-By Warner Todd Huston
An employee of Palm Beach County posted some harsh comments about Islam on his Facebook page on the anniversary of 9/11 and now faces possible firing or discipline at work for making the post.
Palm Beach County Public Affairs staffer John Jamason posted some critical comments about Islam on Facebook but once his boss, Palm Beach County Administrator Bob Weisman, found out about the post Jamason was told that he may face discipline for the harsh words.
Jamason posted comments on his own personal Facebook page–not one related to the county government–and he feels that he should face no punishment at all for indulging his own free speech.
On his page Jamason posted, “Never forget. There is no such thing as radical Islam. All Islam is radical. There may be Muslims who don’t practice their religion, much like others. The Quran is a book that preaches hate.”
Jamason’s boss, was not amused and told the media that if Jamason was an at-will employee he’d have fired him immediately. But Weisman is looking into whether or not he can punish the employee in some other way.
Jamason, though, says he has nothing to apologize for.
“If I owe anybody an apology, it would be the county commissioners and county administration just for the fact that you’re all on my porch. No, I don’t think I owe anybody an apology, I didn’t say anything offensive,” Jamason said to local TV, WPTV Channel 5.
He also maintains he has freedom of speech so should face no discipline at work.
Jamason is the manager of the media and public information division of the county’s Public Affairs department and has worked for the county for ten years. But he is not a public spokesman for the county, Weisman says.
Naturally, the Council On American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is now springing into action trying to get the man fired.
They should try to refute what he said on Facebook instead, though that might be a bit harder.
Finally, do you think Mr. Jamason would be facing disciplinary actions if he were a government worker and a Muslim who posted that the USA deserved 9/11?
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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