Woman loses NASA internship after Twitter fight with member of space council

https://www.wric.com/news/weird-news/woman-loses-nasa-internship-after-twitter-fight-with-member-of-space-council/1388183987

by cpncrunch • 8 years ago

18 21 8 years ago

wric.com

jachee• 8 years ago

...and then the person she "fought" with said he was going to do everything in his power to get her a position as good as or better than the one she lost. [0]

0. https://mobile.twitter.com/realgamer07/status/10319975097853...

Edit: p.s. I know this is in the article, but that headline is a bit sensational.

danso4• 8 years ago

The headline is accurate and concise. Not just in the chronology, but the likely cause and effect. Note that Hickam may not himself have caused the firing, but someone at NASA likely saw the controversy (because people started dogpiling both Hickam and Naomi H and tagging @NASA) and made a decision based on it.

BaronVonSteuben• 8 years ago

This sends a horrible message to young people that are already over-entitled (I mean really, tweeting like that??).

Young people learn from this: You should be offensive, insulting, and disrespectful. Then when it blows up on you, reach out and apologize, and you'll end up with an even better position.

danso4• 8 years ago

I think just as many people will get the message that they shouldn't tweet like this in the first place, if they want to avoid such drama. I think it will be evident to most people that Hickham is doing something extraordinary, not that this will be standard operating procedure moving forward.

Hnrobert42• 8 years ago

Another interpretation is that if you say something mildly offensive, you will lose your job. If you act like an adult and apologize, you may be benefit from being humbled and learning your lesson.

dsajames• 8 years ago

"suck my dick" is considered more than mildly offensive.

Go say it to a 20 year old girl at work and see what happens.

0x7f800000• 8 years ago

Genuinely surprised that someone applying for an internship at NASA does not know who Homer Hickam is.

mcphage• 8 years ago

She probably got a lot of responses, and wasn't really looking at the names anymore.

gb_4• 8 years ago

I'm having trouble following my own thoughts on this one.

- Posts about an exciting thing to online friends with the word Fuck - This is ok.

- Random person inserts themselves into the conversation trying to be a moral compass - Good intentions, but not ok.

- tells person to suck dick and balls - Not ok.

So, while the offer was rescinded due to the mob mentality of Twitter following up on this exchange, I would definitely have second thoughts on hiring someone if that's their go-to attitude.

In the end, I'm glad one stupid tweet didn't ruin this person's life, but I hope it's a wake up call that there is no wall between online and offline.

DoreenMichele2• 8 years ago

Random person inserts themselves into the conversation trying to be a moral compass - Good intentions, but not ok.

He was not trying to be a moral compass and he was not some random person. He is on the National Space Council that oversees NASA. He recognized the fact that NASA wouldn't want it's name associated with such language, especially when used by a new hire. He was trying to politely give her the heads up. That's it.

If you publicly announce you work for such, then you need to be aware that you are now representing them in some sense.

What she did was both obnoxious and stupid. I don't really think she deserves Mr. Hickman's kindness here, though his actions have impressed me and I've now followed him on Twitter.

I'm also thinking I need to try harder to swear less online. Cuz (reasons). Though I already make some effort to clean up my language and I cannot imagine cussing someone out in the manner that happened here.

gb_4• 8 years ago

For you this is true since you're fully aware of the context, but if you're being flooded with thousands of notifications and someone just inserts themselves with a single word "Language" I would imagine many people would react in a similar manner.

If he had said, "I work with NASA and your language here is inappropriate" then we wouldn't have heard anything about the incident. He approached this poorly.

loco5niner3• 8 years ago

Random person inserts themselves into the conversation trying to be a moral compass - Good intentions, but not ok.

Disagree. It's ok for people to address bad behavior in a public space. Especially when the person is now representing you or your group.

gb_4• 8 years ago

I'm still stuck on this point. Would you expect a kind response, even in public, if someone overheard you talking to friends and just said "Language."? Now take that and move it to social media which is hardly a public space where manners are the norm.

He made an error here and clearly he feels guilty about the way he addressed it.

mvanveen• 8 years ago

I had several encounters at my time as an intern at Jet Propulsion Laboratory where I was alerted to my immaturity and the responsibilities that were in front of me. I'm tremendously thankful for each one of those lessons.

There are many different types of personality on lab and they all contribute the extremely unique innovation culture there but there is also always the north star about the responsibility of shepherding a successful space mission which needs to be internalized by all the members in order for these efforts to succeed. I'm ultimately very sensitive to the underlying ethos of both parties in the exchange documented in this article.

Towards the end of the article it becomes clear that both parties apologized for the encounter and Mr. Hickam apparently said "After talking to her, I am certain she deserves a position in the aerospace industry and I'm doing all I can to secure her one that will be better than she lost. I have also talked to the folks that had to do with her internship and made absolutely certain that there will be no black mark on her record."

I feel like this is ultimately a very good outcome. Everyone involved learned something and grew from the experience.

loco5niner3• 8 years ago

I don't believe Hickam apologized, he certainly didn't need to. He accepted her apology and chose to help make sure her life wasn't ruined due to this mistake.

p3nt3ll3r• 8 years ago

Sorry, NASA should not sacrifice its standards for this woman. Life is a bitch, next time don't act like one.

Woman loses NASA internship after Twitter fight with member of space council

Related Stories