A Firing Exposé

Firing people from their jobs has become entertainment for the masses to enjoy. The new reality show being produced by Fox, Someone’s Gotta Go, is a reflection of the power of the ubiquitous multi-media in the hands of the masses. It will premiere this summer. This new Fox reality television show sets the stage for employees of small companies to determine who is fired from employment in the current economic climate. According to news accounts employees will make the termination decision based on several factors including examining performance evaluations and salary history of the individual. Unlike Donald Trump’s The Apprentice, with his famous words "You're Fired!", Fox puts someone’s wife, partner, children, home, and general well-being at risk.

The current national unemployment rate is at 8.5% and is expected to rise to more than 10% in the summer. Losing a job is not a joyous or comical occasion. Whether you must deliver or should you receive an employment termination notice, it is not a pleasant experience. People with a moral conscience should not find it entertaining to gloat in another’s demise. Someone’s Gotta Go appears to be the new “blood sport” attacking human emotions and the essence of being.

This new show reminds me of the human spectacles played out at the Roman Colosseum where the masses cheered the lions to eat the Christians or gladiators brutally kill one another. Are we fast becoming like the mobs of Rome? Feasting on the personal demise at the hands of co-workers and friends. A television drama highlighting an employment dismissal leaves a person with a sense of self-worthlessness and humiliation in their few minutes of fame before the world. Egging on by program producers and co-workers exposes the evil nature of people as is reflected in audience response and participant interaction in the barrage of past and current reality television shows. Profiting from another’s personal pain, emotional agony, and spiritual weariness through global media outlets reflects a culture that has the moral fabric of a fishnet. It doesn’t hold the dignity of humanity.

Caveat emptor for those who jump on the bandwagon of emotional and psychological persecution of terminated persons. Such a venture could easily hinder the future of the fired, the co-workers, and the business owner. Their self-exposure risks their own reputation in the media and Internet. Professor Daniel Solove, in The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet, says “Our reputation is an essential component to our freedom, for without the good opinion of our community, our freedom can become empty.” Would you want to do business with a small business owner who participated in such a “blood sport” by abdicating their decision making to “blood thirsty” employees? If he or she would lead their own employees into this kind of abuse of power, what might their values hold in store for you as a customer or client or vendor? What are some other ethical leadership implications of this new reality show?