4 ms·

I'm not sure where the boundary of acceptable responses to contentious speech may lie, but surely choosing to avoid an expensive and optional conference because

I'm not sure where the boundary of acceptable responses to contentious speech may lie, but surely choosing to avoid an expensive and optional conference because it has booked a particular speaker is well within one's options. Free speech doesn't obligate anyone else to listen.

HCIdivision17 11y ago
I think that's a fine opinion. It's an active choice to not get involved, and I think dynamic partitioning is a good way to handle things (dissent and go one's own way). It's a bit ironic, since I hadn't really known about the conference, and it sounds really cool. After all, I can just not go to that speaker - whoever he is (the controversy really doesn't interest me) - and see some of the other neat talks. I think as far as conference prices go, it's not too bad, but I wasn't planning on it (and there's always the ever-larger cost of travel/lodging), so I suspect I won't see it =/
mcphage 11y ago
> surely choosing to avoid an expensive and optional conference because it has booked a particular speaker is well within one's options. Definitely. But what about contacting all of the conference's sponsors, and insinuating that they're racist if they don't denounce the conference and pull their sponsorship? Or encouraging all of the previous speakers to denounce the organizers? Both of those happened. Probably both allowed, but... wow, some real nasty behavior.
- pklausler 11y ago
  Such behavior infringes on the opportunity of others to decide whether or not they want to hear the speech in question.
- querulous 11y ago
  is this just supposition or can you show where this actually happened?
  - mcphage 11y ago
    So I put some tweets in another message, but they weren't exactly the ones I was referring to; like I said, search is difficult on a phone. But I didn't want to make it seem like I was misconstruing what was said, so I wanted to post some clearer ones as well: "@47deg Hi, are you still going to sponsor LambdaConf if they give a platform to someone who thinks blacks are suited for slavery?" - https://twitter.com/ekrubnivek/status/713501535515226113 https://twitter.com/ekrubnivek/status/713501535515226113 "@andrewfnewman @adrienneleigh So, the racist organizers of lambdaconf selected his talk knowing who they would get? Smart move, clearly!" - https://twitter.com/extempore2/status/714502151884505088 https://twitter.com/extempore2/status/714502151884505088 "If you've spoken at LambdaConf: have you repudiated its organizers for making the choice to include bigots and exclude marginalized people?" - https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/712804368945250305 https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/71280436894525030...
    - tunesmith 11y ago
      FWIW, extempore2 was making the opposite point - he's been one of the most vocal in criticizing the boycotters.
      - mcphage 11y ago
        Ah, sorry, I did not realize that. One of twitter's many endearing features is how easy it is to take tweets out of context. I'd edit my post to remove it, but I can't.
  - tome 11y ago
    This comment (plus many others on Twitter that you can find by searching "lambdaconf sponsors") suggests that all sponsors but one pulled out due to pressure. https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/713586782873395200 https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/71358678287339520...
  - mcphage 11y ago
    Twitter search is terrible, especially on a phone, but here is some: https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/712883725994823680 https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/7128837259948236... https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/712883553797705728 https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/7128835537977057...

HCIdivision17 11y ago

I think that's a fine opinion. It's an active choice to not get involved, and I think dynamic partitioning is a good way to handle things (dissent and go one's own way). It's a bit ironic, since I hadn't really known about the conference, and it sounds really cool. After all, I can just not go to that speaker - whoever he is (the controversy really doesn't interest me) - and see some of the other neat talks. I think as far as conference prices go, it's not too bad, but I wasn't planning on it (and there's always the ever-larger cost of travel/lodging), so I suspect I won't see it =/

mcphage 11y ago

> surely choosing to avoid an expensive and optional conference because it has booked a particular speaker is well within one's options. Definitely. But what about contacting all of the conference's sponsors, and insinuating that they're racist if they don't denounce the conference and pull their sponsorship? Or encouraging all of the previous speakers to denounce the organizers? Both of those happened. Probably both allowed, but... wow, some real nasty behavior.

pklausler 11y ago
Such behavior infringes on the opportunity of others to decide whether or not they want to hear the speech in question.
querulous 11y ago
is this just supposition or can you show where this actually happened?
- mcphage 11y ago
  So I put some tweets in another message, but they weren't exactly the ones I was referring to; like I said, search is difficult on a phone. But I didn't want to make it seem like I was misconstruing what was said, so I wanted to post some clearer ones as well: "@47deg Hi, are you still going to sponsor LambdaConf if they give a platform to someone who thinks blacks are suited for slavery?" - https://twitter.com/ekrubnivek/status/713501535515226113 https://twitter.com/ekrubnivek/status/713501535515226113 "@andrewfnewman @adrienneleigh So, the racist organizers of lambdaconf selected his talk knowing who they would get? Smart move, clearly!" - https://twitter.com/extempore2/status/714502151884505088 https://twitter.com/extempore2/status/714502151884505088 "If you've spoken at LambdaConf: have you repudiated its organizers for making the choice to include bigots and exclude marginalized people?" - https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/712804368945250305 https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/71280436894525030...
  - tunesmith 11y ago
    FWIW, extempore2 was making the opposite point - he's been one of the most vocal in criticizing the boycotters.
    - mcphage 11y ago
      Ah, sorry, I did not realize that. One of twitter's many endearing features is how easy it is to take tweets out of context. I'd edit my post to remove it, but I can't.
- tome 11y ago
  This comment (plus many others on Twitter that you can find by searching "lambdaconf sponsors") suggests that all sponsors but one pulled out due to pressure. https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/713586782873395200 https://twitter.com/fatneckbeardguy/status/71358678287339520...
- mcphage 11y ago
  Twitter search is terrible, especially on a phone, but here is some: https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/712883725994823680 https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/7128837259948236... https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/712883553797705728 https://mobile.twitter.com/antifuchs/status/7128835537977057...