When does this sort of thing end?

New York Times Meltdown Plays Out in Private Facebook Group

The "resignation" of star New York Times science writer Donald McNeil Jr. has sparked a furious back-and-forth among Times staffers, many of whom are outraged over the Gray Lady’s handling of his departure.

McNeil’s ouster came nearly two years after the incident that precipitated it. While chaperoning high school students on a pricey trip to Peru, the science reporter responded to a question from a student about whether one of her classmates should have been suspended for using the n-word. In the process, he uttered the offending syllables himself. An internal Times investigation found his judgment wanting but stopped short of firing him.

Only after the Daily Beast published an account of the incident, thrusting it into the public realm for the first time, was McNeil pushed out. "We do not tolerate racist language regardless of intent," Dean Baquet, the paper’s executive editor, told staff in an email.

Baquet’s statement in particular came in for scathing criticism in the Facebook discussion. "‘We do not tolerate racist language regardless of intent’ might be the most racist statement I’ve ever read," said Lawrence De Maria, an award-winning crime and finance reporter. "It demeans ALL races."

So I would think that nearly everyone agrees that the person using the "n-word" in response to a question about the use of the "n-word" was not intended to offend anyone and certainly was not used in the context of a racial slur. To be fired over an event that took place two years ago is bad enough, but to be fired simply because a media account of the events was aired is even worse.

This is getting almost as bad as those zero tolerance school policies that ended up justifying things like suspending grade schoolers for having a plastic silverware package that included the butter knife.  There comes a time when the backlash is more powerful than the push for political correctness.