The C is partly for catching, as in covid and as in catching up, which is what I’m doing right now, as you know if you’re paying really close attention to what shows up when here.

However, and speaking of media figures on the far fringes of the mainstream … Joe Ressington got fired from a large-ish network of tech shows, fired specifically for a single use of the word ‘cunt’, in casual conversation with a co-worker, and not using it in reference to anyone in particular.

Joe Ressington’s contract with JB/ACG terminated

The link goes to a story on it on the forums of a Linux distro I like. But I learned about the kerfuffle from the man himself, on the one older podcast he can’t be fired from because it’s his. Which is called Late Night Linux and is quite worthwhile, if you’re a fan of alternative computer operating systems.

His take on the whole thing was brief and dismissive–I think the person that complained was an American woman co-host, whereas he’s Brit. He said that in the British working class the word is common and doesn’t have the same harsh force it does on this side of the sea. His two (male and British) co-hosts on LNL seemed to concur.

I can see both sides.

It is, still, a pretty potent word, that either harshly celebrates the exclusively feminine body part it describes, or harshly condemns it, depending on context. As JR himself admits, casual use of it can certainly be considered ‘unprofessional’.

On the other, I once failed to get a job from a station manager in a prematurely feminist part of California because I used the word ‘bitch’, as in ‘to bitch about’, during a phone interview. Which was also ‘unprofessional’, and yet still strikes me as kinda dumb.

Your privilege level may vary.

I still like myself, and Joe Ressington, and Michael Brooks, and a lot of other rough-around-the-edges, nominally working-class guys better than 99% of the Professionals I’ve ever met, exclusive of gender.

Which might go quite a ways toward explaining why my professional life, and theirs too generally speaking, is such a mess right now.

Well, fuck me. And the horse I rode in, fuck it too.