Vito Perrone is out of a job. The incoming Massachusetts school superintendent was ready to start as head of Easthampton Schools when scandal struck. No, it was not embezzlement or some stalking charge as principal of Easthampton High School where he previously served with distinction for eight years. Perrone made the unpardonable error of sending an email to Chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski and Suzanne Colby, executive assistant to the committee, that referred to them as “ladies.” What is most interesting about the outrage of Kwiecinski and Colby at being sent such a greeting is that it is considered a “microaggression,” but in this case had a decidedly macro impact.
Perrone was offered the position as the head of Easthampton Schools on March 23. He was willing to take the job despite it being $14,000 less than his existing job. However, Perrone wrote to Kwiecinski and Colby to seek more sick days and possibly a bump in living adjustment costs or compensation. He began the note with the greeting of “Ladies,” which Kwiecinski and Colby reportedly found deeply offensive.
Perrone recounted how Kwiecinski told him that using “ladies” as a greeting is hostile and derogatory and constitutes a microaggression. She reportedly added that “the fact that he didn’t know that as an educator was a problem.” He was then informed that the job offer had been withdrawn following a vote.
Perrone was devastated and said that “This job was not about the money for me. I honestly felt like I was coming home to Easthampton. I coached football here. I was principal here when we built the school. I have such wonderful memories … I was excited to come back.”
What is most striking is the macro impact of the microaggression in this case. We have previously discussed the growing list of microaggressive language deemed inappropriate at colleges and universities. From a free speech perspective, the concern is that this category of prescribed language is often ill-defined and subjective, including seating decisions or eye-contact. Mount Holyoke College’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion added new terms to the list with a guide on social media listing “fatphobic language” that will now be deemed microaggressive.
It is now common for universities to list offensive terms to be avoided by faculty and students, as we have previously discussed at schools like Michigan, James Madison, and Berkeley. Brandeis issued a list of “oppressive” words that include such expressions as “killing two birds with one stone” and “beating a dead horse.” However, the school did not issue a trigger warning because “trigger warning” is now on the list as . . . well . . . triggering.
Recently, the University of North Texas lost a critical motion in a free speech case brought by Mathematics Professor Nathaniel Hiers after his contract was not renewed due to his criticism of the school’s microaggression policies.
I have had debates over my opposition to how microaggression policies have been used to limit free speech and target dissenting voices on campuses. Advocates for these policies often struggle to clearly define them. They were originally deemed as a category of speech that fell below outright discriminatory or hateful language. However, the language was still considered “harmful” or not helpful. In the past, I was told that microaggression policies are not free speech concerns because they are not treated as seriously as outright discriminatory language.
It is now apparently enough to lose a job in a single greeting. I have no problem with Kwiecinski and Colby objecting that they do not want to be called “ladies.” However, there are generations (including my own) where this greeting was accepted as a standard expression of respect. There is no evidence that Perrone meant to insult or belittle these two women. Indeed, he was actively negotiating with them on employment compensation.
If microaggressions are going macro, the distinction between the categories of discriminatory language and microaggressive language is largely illusory for teachers and students. That would mean that a much wider array of speech could be subject to sanctions.
I think he is extremely lucky to have avoided working under the supervision of such people.
Better to find out now then after the job was taken
…And make them PAY you for not working after the civil rights lawsuit.
Perhaps the new ‘salutation’ in correspondence or public speeches should be: “Ladies, Gentlemen, and Freaks…”
It definitely was a misnomer, since he is anything but a lady!
He should have started the email with “Dear LGBT Members” because obviously they’re not ladies.
i wonder how anyone can call a woke female a lady because no human woke female qualifies as a ‘lady’. i think Vito has dodged a bullet.
Man, did you dodge a bullet!
No problem “lady” with not calling you “lady”. How about simply calling you “Ho”. How does that work for you?
I’ll never acknowledge any of this nonsense…I feel sorry for the guy that he has to be exposed to this filth
I’m old enough to remember legends of comedy and entertainment like Don Rickles who would rip on everyone and anybody. The practice of unfettered free speech. Insults and all.
The slope of censorship is the slipperiest of all. Insults inure us to speech we don’t like; we learn to deal with it. Like emancipated adults. Not children or slaves needing our parent or master’s protection. More, not less of this is how we regain our First Amendment rights and protect our essential freedom.
Don Rickles on Carson Tonight Show, November 26, 1980
https://youtu.be/LADnb1XL_RQ
Micro aggressions….. in this instance…geez louise what a GD farce !!!. These woke intolerant socialist pogues think they have such moral superiority power. The Shite is real and they are demented.
Well, if you’re going to do the time you might as well do the crime. Maybe added an adjective, like “little” in front of ladies? If they were butch he could’ve gone for “Bulldykes?” Overweight, try “Whales?” Maybe given them career advice, like they should stay at home ironing and in the kitchen? If attractive, directed them under his desk for a ‘raise?’ If transwomen called them “trannies?” I mean, if the punishment is all the same, why not push all-in?
Microaggressions. Need to be stomped all over by MORE people microaggressing, offending, not being intimidated by language bullies into compliance. Strength in numbers. It’s the only path forward, the insanity will not end on its own until a large enough part of the population loses their fear of being cancelled. They can’t fire everyone. Ducking heads in the sand hoping the threat goes away isn’t a winning strategy.
When I read something like this, I think of the person living in a cardboard box, or the parent raising the special needs child, someone whose loved one has just passed, or the person who can’t pay the rent, or needs their car repaired to get to work to pay the bills. All of us could fill in this slot with someone we know in a tough spot. This winter I watched a news story of a man in a wheelchair who had lost his legs. He was out with his dog shoveling the sidewalks in his neighborhood. If this is the worst thing that’s happened to these two “ladies” today, they’re doing alright. Love is not easily offended.
His response to this idiocy was much too explanatory and deferential. A simple, “So sorry, it is obvious that you are no lady. I should have done a little research” would have sufficed.
The world is getting too complicated, nasty and vindictive for me. I see pictures of life in the 1800’s and find myself longing to be back in those days.
Shows how WEAK they really are.
Eric: I agree.
We have psychos running colleges all across the USA. Their sole intention is destroying the nation. They, like the two twats in this story, are mentally ill and in need of a padded cell, they should be nowhere near a school of any sort.
Should’ve addressed them as POS whore 1 and POS whore 2.
I like your description of these two female impersonators. This kind of idiocy can’t last forever, I just hope we can correct it, instead of having Russian or Chinese ICBM’s do it for us.
Massachusetts is another blue state cancer on the Republic.
Massachusetts, where the revolution was born and where it went to die.
Funny, did they ever complain when Jill Biden is referred to as the “first lady”? Doubt it. Just a couple of femi-knotsies looking to stick it to the opposite sex.
There is no such thing as a micro aggression. It’s all made up. It’s just Kafkaesque American style. The objective is to destroy western civilization. This is simply their MO.
People who use the word “microagression” are themselves being aggressive as hell against the American norm of civil discourse.
Your response to this accusation should be “sorry but I can’t hear thin-skinned a**holes”
The words do not matter.
What matter is whehter actions descibed as micro aggressions are sanctionable
The answer is NO.
That is all that matters.
We can societally sanction the actual use of force – violence.
Words that you do not like are your personal problem