Today’s blacklisted American: Lyft driver fired because his radio was tuned to a black conservative
No freedom of speech allowed at Lyft!
The new dark age of silencing: A driver has been fired by Lyft because a passenger complained that he was listening to a racist on the radio, when in fact his radio was tuned to a black conservative.
Ryan Alexander, who had been a Lyft driver for years, tells “The Dan O’Donnell Show” that a Lyft representative told him during a phone call Saturday that his account was suspended because he had been listening to “racist talk radio programming,” a violation of the app’s terms of service.
Alexander says he was listening to former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke fill in for Mark Belling during the “Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show” Thursday evening when a passenger took exception to the discussion Clarke was having about Black Lives Matter and abortion rates in the African-American community.
“She called Clarke trash, slammed the door to my car when she got out, and specifically referenced abortion which Clarke did talk about briefly while she was in the car,” Alexander says.
During the portion of the program that the passenger heard, Clarke, who is Black, expressed the opinion that the Black Lives Matter organization did not truly care about Black lives because it was not upset about the rate of abortions among Black mothers.
Essentially, Alexander has been blackballed by the heckler’s veto. He was given no chance to defend himself, the accuser was allowed to make any accusation she chose, without substantiation. Nor was Alexander permitted to face his accuser or appeal the ruling.
The article also notes that a review of Lyft’s terms of service shows no rules dictating what a driver can play on his or her radio. I reviewed those terms as well and could find nothing.
Alexander was thus fired because the customer he picked up was a vindictive leftist or BLM supporter who could not tolerate hearing any criticism of that organization, and was further determined that no one else should either. That Clarke’s statements about BLM are 100% factual and accurate was irrelevant. All opposition must be crushed, without mercy.
And yes, I know that Lyft is a private company that has the right to protect itself from bad publicity. This however is not the way to do it. If anything, it has generated lots of bad publicity for the company, but all the wrong kind. To bow to one disgruntled customer because she didn’t like what was on the radio is not only stupid, it exhibits incredible cowardice.
There are other taxi-type services available. Keep this story in mind when next you need one.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
No freedom of speech allowed at Lyft!
The new dark age of silencing: A driver has been fired by Lyft because a passenger complained that he was listening to a racist on the radio, when in fact his radio was tuned to a black conservative.
Ryan Alexander, who had been a Lyft driver for years, tells “The Dan O’Donnell Show” that a Lyft representative told him during a phone call Saturday that his account was suspended because he had been listening to “racist talk radio programming,” a violation of the app’s terms of service.
Alexander says he was listening to former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke fill in for Mark Belling during the “Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show” Thursday evening when a passenger took exception to the discussion Clarke was having about Black Lives Matter and abortion rates in the African-American community.
“She called Clarke trash, slammed the door to my car when she got out, and specifically referenced abortion which Clarke did talk about briefly while she was in the car,” Alexander says.
During the portion of the program that the passenger heard, Clarke, who is Black, expressed the opinion that the Black Lives Matter organization did not truly care about Black lives because it was not upset about the rate of abortions among Black mothers.
Essentially, Alexander has been blackballed by the heckler’s veto. He was given no chance to defend himself, the accuser was allowed to make any accusation she chose, without substantiation. Nor was Alexander permitted to face his accuser or appeal the ruling.
The article also notes that a review of Lyft’s terms of service shows no rules dictating what a driver can play on his or her radio. I reviewed those terms as well and could find nothing.
Alexander was thus fired because the customer he picked up was a vindictive leftist or BLM supporter who could not tolerate hearing any criticism of that organization, and was further determined that no one else should either. That Clarke’s statements about BLM are 100% factual and accurate was irrelevant. All opposition must be crushed, without mercy.
And yes, I know that Lyft is a private company that has the right to protect itself from bad publicity. This however is not the way to do it. If anything, it has generated lots of bad publicity for the company, but all the wrong kind. To bow to one disgruntled customer because she didn’t like what was on the radio is not only stupid, it exhibits incredible cowardice.
There are other taxi-type services available. Keep this story in mind when next you need one.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I’ve never used Lyft. Probably never will now. Just like DoorDash and GrubHub. If you feel that politics should define your business then go be a politician.
Lyft had provided fine service when traveling but today I removed its app and went through a big search of its website to find how to delete my account as they have a credit card number on file. It was tough to find but I got it done.
Joe and Robert Pratt: A letter to their management stating why you will never use them, or have removed their app might also be helpful. We must make them very aware of the consequences of their actions.
Wasn’t there a country founded, or something, with the express purpose of removing politics from daily life? Not everyone desires to be a courtier.
Blair …. that removal, of the dominance of ideology over daily life is not allowed in a theocracy, where the personal is always either political or heretical.
And the Church of Woke is as theocratic as it gets … normally in a theocracy, mere humans only deign to speak with the authority of God, but in the Church of Woke mere humans are assumed to be omniscient, infallible gods over their neighbors.
Progressives are the fundamentalists that they decry others of being … they exhibit more projection than an 18-screen IMAX cineplex.
Do lyft drivers play (c)rap ? Does a passenger have the right to request the radio be turned off? I know the DRIVERS are rated by customers, but do they have a CUSTOMER rating? I bet if a person wearing a MAGA hat got in a vehicle owned by a raging lunatic liber that person would have an uncomfortable ride and if they complained would the RLL be fired? Highly doubtful!!
I don’t know, This has a real Jesse Smolen sense of “things that never happened for $800 Alex”. I may be wrong
Jester Naybor:
Remember the bumper stickers: “The Personal Is Political”. Yeah, cute when they came out; not so much lately.
Capitalist Moose–
“Dave Chappelle on the Jussie Smollett Incident”
(august 2019)
https://youtu.be/wZXoErL2124
4:54