One last take on Gee
Got this email from a friend. I'm leaving his name off this, but take my word for it, he was no small-time figure in sports journalism when he pursued it full-time and he currently works for the journalism program at a major state university:
Thanks for pointing out the Michael Gee fiasco. I don't cruise
sportsjournalists.com anymore. I just don't have the time to wade
through it all, though funnier reading is often hard to find.
Let me just say this: As a guy who pays his mortgage by teaching
journalism to 18-22-year olds — roughly half of them female — Gee made
a big-time rookie mistake.
Rule No.1 about life on a college campus: You never look. Never. Not
when they are not looking. Not when you are out at a bar. Not when you
see them in the grocery store. Not when you see them walking on the
street. No, never. Never. Am I clear on this subject? You never look at
them below the neckline. Eye contact at all times. Period.
Losing your job isn't even the concern. You have to do something truly
inexcusable to do that — like ogle some undergrad and then post about
it on a high-traffic internet site, under your own name, identifying
the school and all but naming the girl. No, you won't lose your gig
just looking, but you will become known as dirty old man and that is at
least as bad as getting fired.
I've heard my female students talk about how "Professor So-and-so
constantly looks at my boobs." I cringe every time I hear it — and I
have heard it more than just a couple times. It might not be true and
maybe I'll be accused of the same thing someday. But I'll tell you this
— I've never looked. And at the very least, I'll know THAT should
anybody say it about me.
As for the folks on Sportsjournalists.com bashing Scott's Shots and the
author himself, give me a break. One guy said that an Internet site
should not get somebody fired. The site didn't get the guy fired. The
fact that he wanted to go someplace to express his masturbatory fantasy
to his buddies, that the masturbatory fantasy was about a student over
whom he held a position of power, and that said masturbatory fantasy
was posted in a very public place is what got him fired. Pretty clear
chain of responsibility — and Gee himself fesses up to it — so it's
disheartening that even media types blame the media. Sheesh.
It was a truly dumb mistake, but really easy to make. It sounds like it
was a relatively cheap lesson to learn, though the public ridicule is
probably a lot heavier price than anything financial.
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