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Comment by hfhdjdks | Hacker News Reader

Let's say you collect stamps. I think it's a stupid and morally irresponsible way of using your free time (you should be socializing or doing sports or learning something new). Just being honest with my opinion.

This is all ok. The problem is when we start firing people or shunning them for stuff we don't like.

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If I chose not to hang around someone who continually brings their politics or their religion into whatever is going on, am I shunning them?

Let's say I read paleontology for fun. Can I avoid Young Earth Creationists socially, or am I shunning them?

That's a very strange question.

Not hanging out with someone is obviously fine, and it's your choice.

Firing or publicly shunning someone is a totally different matter.

"Not hanging out with someone" is the very definition of shunning, public or otherwise.

Why is firing a different matter? If I'm an employer in an at will state, I most certainly can fire someone who's not a member of a protected group, like atheists, say.

Doing something "public or otherwise" is obviously different, hence the "or". I don't think I have to explain anything here, or do I?

And firing is obviously different from "avoiding socially" because you don't pay people to hang out with you.

Let's take an example that's not a softball. What if your daughter's male elementary school teacher had a porn site and everyone in the class knew about it? How about your son's female middle school teacher? Apply to your therapist, or masseuse or whatever.

Do you not see a conflict of interest? How much of a distraction would that be? That's not so black and white to me.

This falls into the category of "effects their ability to perform their work" and (to some extent) "more harm than good" (because it impacts their ability to to do their work. And, in that case, it may be reasonable to no longer employ them for that role. I expect it's similar to sportsball players that have ethical clauses in their contracts; the point of their job is to bring in money for the team and, if people despise them for their actions, they may not be able to do that.

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