"It’s time to stop litigating whether these punishments are fair and to start thinking about why some behaviors seemed OK in the first place. OK Culture is what allows the kind of noxious discourse in NFL Gruden emails to continue for years. Here’s how it works: Do you have a sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic or fat-shaming thought? Are you smart enough to know you shouldn’t say it in public but want to say it anyway? Are you a powerful and successful person? If so, just make your mean remark or crass joke to a select group who hold similar views or at least wouldn’t dare challenge yours. Don’t worry. It’s OK! Of course, when Gruden and others like him wrote or said some of the things that compromised their careers, they probably didn’t anticipate our world today. Communications don’t disappear anymore, no matter how much you might wish they would."
At www.nytimes.com
