Woman Fired for Giving the Finger to Donald Trump

The Situation

     Juli Briskman, an American marketing executive, was fired from her job after giving the finger to the President of the United States, Donald Trump. She was cycling through Virginia last year when the President's vehicle passed her while he was on his way to his golf course. Her reasoning behind her actions was that she was thinking about the devastation in Puerto Rico last year, causing her to be furious. She also thought about the young immigrants who were being deported, despite being brought to the United States as young children. She had all this on her mind while the President's car passed her and was furious as he was golfing instead of dealing with the issues.

     The image went viral as a photographer who worked for Agency France-Presse and Getty Images captured the moment. Juli Briskman's friends asked her if it was her in the picture and she confirmed it. She posted the image on her Facebook and Twitter profiles, however the employer at the yoga studio where she was working part time asked her to remove the image. She also told her bosses at the government contracting company Akima that she was in the photo as a heads-up. Despite the heads-up, her bosses fired her as she was not professional. They said she violated the code of conduct policy.

Juli Briskman giving the finger. Source

My Thoughts

     I understand why Juli Briskman was fired. Her actions are not something that the companies she works for wants to be represented by. To me, it makes sense that she was fired from her marketing job. Despite this, I do understand why she felt compelled to give the finger to Donald Trump. Her anger is for important issues and she clearly cares about the issues about human rights and safety of people around the world. As a result of her being furious, she gave the finger and I understand why because of her explanation.

     I do not really agree with her actions as giving the finger was very disrespectful and unprofessional. I do not think it was a good idea to do this and to post it on her social media, however I do think that her reasoning and thoughts behind her actions were righteous. It isn't difficult to see why she would feel this way as it seemed that the President did not care much about the ongoing issues.