When being yourself becomes dangerous

We had a vivid discussion the other day about the following question:

"Was it right to dismiss John Galliano from the house of Dior, after his verbal escapades?"

There were two fervent opinions groups with obviously contrary views. The ones who defended John Galliano, thinking of him as just another citizen with the right to make mistakes, the others defending the house of Dior thinking of the dismissal as the only right answer to the public offense their Artistic Director committed.

Now as for me I think that maybe the fact of being Swiss naturally moves me into a center position, but me make myself clear : John Galliano is a human being like we all are and is entitled to make mistakes and pay the price for it as everybody else. Could you imagine being sacked from your job after committing the same mistake? I doubt it! But not because the mistake is commendable but because nobody gives a damn about you. The problem with John Galliano is that he is a public figure and being a public figure he is not only constantly exposed to public but also to their judgment.

In this case not the Artistic Director of Dior has been sacked but John Galliano as a person. The best proof for this is, that the following fashion show has not been cancelled, proving that Dior was not at all ashamed of the artistic work done by Galliano. They just had to react to the fact that the public figure Galliano, in his role as spokesperson of Dior was no longer in line with the values and the image of the House of Dior.

What is sad, is that in the end Galliano fired himself, it was due to come. I would assume that both parties are ok with the fact that it happened because they knew that a change was necessary someday. Dior stands clear of all that happened and reacted quickly and John, well he'll rise from the ashes and everybody in Paris that condemned him now will cheer at him when he comes back in a few months, stronger and crazier than he has ever been before.

The only sad thing is that I would have loved to see a great goodbye runway Galliano for Dior - now that won't happen, will it? So let's look forward to the first post-Galliano Dior-Show and the return of the master himself.