Buchman had been under seige by what she labeled an email spammer, Laptoplobbyist.com, which promotes conservative issues.
Buchman says she tried to unsubscribe from the mailings, then resorted to just deleting them. But, according to an article that appeared in Philadelphia Weekly she says, "Eventually, I felt forced to contact them directly."
This is where her problem began. Buchman left a rather terse and ugly message on the company's voice mail system, along with her work phone number, which said:
...You're evil, horrible people. You're awful people. You represent horrible ideas. God hates you. He wants to kill your children. You should all burn in hell. Bye.
Laptoplobbyist.com called her employer, WHYY, to complain and Buchman was subsequently fired.
Buchman admits her actions were not appropriate but defends herself by saying:
On the other hand, I do believe journalists are entitled to personal lives and personal opinions. This was a personal issue. Laptoplobbyist.com made it public.
I agree with Buchman. The only problem I can see is she left her work phone number and not her personal cell phone on the voice mail recording. That small and possibly unconscious act then brought her employer into the fray.
But, be it as it may, maybe WHYY was just a little too quick in terminating an employee over a momentary burst of anger which any of us could easily be guilty of.
Besides: the whole thing was over spam! Who among us hasn't cursed the myriad of annoying crap that intrudes into our inboxes on a daily basis?
Granted, Buchman's message WAS awful. But, hey: not all of us are poets.
