> I become un-fireable
That's not been true in most countries for a long time
That's not been true in most countries for a long time
Layoffs aren't a thing in academia. Poor performance in the classroom isn't punishable. Failure to bring in grants isn't punishable. You can't be fired for disagreeing with your boss. You can (in most cases) publicly criticize the administration you work for, and advocate for many (yes, not all) controversial ideas.
In Europe, it's more common that a professor has roughly the same job security as a teenager in their first real job. There are some exceptions due to academic freedom, but they are mostly about the substance of the work rather than the performance in it. And other independent professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and civil engineers, often have similar exceptions.
May not "layoffs", but schools lose funding, get shut down, and fail to track sufficient students to justify continuing employment.
Look up teachers' and academics' unions (e.g. AAUP), and the contracts they have in place to keep them from being fired.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
Not every country is the US, lots of Hackernews audience isn't in the US