Thread by @dilanesper

Since this issue is starting to get out of hand, let me say something about it that I know is going to be controversial.

If you are an employee at a publisher of expressive content, you absolutely do NOT have the right to undermine that organization's expression. 1/

https://twitter.com/davidminpdx/status/1550442586376089601

That's contrary to your job. For instance, lawyers at law firms can decide to quit their jobs if a law firm takes on a client that they do not like- but they do not have the right to, the night before a big filing, boycott work so the filing isn't done. 2/

You absolutely can take a stand and nothing requires you to work at a place that expresses things you do not like. But undermining your employer's expression should get you fired, and unless you are very contrite, it should make it difficult to find work in the industry. 3/

Netflix, The New York Times, First Avenue nightclub- they all make expressive choices. Who makes those choices? The management. Editors. Not employees. It's very prestigious to work in the content industry. The deal is your bosses make content decisions. 4/

What actually seems to have happened with the Chappelle thing is totally outrageous. He had been on the schedule awhile, and some employees decided to screw their bosses and attempted to undermine the show with a last minute protest. 5/

All these employees could have quit their jobs earlier. They could have, even, organized a protest earlier. But they chose the tactic they did because they were absolutely trying to screw their employer and prevent the show from going on. 6/

They failed, of course- the show did go on at an affiliated venue. But deliberately interfering with your employer's editorial choices is not protest, it's sabotage. And sabotaging your employer at the last minute is not part of any plausible conception of worker's rights. 7/

Eventually, the content industry is going to have to crack down, hard, on these people. Again, if this started happening in my field- law- if employees started periodically sabotaging work for cases/clients they didn't like- you'd see a massive response from the Bar. 8/

And to be clear- yes, there should be outlets for protest. For instance, there were employee demonstrations when Netflix picked up the Chappelle special. That's fine! That's protest! There's plenty of room in this world for legitimate protest. 9/

But people who don't understand that their bosses make content decisions and they don't (other than exercising a principled right to quit their jobs), shouldn't be working in the content industry. End/