The Cancel Culture is Costing Innocent People Their Jobs

Emmanuel Cafferty worked for San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) mapping underground utility lines. Not born into tremendous wealth, he was living paycheck to paycheck until he landed this good paying job. One night on Cafferty’s drive home from work, a driver flipped him off while they were stopped next to each other at a stop light. Cafferty encountered the driver again at another stoplight where he yelled at Cafferty to hold his hand in what looked like the universal sign for “okay.” 

He did. 

The man snapped a photo and drove off. 

In two hours, Cafferty received a call from his supervisor.  He had been suspended without pay. 

By the start of the next week, he was out of a job.

Why did he lose his job?

He was wondering the same thing.

The other driver posted Cafferty’s photo on Twitter.  The hand gesture which, to any average person, means “okay,” has taken a sinister meaning to members of the alt right: “white power,” because it kinda looks like “W P.”

From here, it gets even stranger. 

Cafferty’s not even white. His mother is Latina, and his father is a mix of Irish and Mexican. He told a journalist for The Atlantic, “If I was a white supremacist, I would literally have to hate 75% of myself.”

The executive panel who fired him was all Caucasian.  In other words, a bunch of white people told a mixed man he was racist and fired him, all because the Twitter outrage mob demanded it.

During the interviews, Cafferty told them he was not political, had never voted, and had no idea what new meaning the “alt right” had ascribed to the “okay” sign. Cafferty pointed to his skin. How could he be fired for being a white supremacist when he isn’t even white?

Genuine acts of racism frequently go unacknowledged due to the endless complaints from the leftist outrage culture. 

Cafferty has been sympathetic throughout all of this. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get over this,” he said, “but to lose your dream job for playing with your fingers, that’s a hard pill to swallow.” 

The man who posted the controversial picture on Twitter deleted his account, and later told a local station he may have “misinterpreted the situation” and “never intended for Cafferty to lose his job”. 

At first, Cafferty refused to insult his former employer, acknowledging the public outcry put SDG&E into a complicated situation. “I feel like SDG&E is a victim in this as well. Some guy sent a Twitter mob after them and they were just trying to defend themselves. Perhaps I’m naive and loyal to a fault, but they were put in a bad position.”

SDG&E refused to hire him back, claiming they “stand by the decision.” 

Though a petition was signed by over 3000 people demanding Cafferty be reinstated, SDG&E won’t budge. 

On June 18th, a GoFundMe was created to help pay for Cafferty’s legal fees. He is suing SDG&E for wrongful termination. Currently, it has raised over $4000. 

When will we wake up and realize that “the mob” is not the best way to make decisions… and that real people are getting hurt?

Hat Tip: The Atlantic, NBC, GoFundMe

Image Credit: Public Domain