CBS vice president who threw away her career is very sorry about it

Hayley Geftman-Gold, the now fired CBS lawyer who was until yesterday a vice president in their strategic transactions department, has become the poster girl for ruling-class progressive hatred and condescension toward working-class whites.  With two Ivy League degrees (Penn undergrad, Columbia Law) to her name, standing as "an officer of the court" in the New York State Bar, a powerful position in shaping the future of a major media purveyor of news and politics, an entrepreneur husband[i], and a fashionable Brooklyn Heights address, she is clearly a member of the ruling class, junior division.

She presents herself professionally as attractive, poised, clear-eyed, and serious (no makeup):

But in her social media photo, we see a more relaxed, fashion-conscious, smiling Hayley, with a twinkle in her eye (actually in her fancy sunglasses) and a side order of foxiness.

Yet she threw it all away – the six-figure income, the corporate and social position – with a now notorious Facebook post that went viral almost immediately (and subsequently was taken down).

She was exhibiting such inhumane sentiments that even CBS could not tolerate her membership in its roster of employees.

A CBS spokeswoman told Fox News that Geftman-Gold, "who was with us for approximately one year, violated the standards of our company and is no longer an employee of CBS. Her views as expressed on social media are deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS. Our hearts go out to the victims in Las Vegas and their families."

Geftman-Gold has crafted an written apology that might even be sincere:

Earlier today I posted an indefensible post in a Facebook discussion thread concerning the tragic Las Vegas shooting, a statement I sincerely regret. I am deeply sorry for diminishing the significance of every life affected by Stephen Paddock's terrorism last night and for the pain my words have inflicted on the loved ones of the victims. My shameful comments do not reflect the beliefs of my former employer, colleagues, family, and friends. Nor do they reflect my actual beliefs – this senseless violence warrants the deepest empathy. I understand and accept all consequences that my words have incurred.

I am baffled how a high-priced lawyer – a profession in which watching out for careless language and niggling over the verbal nuances of contracts is the basis of much work – could publish such poorly thought out sentiments.

The first-pass answer has to be that her heart is full of hatred for the lower orders that foisted Donald Trump on her government, especially when it was so clear that Hillary was going to win that a barge full of fireworks was at the wait in the Hudson River to commemorate her victory.  Was she at the Javits Center when the world turned to hell for Hillary enthusiasts?

Trump Derangement Syndrome, in other words.

But that does not explain her going public with these remarks, instead of, say, dropping them in the CBS executive dining room, where they likely would be greeted with nods of approval.

Lauri Regan, herself a Manhattan attorney, has a plausible explanation:

I think that generation no longer has any sense of decorum "in public," as their whole lives are public. From Facebook  to Snapchat to Instagram and Twitter, they all post stuff without thinking and assume there's no rules governing acceptable discourse.

And it's a lot easier to post offensive thoughts than it is to look someone in the eye and say them.

Couple that with the fact that they're taught their thoughts are in fact acceptable public discourse (and that anyone who disagrees with them is not just wrong but immoral, racist, ignorant, etc.) and you've created the perfect storm of clueless, insensitive, vapid public statements by snowflakes who think they have a right to vent every emotional thought to a world waiting with bated breath for their deep thoughts.

Think about the football players thinking that the hundreds of millions of fans agree with their taking a knee and not giving a crap about those who find it offensive. Or the Georgetown law professors who took a knee when AG Sessions came to speak. Liberals believe they're important and they're right and they're leading the charge on morality and anyone who doesn't follow is a problem for the country.

With the rise of antifa and violence becoming the norm in shutting down free speech on campuses and elsewhere, it was only time before violence would be condoned by these self-righteous elitists who lack humility and decency for their fellow Americans. It used to be Muslims across the globe cheering successful terror attacks. Now we have hateful liberals doing the same thing. 

Ed Lasky points out another relevant factor:

People can be smart in one or two areas and idiotic in other areas. Sometimes that is to be expected – a person drills down one area and develops that area and thereby succeed in one area. Charles Krauthammer said that Twitter is the direct connection to the id. That may hold for Facebook, too.

People are emotional and intellectual. Sometimes anger dwarfs common sense.

In her world, she probably thought it was normal to response as she did after the shooting, she may have even gotten some praise for her passion. There is no sympathy among these people for country western fans.

And Richard Baehr points out that CBS is the same network that tolerated its on-air star Scott Pelley expressing somewhat similar sentiments following the mass shooting of GOP congressmen at baseball practice:

After Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot in June by a Bernie Sanders supporter, then-CBS News anchor Scott Pelley wondered if the shooting was "foreseeable, predictable and to some degree, self-inflicted."

That is not the same thing as having no sympathy, but it does edge up to "they had it coming" without actually crossing the line.

I am still thinking about why I care about this heartless woman.  Maybe part of it is that I have spent so much time among people with her sort of education and status (I taught two years at Columbia).  She is like a lot of people I have known over the years, who (I always assumed tacitly) would never express (or feel?) such emotions.  I guess I am upset that there are a lot of people I have known who may well want me dead because I support Trump.

If Geftman-Gold is sincere, an opportunity for rehabilitation exists if she is willing to bare her soul and work to persuade others of her ilk to stop hating their political opponents.  Perhaps she ought to start attending country music festivals, meeting people, and understanding their humanity.  And then write and speak publicly about what she has learned and how she has changed.  Study the career of Chuck Colson, a man who actually found redemption following actions he later sincerely regretted.


[i] He describes himself as "President of Handoff Business Ventures​, a digital video business development and strategy consultant to early-stage technology businesses, media publishers, and brands and agencies."  Conveniently enough, his wife worked on acquisitions of such properties, I am guessing.

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