It is everywhere, the continual dialogue about the election and what everyone assumes will happen and the news of protest, anger and violence. It would be wrong to assume that this isn’t talked about in firehouses.

If you are an officer, or suppose you are, how would you handle this possible situation?

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The start of the shift has begun with the usual posting of assignments and checking of the apparatus and equipment. During lunch the news is on and the topic around the table is the presidential election followed by reports of protests, violence and hate-speech seen on the television and online. The usual conversation at times gets ‘colorful’ and one-sided, with most of the crew taking a supporting position on the side of the president-elect.

In the evening one of your firefighters approaches you, concerned about what was discussed and said during the shift. He tells you that in his view talking about forcibly deporting illegal aliens or banning immigration based on religion bothers him. He also tells you that in his mind jokes by the other firefighters about hate speech are no different than endorsing those views.

The firefighter asks you to deal with this problem and tells you that he considers what the others say and joke about as a potentially being harassment.

How do you handle this?

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I’ve rewritten an answer to this several times because of my own volatile nature with regard to where our nation is today. What matters is weather this person’s complaint does or does not constitute harassment and what is it going to take for this small group of adult people to be able to effectively work together to save lives and property. I would like to rewrite the question. In my scenario the majority of the members of the fire house say that Trump is a racist moron and a hater that gropes women and brags about it. They make jokes about Trump all day long. The firefighter tells you that in his mind jokes by the other firefighters about these things are no different than endorsing those views when none of these accusations has yet to be proven true. The firefighter asks you to deal with this problem and tells you that he considers what the others say and joke about as a potentially being harassment.

So, with your own revision, what will you do?

FFN

Gregory Cousler said:

I’ve rewritten an answer to this several times because of my own volatile nature with regard to where our nation is today. What matters is weather this person’s complaint does or does not constitute harassment and what is it going to take for this small group of adult people to be able to effectively work together to save lives and property. I would like to rewrite the question. In my scenario the majority of the members of the fire house say that Trump is a racist moron and a hater that gropes women and brags about it. They make jokes about Trump all day long. The firefighter tells you that in his mind jokes by the other firefighters about these things are no different than endorsing those views when none of these accusations has yet to be proven true. The firefighter asks you to deal with this problem and tells you that he considers what the others say and joke about as a potentially being harassment.

Did this really happen? 

 First I would say to them..Are you shitting me?  Then I would tell them they need to bring it up to the crew. If this does not get the results they want. I would tell them..There are 44+ fire houses in the city go some where else. 

  What would they do if there was a Trump sign in the yard of a residence that was on fire? Refuse to go in because there offended and need a safe place! 

  My other question would be...How did you get on the job? 

   

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