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That's rather unfortunate. If I may propose an alternative treatment of Feynman though: simply forget that he was sexist and instead claim he was very progressi
by Asooka 10y ago
That's rather unfortunate. If I may propose an alternative treatment of Feynman though: simply forget that he was sexist and instead claim he was very progressive and helped female colleaguea all the time. People already want to be like Feynman, so if we simply turn Feynman's historical image into what we want people to be like we would accomplish more than by telling people that their heroes are evil.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoThat's a pretty evil suggestion, but it may just work.
- Asooka 10y agoOf course it would. Think of say Abraham "I would never tell a lie" Lincoln. Who chased after a woman in the freezing snow to give her back her 20p. Our heroes always been moulded into idealised versions of themselves, a sort of mythological figures. You probably think it's evil because it seems like historic revisionism, i.e. what Stalin, Kim, etc. have done. I think it's justified to tell small white lies like this, like "Feynman respected women", if it helps people be better towards each other.
- logfromblammo 10y agoDid you ever read that chapter of Surely You're Joking where Feynman hanged himself from a tree for seven days to learn the secrets of subatomic physics? That's where Feynman diagrams came from.~
- Chinjut 10y agoHaha, uh, that would be… one bizarre way to go about things. Nah, I'd rather have the truth, yet work to nonetheless have people be good. Many heroes are flawed; let's emulate their positive qualities, and avoid their negative ones, without failing to acknowledge them or outright covering them up.
- coldtea 10y ago>we would accomplish more than by telling people that their heroes are evil. Not to mention that being sexist is not evil, just bad manners (or that there's no such thing as "evil", it's a theological concept).
- foldr 10y agoDiscriminating against someone because of their gender is wrong, not just bad manners. "It's not wrong because nothing is truly wrong" is surely an excuse of last resort. I don't see anyone on here bringing that point up when people are complaining about NSA surveillance or some other hacker cause célèbre.
- coldtea 10y ago>Discriminating against someone because of their gender is wrong, not just bad manners. Depends on the discrimination. Costing them a job opportunity is wrong. Telling them "hey, make me some tea" is bad manners -- same as if you asked a lower ranking male employee whose job is not it, that. >"It's not wrong because nothing is truly wrong" is surely an excuse of last resort. It's also an excuse nobody made. Wrong != evil. People are not cartoonish figures who are either holy or evil. >I don't see anyone on here bringing that point up when people are complaining about NSA surveillance or some other hacker cause célèbre. I'm not sure of the relevance. NSA surveillance is totalitarian. Asking female colleagues to "make you coffee" is impolite.
- foldr 10y ago>Telling them "hey, make me some tea" is bad manners -- same as if you asked a lower ranking male employee whose job is not it, that. No, treating your women colleagues as if they are inferior merely because they are women is wrong. It is not merely bad manners, any more than racism or xenophobia are merely bad manners. >It's also an excuse nobody made. Are you just referring to the fact that I used the word 'wrong' instead of the word 'evil'? If so, just substitute 'evil' for 'wrong' in my previous comment.
- cwilkes 10y ago> he was very progressive and helped female colleaguea all the time. If there were only some sort of diagram to describe this many worlds idea
- Maken 10y agoWouldn't it be better to explain them nobody is perfect?