the apocalypse? Very deep thoughts indeed….” wrote the social media user.
“So i [sic] should just accept that it’s awesome?” asked Finley. “Why? Not everybody believes it is awesome. Why is it awesome?”
Another leftist irritated by the thing-that-must-not-be-uttered went after Finley, asking for an apology.
But the former editor did not back down; he asked, again, why the move to add a third gender was “awesome.”
According to USA TODAY, Finley was let go on Monday because it was determined he “violated the company’s social media guidelines on a number of occasions.”
Vice president for community news at USA TODAY NETWORK, Randy Lovely, claimed the editor’s tweets did not hold up to their standard of “objectivity.”
“We encourage our journalists to engage in a meaningful dialogue on social media, but it’s important that the conversation adhere to our overarching values of fairness, balance and objectivity,” said Lovely.
Burlington president Jim Fogler even issued a disclaimer to distance himself from Finley’s extremely tame comments. “Those opinions are his personal views and are not those of the staff or leadership of the Burlington Free Press,” he said.