According to
Wikipedia,
Thomas Jefferson thoughts on the press were as follows:
...An active press was essential as a way of educating the population. To work freely, the press must be free from control by the state. Jefferson was a person who himself suffered great calumnies of the press. Despite this, in his second inaugural address, he proclaimed that a government that could not stand up under criticism deserved to fall. (emphasis mine)
Why is this important?
Well, I've had a lot (too much?) time to think lately.
...a government that could not stand up under criticism deserved to fall.What if you replaced "government" with "business"?
Yes, they are different. When working for a business you do not have the same rights as you do within the government (speaking of United States here). There are confidentiality rules (hopefully). Trade secrets. Etc. Those things apply when you are working at a company.
What about post-employment though?
Of course if you are under some sort of non-disclosure agreement (NDA), you can't publicly talk about your former company.
There's also the small matter of burning bridges. I never quite understood this concept. Maybe I just haven't worked long enough. I understand that you don't want to piss off someone who, in the future, will be in a position to hire you. What if you don't care? What if you would never, ever work for that person or business again? Where's the bridge? Why
not burn it? You certainly don't want to travel across it again.
Oh wait, future employers. That's not technically burning a bridge though is it?
Future employers would/might see it as a bad thing. You know, if you burned one bridge, you'll burn more. I understand that...generally speaking.
...a business that could not stand up under criticism deserved to fall.I don't necessarily believe a business should fail. Blogging about them though would let others know what it's like to work there. A warning of sorts.
Also, how would you determine who is telling the truth and who isn't? I could be a lazy, disgruntled ex-employee with an axe to grind. How to
separate the wheat from the chaff?
Maybe that's where Jake's
reputation stuff comes in...(it's not really his of course, which I'm sure he'll remind me of).
