Killing is all too common in the news stories. Hardly a day goes by where a scandalous relationship, a hurried motorist, irrationality or demon possession, poverty, drugs, greed, jealousy, hate, or something of that nature, does not becomes an integral factor in the death of a person or persons. Yesterday, a tragic situation of this kind was reported on local news stations, as an ex-US news reporter carried out a calculated revenge double murder suicide, on former workplace colleagues.
Having stated himself, in a suicide note, that he was retaliating for workplace racism and unfair termination, the motive for the crime was made known. Such information is not always known.
While tragedies like this are not rare enough, what is often times more rare, are the insights to a case that only usually become known to the public upon a court trial.
May the families of the killed persons, find peace and reconciliation with this tragedy. And may we as a society learn how each of us can take a baby step in the right direction, to prevent such things from occuring.
I was struck by some of the news clips aired from news archives, which depicted the ex reporter’s skill in reporting. The clips hardly suggest that he was an inept reporter. On TV, I saw a reporter with talent, poise, and intelligence for delivering the news. I was struck by this, because it seemed out of place that a reporter with that level of aptitude would be fired in the first place. His termination seems to smack of unjustified termination, and for this reason, it seems that he was indeed the focus of persecution from his employer.
But, the news station spokes-person did say that the former employee was fired with good cause. While most of us won’t know definitively if that is true or not, I’m sure no one would deny that he thought of his past job with ire. Was his former boss covering up a racially motivated firing, as that reason was denied by his former boss?
I believe that it is all too common that an employee face workplace discrimination
and persecution for reasons of religious belief, temperament, and more. However, it also occurs that employees make invalid claims and disputes about discrimination. Or, that an employee generally find his or herself in the wrong job. Even if they might be very good at it! Another aspect about some workplaces, that is common among employees, is undervaluation; that talent is less valued than the employee’s sucking up, or general obedience to the employer. While every employee should have a healthy respect for the authority of their boss, some bosses demonstrate an insatiable narcicism, needing to be reminded of their authority over their employees. This is a general depiction that one can find in satirical films or in popular TV shows for example. And while we can laugh about it, there are bad bosses out there who might be sexist, abusive, or unjust.
My perspective is from an open minded criticism on labor in America. And, I do not speak of my past bosses. No, this article is not an indictment on my past workplaces even if there were any resemblances.
As an observer, even if the contribution of the employee could supercede the expectation of gains on behalf of the boss’ oganization and mission, sometimes a person can be unfairly persecuted, for being “geeky”, or “different” for example.
This truth can be of great frustration to an employee who should otherwise be celebrated for his or her talent.
We should also recognize that with diversity of people afflicted by illnesses such as autism, attention deficit, illnesses related to neurotransmitter dysfunction, these evident defficiencies will afflict and impact all workplaces in our lifetime. So, we should be careful about ostricizing and marginalizing people just because they act a bit different than what we think of as “normal”. We should also remember that people who do not have any history of mental disease, can be tomorrow’s perpetrator.
In this particular case, I do not find it a stretch, to believe that the now dead ex-reporter was disliked by his now dead colleagues and surviving ex boss, as his ex boss did not have anything positive to say about him. But, his friends did.
Despite such situations, even if he were undervalued or resented for his talents at the workplace, after having been fired, it would have been best if this man not resort to murder. It’s the greatest tragedy of all in this particular case, because he gave up the fight… he killed himself and two people. This is clearly a desperate person, who believed that this was a justified time to kill. Unfortunately, it was a very bad decision.