Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Earlier this week we covered the story of the Texas firefighter who reportedly posted a racist comment on the web site of a South Carolina newspaper following the murder of nine African Americans at the hands of a white supremacist.
Kurtis Cook was terminated by the Mabank Fire Department following internet outrage over his comment “He needs to be praised for the good deed he has done” in a thread about the incident. Cook’s comment was interpreted to be supportive of the accused murderer, Dylann Roof.
The problem is, Cook claims the comment was in response to an earlier post about a person who donated a large sum of money to the victims’ families. Cook sat down with KLTV to explain his side of the story.
“When I was looking at the threads and, you know, I was just reading down and there was a person there that posted, was donating a large sum of money to the victims, so I just said ‘This person ought to be praised for his good deed.’”
How could such a mistake be made? On the other hand… how could these kinds of mistakes not be even more common-place given what we know about social media and human nature? We know all too well about the narratives that folks have tucked away in the recesses of their subconscious. Let me rephrase that. We know all too well about the narratives WE ALL have tucked away in the recesses of OUR OWN subconscious.
Psychologists tell us we all suffer from a thing called confirmation bias, our tendency to look at a situation and discern those facts that align with our pre-existing beliefs while simultaneously ignoring those that do not. We all suffer from it – it is a part of our human condition.
In its benign form we see it in a sport like baseball when there is a close play and fans from one team insist their player was safe while those from the opposing team insist he was out. In its ugly form we see it in Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD where groups look at what occurred from polarized narratives centuries in the making. Unfortunately in real life there is no instant replay.
Enter Kurtis Cook with his comment “He needs to be praised for the good deed he has done”, and we realize we are right back to the core of the problem. With the thread now gone, Cook’s life has been upended. Some will believe him and some will continue to believe a different narrative.
