6 ms·

For those keeping score, this is also OK: @adriarichards Black people CANNOT be racist against White people. Racism is a position of the oppressor who has the p

• knowtheory 14y ago
  And what score are we keeping? What are you hoping to accomplish by highlighting this particular tweet? What does this have to do with the incident at PyCon? What does this have to do with determining the facts of what happened at PyCon? Even if you disagree with this tweet (which i do), aside from the obvious character assassination, what exactly are you asking us to infer here?
  • jcc80 14y ago
    "What exactly are you asking us to infer here?" That in this situation she's playing a victim when she's actually the one with the power. Granted, old tweet.
    • knowtheory 14y ago
      And you think she has the power because...? She has a twitter account? Or because she works in developer relations for a startup? Or because she's got two X chromosomes? Or because she's black?
      • jcc80 14y ago
        It's pretty obvious - she was able to get a guy fired for making a Jr. High joke to his friend (sexual joke, not sexist) and stir up a hornets nest with a simple tweet.
        • knowtheory 14y ago
          She didn't fire anyone. And frankly, do you think she expected him to be fired? Do you think that was her intent when she posted?
        • throwaway0321 14y ago
          @knowtheory The person being fired is a direct consequence of her tweet. While it isn't likely she directly intended for anyone to lose their jobs, it is equally unlikely she expected absolutely nothing to come of it. Edit: changed wording.
          • revdinosaur 14y ago
            I think it's fascinating that every single instance of this argument, in this and related threads, posters conveniently decide to begin tracing the chain of events that lead to the firing at the tweet--not the jokes.
            • jcc80 14y ago
              Maybe the part you're missing is that the jokes aren't the unusual part. Just run of the mill banter between a couple guys when maybe they should have been quiet so they weren't distracting people from listening. Tweeting a photo to shame people at a conference is highly unusual. Getting offended at a dongle joke not directed at you is highly unusual. That's why the story normally starts there. Not trying to be a jerk - if you feel the jokes are somehow unique or offensive. Most people just don't see it that way though.
              • revdinosaur 14y ago
                I'm sorry but you're incorrect. Getting "offended" by a sexual joke is not unusual, nor does its normalcy matter in this situation. What they did was create an unwelcoming environment around them by engaging in locker room-level humor. I personally am not offended by the joke nor do I think they are clever or unique, but saying that they don't matter because they're the status quo is a really weak argument and it speaks to the lack of progressive thought in this community when it comes to diversity.
                • jcc80 14y ago
                  Lack of progressive thought on diversity? If you want an argument about dongle jokes creating an unwelcoming environment look elsewhere. The most sensitive among us don't set the rules. https://amandablumwords.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/3/ https://amandablumwords.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/3/
  • mseebach 14y ago
    It's relevant for the context that she certainly seems to have a political cause to further that isn't necessarily directly relevant to the appropriateness of jokes shared between members of the audience of a conference. It's well known that political activists are quite more able to see the enemy that "laymen" - eg. when FOX Newsers call something or someone "communist" for an example from the opposite end of the spectrum.
• andybak 14y ago
  While I might have some issues with that statement I think it's a valid and defensible argument. It's a fairly common one within anti-racist discourse. I don't see it's relevance here at all. Implying that someone should be vilified for holding a political opinion you disagree with is fairly horrible and remarkably similar to the thing you're (and I with some caveats) disagree with Adria for doing in the first place.
  • Udo 14y ago
    How is this defensible? Asserting that by virtue of their powerlessness black people can't be racist? That's a statement that should offend anyone, especially black people. Racism, sexism, etc. are characterized by the desire to damage a certain group while propping up another by making broad-scoped and baseless inferiority/superiority statements, often followed up by aggressive actions. It's not necessary for one group to be "in power" for this to happen. Racism in cases where minorities are the perpetrators is exactly as unacceptable as in any other circumstance and people who defend that should be called out for it. In short, and conveniently looping back to the actual topic at hand: behaving like an asshole is never OK.
    • andrewdupont 14y ago
      The difference between racism (an institutionalized system wherein a majority race discriminates against minority races) and racism (an arbitrary action that reveals a preference of one race over another) is a constant source of confusion in these discussions. The former definition is used most often in academia; the latter definition is much more common in casual conversation. When one person says "black people can't be racist" and another person says "black people can indeed be racist," they are using the word two different ways and meaning two different things. It has derailed more threads than I care to remember.
      • arh68 14y ago
        Is there a good source for your first definition? I've never come across this distinction so directly before, and the line between the two is still a little blurry. I hate to get all [citation needed] on you, but it just seems to me that the 'institutionalized system' is nothing more than the vast repetition of many 'arbitrary actions'. Is there a simple textbook example contrasting the two?
• svlasits 14y ago
  I'm keeping score: You lose 10 intelligence points for lacking understanding about racism.