{"id":136391,"date":"2021-01-12T14:59:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T22:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=136391"},"modified":"2021-01-12T14:59:14","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T22:59:14","slug":"rci-a-big-move-to-ban-realtor-hate-speech-at-work-anywhere-24-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=136391","title":{"rendered":"RCI: A Big Move to Ban Realtor ‘Hate Speech.’ At Work. Anywhere. 24\/7."},"content":{"rendered":"

From Real Clear Investigations<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In what some consider one of the most far-reaching social policy moves in the corporate world, the National Association of Realtors, called the nation’s largest trade organization, has revised its professional ethics code to ban \u201chate speech and harassing speech\u201d by its 1.4 million members.<\/p>\n

The sweeping prohibition applies to association members 24\/7, covering all communication, private and professional, written and spoken, online and off. Punishment could top out at a maximum fine of $15,000 and expulsion from the organization…<\/p>\n

NAR\u2019s decision, allowing any member of the public to file a complaint, has alarmed other real estate agents, and also some legal and ethics experts, who say the hate speech ban\u2019s vagueness is an invitation to censor controversial political opinions, especially on race and gender. While that\u2019s not the association\u2019s stated intention, the skeptics say their fears are justified by the hyperactive \u201ccancel culture\u201d online that has jettisoned hapless workers for posting \u201call lives matter\u201d and objecting to gay marriage…<\/p>\n

NAR\u2019s hate speech policy is noteworthy because it sweeps up 1.4 million people under an ethics standard that explicitly places limits on private speech, to be adjudicated through formal procedures. The organization\u2019s new policy provides an avenue for the NAR to investigate, fine \u2013 and potentially expel \u2013 real estate agents who insult, threaten or harass people or social groups based on race, sex, gender or other legally protected characteristics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is taking something that\u2019s been happening on a kind-of informal and occasional basis \u2013 indeed, people do sometimes end up losing jobs because of their political expression \u2013 and shifting it to something that\u2019s institutionalized, that\u2019s bureaucratized, and that\u2019s being enforced through quasi-legal tribunals,\u201d said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

Volokh said such policies pose significant risks for abuse, and should be assessed not for their good intentions but for their potential to misfire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is a new blacklist,\u201d Volokh said. \u201cOne of the things that\u2019s troubling about the National Association of Realtors\u2019 position is that it is trying to deploy the organized economic power of this group in order to suppress dissenting political views among members.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the current climate of cancel culture and vigilante justice on Twitter, where a single misdeed can become amplified into the defining act of one\u2019s life, some real estate agents fear the new speech code will be used to censor agents who express disapproval of affirmative action, gay marriage, transgender pronouns, Black Lives Matter, undocumented immigrants or other politicized issues. Such concerns were validated last month by a federal judge who struck down an anti-discrimination speech code imposed on Pennsylvania lawyers, saying that the ban\u2019s vagueness amounted to open season on politically unpopular opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Real Clear Investigations: In what some consider one of the most far-reaching social policy moves in the corporate world, the National Association of Realtors, called the nation’s largest trade organization, has revised its professional ethics code to ban \u201chate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29658],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136392,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136391\/revisions\/136392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}