Aflac Aflac fires Gottfried, proving that Aflac has no respect for our freedom of speech as Americans. MidTown Columbus, Georgia

Aflac - A company that has no respect for the privacy and rights of it's employees, and has no respect for our rights and freedoms to be able to speak our minds without fear of retaliation.

 

Once again, a corporation has gone out of it’s way to show us that it has no respect for our rights and freedoms as Americans that many have died to protect.

 
Aflac has fired Gilbert Gottfried after some very distasteful (and insulting) comments on his own personal Twitter account. You don’t have to be very bright to be a comedian.  The guy is no brain surgeon. We all know that.

Gottfried's comments were immature and offensive, but this is America. Anyone who was insulted could have insulted him back. And let’s be honest here:

Actions speak louder than words. Whether you’re expressing how sad you are for Japan
or telling a lousy, distasteful joke – neither of those do anything to help the
Japanese people. You want to help them? Donate.

If Aflac truly cared about Japan, they would have made Gottfried publicly apologize and had him help with a campaign to raise money for the victims. As of this writing, Aflac had no fundraiser of any
kind on their home page, prompting me to think that the firing was just another political move. I have a screenshot of their webpage of you don’t believe me. Nothing on their website to raise funds.

By firing Gottfried, Aflac drew attention to themselves, and thus essentially used Gottfried's comments to capitalize on a terrible situation. That's called intent. And that's why I can't respect Aflac as a company. They knew, or should have known, that reacting to Gottfried's comments
would draw media attention, and possible insurance policy sales. I hope I didn't lose too many of you yet, this isn't that complicated.

Any reasonable person would know not to pay any attention to anyone who jokes about an earthquake/tsunami disaster – because most people know that such a disaster can happen anytime, anywhere. Life comes with no warranty – expressed or implied.

Yes, Aflac is a company, not a government entity. But that does not mean that they can blatantly deprive Gottfried (and in turn all of us) of his rights and freedoms as an American. He should sue Aflac. I sure as Hell would.

I want to call on all Aflac customers to please find another insurance company. Look, you’ve got choices. You can save 15% of more with Geico. You can be better protected from mayhem with Allstate. You can get a Flo T-shirt with Progressive. But, please, don’t do business with a company that wants to punish Americans for exercising their right to free speech. Even if that speech is dumb, don’t let them deprive you of your right to speak what’s on your mind.

I could see if he stood out there and said, “I have an official statement from Aflac..” and then proceeded with his lousy joke. But that wasn’t the case, and even if it was, no one would have taken him seriously anyway.

I am happy to work for myself. I don’t answer to phony businessmen in ties with fake smiles and illogical agendas. I call things how I see them. I love that freedom, and I’ll protect it as long as I have air in my lungs. Gottfried is an idiot. But he has a right to be.

You have a right to choose a company that respects your freedoms as an American. Aflac clearly does not.

I am sure that Aflac will issue some generic (phony) response to this. It will probably go something like this : “We apologize for the inconvenience but Aflac stands behind it’s decision”. Just thought I’d save some spineless little pencil pusher some time and write it for him, so he can
copy and paste it.

Others at home, usually un-employed males between the ages of 35 and 45 will likely object to this posting and argue that Aflac’s decision has nothing to do with freedom of speech. It has everything to do with free speech. The power to protect our rights and liberties rests with us. Companies
that do not respect those rights are powerless with out us. We may or may not be able to prove in court that Aflac has deprived Gottfried of his right to free speech, but we can do one thing without a court order -  we can take our business elsewhere.

Aflac customers – switch now and show Aflac that actions truly do speak louder than words. Fight back against companies who do not respect your right to free speech. In America,
freedom of speech used to be a right, not a slogan.