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I think the story here is that the protesting students clearly didn't understand even 1% of the backstory either. They didn't come to the protest with a deep a

I think the story here is that the protesting students clearly didn't understand even 1% of the backstory either. They didn't come to the protest with a deep and sophisticated understanding of Alice Dreger's positions and history. Rather the protest was fueled by an inflammatory quote posted by a fake social media account under her name. Then the students blamed their confusion on her for not policing social media. If you are against HN users commenting on Alice Dreger's story because we don't have the background, what do you have to say about 100 students from one of the country's top liberal arts colleges who showed up to a protest without even verifying basic facts about what they were protesting?

tptacek 9y ago
What makes you so sure they didn't?
- haberman 9y ago
  > Earlier in the day, in a class co-taught by the Freedom Project’s Director, Tom Cushman, a student had read aloud to me something I supposedly have said about transgender people. It was so comically bigoted, it was hard to take seriously. But apparently someone somewhere said I said this, and this “quote” from me was being transmitted in an email around campus, the one calling for the protest of me. The email organizing the protest was based on a false narrative, and the students who were receiving it were apparently unaware of this.
  - tptacek 9y ago
    Why do you assume that one bit of false narrative was what organized the students? Dreger has said a lot of controversial stuff.
    - haberman 9y ago
      Because it was literally in the email that called for the protest. An email that was circulating around campus prior to the protest. Because some of the protesters came forth to say that they had been misled about her: > A number of students came up to me to say they had really had their minds opened by realizing what they’re told about someone might not at all be true. This thread is a perfect example of why modern leftist criticisms ring so hollow. If this is such a complicated issue that HN readers are not qualified to even discuss it, why are you suddenly so inclined to give these students a pass that their protest was well-informed, despite strong evidence to the contrary?
      - tptacek 9y ago
        I don't think you're presenting the evidence you think you are. What you've pointed out so far is a single sentence from this article saying that an email contained (presumably among other things) a reference to a fabricated quote. You don't even know what I think about Alice Dreger; all you know is that I think there's a lot more going on than is apparent from this one story. But from that one data point you've allocated me a spot among the "leftists".
        haberman 9y ago
        This sounds like an isolated demand for rigor (http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demands-for-rigor/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demands...). Your initial message judged nearly all HN readers as unqualified to comment based on no evidence. Now you can't hold the protesters to the same standard unless every element of their ignorance is proved. What makes you think that my impression of you comes from one data point? This and other threads make it clear who you are willing to take to task and who you will not call out for their bad behavior.
        tptacek 9y ago
        And now, instead of talking about Alice Dreger, you've completed your pivot to addressing the entire argument to me personally. I can't imagine anything productive coming out of this discussion anymore and so have collapsed the thread.
        haberman 9y ago
        This whole thread I've been arguing that Alice Dreger isn't the point, the point is that a lot of people are willing to protest and tar the reputations of others based on flimsy (and in this case completely fabricated) pretenses. I wish you would be willing to see that this is a problem, but instead you spent the whole thread redirecting. I addressed you because you incorrectly accused me of forming an opinion of your beliefs based on one data point.

tptacek 9y ago

What makes you so sure they didn't?

haberman 9y ago
> Earlier in the day, in a class co-taught by the Freedom Project’s Director, Tom Cushman, a student had read aloud to me something I supposedly have said about transgender people. It was so comically bigoted, it was hard to take seriously. But apparently someone somewhere said I said this, and this “quote” from me was being transmitted in an email around campus, the one calling for the protest of me. The email organizing the protest was based on a false narrative, and the students who were receiving it were apparently unaware of this.
- tptacek 9y ago
  Why do you assume that one bit of false narrative was what organized the students? Dreger has said a lot of controversial stuff.
  - haberman 9y ago
    Because it was literally in the email that called for the protest. An email that was circulating around campus prior to the protest. Because some of the protesters came forth to say that they had been misled about her: > A number of students came up to me to say they had really had their minds opened by realizing what they’re told about someone might not at all be true. This thread is a perfect example of why modern leftist criticisms ring so hollow. If this is such a complicated issue that HN readers are not qualified to even discuss it, why are you suddenly so inclined to give these students a pass that their protest was well-informed, despite strong evidence to the contrary?
    - tptacek 9y ago
      I don't think you're presenting the evidence you think you are. What you've pointed out so far is a single sentence from this article saying that an email contained (presumably among other things) a reference to a fabricated quote. You don't even know what I think about Alice Dreger; all you know is that I think there's a lot more going on than is apparent from this one story. But from that one data point you've allocated me a spot among the "leftists".
      - haberman 9y ago
        This sounds like an isolated demand for rigor (http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demands-for-rigor/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demands...). Your initial message judged nearly all HN readers as unqualified to comment based on no evidence. Now you can't hold the protesters to the same standard unless every element of their ignorance is proved. What makes you think that my impression of you comes from one data point? This and other threads make it clear who you are willing to take to task and who you will not call out for their bad behavior.
        tptacek 9y ago
        And now, instead of talking about Alice Dreger, you've completed your pivot to addressing the entire argument to me personally. I can't imagine anything productive coming out of this discussion anymore and so have collapsed the thread.
        haberman 9y ago
        This whole thread I've been arguing that Alice Dreger isn't the point, the point is that a lot of people are willing to protest and tar the reputations of others based on flimsy (and in this case completely fabricated) pretenses. I wish you would be willing to see that this is a problem, but instead you spent the whole thread redirecting. I addressed you because you incorrectly accused me of forming an opinion of your beliefs based on one data point.