4 ms·

> This is a rhetorical device, intended to use an emotional argument ("hatred, rage, vulgar insults and detailed threads of rape, bodily harm, and murder!!!") t

> This is a rhetorical device, intended to use an emotional argument ("hatred, rage, vulgar insults and detailed threads of rape, bodily harm, and murder!!!") to justify totally unrelated behavior of public naming and shaming for a mild offense. I do not agree that public naming and shaming is unrelated to this incident. You have to keep in mind that it is not unreasonable to see the penis jokes as a sexist microaggression [1], esp. if you are a woman of color working in a field where those kinds of jokes and microaggerssions happen a lot. To that end, sexism is reenforced and made more prevalent by those microaggressions. Sexism and misogyny in society does directly translate to outright physical violence and murder of women. So for a woman of color to confront that microaggression and then receive threats on her physical safety and life isn't just some idle trolling, it reflects a reality that this person may very well experience. Keep in mind that 1 in 5 women in the US will be sexually assaulted in their life time and that people of color, esp. black women, face a variety of forms of institutionally backed violence. Public naming and shaming is a valid form of defense against those conditions and kinds of violence. > The whole thing was and is a ridiculous mess, and it all was avoidable by behaving like responsible adults. I agree and it should be noted that being a responsible adult means avoiding penis jokes when representing your company at a conference they sponsored, esp. when said conference is working very hard on including women. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression

pifflesnort 14y ago
'Microaggression' is, in this context, simply being misused as another device to justify disproportionate behavior. You've done further rhetorical gymnastics to tie together immature 'dongle' jokes with sexual and racial violence, ultimately with the seeming intent of redefining the entire event to absolve one party of their responsibility to act with maturity and responsibility, solely in furtherance of a culturally damaging, distracting, and virulent ideology. Olivia Wilde also received some similarly horrid threats after insulting Justin Bieber on Twitter, but I can only hope and assume that you won't be attempting to tie that event to sexism in technology, and instead recognize that it reflects a real, but very different problem.
- king_jester 14y ago
  I'm curious as to why you believe microaggression is being misused here. Immature dongle jokes are related to sexual and racial violence. In terms of sexual violence in tech, Courtney Stanton did a good piece on buzzfeed about the context of sexualized violence and aggression that forms the backgroup of why a penis joke is not appropriate at a tech conference: http://www.buzzfeed.com/courtneystanton/a-woman-walks-into-a-tech-conference http://www.buzzfeed.com/courtneystanton/a-woman-walks-into-a... > ultimately with the seeming intent of redefining the entire event to absolve one party of their responsibility to act with maturity and responsibility, I do not seek to absolve anyone of anything. However, Adria Richards despondently appropriately in the pycon situation. She was under no obligation to be nice to the gentlemen making the jokes and being nice could have had the opposite effect and made them more belligerent. Taking it to pycon staff was the right thing to do. Again, while you may think it rude, she is under no obligation to meet a niceness standard when someone is violating conference rules. > solely in furtherance of a culturally damaging, distracting, and virulent ideology. I don't know what ideology you are referring to here. If you are referring to feminism based on Adria Richard's own statements on her blog, you are quite mistaken about feminism as damaging, distracting, or virulent. Otherwise, I'd like to know what exactly you mean. > Olivia Wilde also received some similarly horrid threats after insulting Justin Bieber on Twitter, but I can only hope and assume that you won't be attempting to tie that event to sexism in technology, and instead recognize that it reflects a real, but very different problem. All sexism is related, there is no need to tie sexism in tech to it because sexism in tech is already a part of the broader sexism of western society. However, I don't really know anything about this twitter exchange nor do I really know anything about Wilde and Bieber (nor do I care to really).
  - pifflesnort 14y ago
    > I'm curious as to why you believe microaggression is being misused here You're using it to create a false equivalence between immature jokes and sexual/racial violence, and having done that, are using racial/sexual violence as an appeal to emotion and morality. Having done that, you're using that appeal to rationalize Adria's disproportionate response and overstate the severity of the offense, manufacturing a reality in which the conclusion of any rational observer is foregone; Adria is the victim of sexism backed by sexual and racial violence, rather than the reality: she overheard an immature and minimally offensive joke. In this context, 'microaggression' gives you the rhetorical tool you need to tie together minor offenses into a broader tapestry of systemic violence and oppression from which you can use emotional appeals to justify almost any response, no matter how disproportionate to the original offense. Adria chose to evoke public mob justice by shaming individuals for behaviors that she herself engaged in, while giving the individuals in question no equivalent platform to defend themselves. This was wrong, and was done in the name of an ideology that uses rhetorical tricks such as your 'microaggressions' to justify such disproportionate behavior.

pifflesnort 14y ago

'Microaggression' is, in this context, simply being misused as another device to justify disproportionate behavior. You've done further rhetorical gymnastics to tie together immature 'dongle' jokes with sexual and racial violence, ultimately with the seeming intent of redefining the entire event to absolve one party of their responsibility to act with maturity and responsibility, solely in furtherance of a culturally damaging, distracting, and virulent ideology. Olivia Wilde also received some similarly horrid threats after insulting Justin Bieber on Twitter, but I can only hope and assume that you won't be attempting to tie that event to sexism in technology, and instead recognize that it reflects a real, but very different problem.

king_jester 14y ago
I'm curious as to why you believe microaggression is being misused here. Immature dongle jokes are related to sexual and racial violence. In terms of sexual violence in tech, Courtney Stanton did a good piece on buzzfeed about the context of sexualized violence and aggression that forms the backgroup of why a penis joke is not appropriate at a tech conference: http://www.buzzfeed.com/courtneystanton/a-woman-walks-into-a-tech-conference http://www.buzzfeed.com/courtneystanton/a-woman-walks-into-a... > ultimately with the seeming intent of redefining the entire event to absolve one party of their responsibility to act with maturity and responsibility, I do not seek to absolve anyone of anything. However, Adria Richards despondently appropriately in the pycon situation. She was under no obligation to be nice to the gentlemen making the jokes and being nice could have had the opposite effect and made them more belligerent. Taking it to pycon staff was the right thing to do. Again, while you may think it rude, she is under no obligation to meet a niceness standard when someone is violating conference rules. > solely in furtherance of a culturally damaging, distracting, and virulent ideology. I don't know what ideology you are referring to here. If you are referring to feminism based on Adria Richard's own statements on her blog, you are quite mistaken about feminism as damaging, distracting, or virulent. Otherwise, I'd like to know what exactly you mean. > Olivia Wilde also received some similarly horrid threats after insulting Justin Bieber on Twitter, but I can only hope and assume that you won't be attempting to tie that event to sexism in technology, and instead recognize that it reflects a real, but very different problem. All sexism is related, there is no need to tie sexism in tech to it because sexism in tech is already a part of the broader sexism of western society. However, I don't really know anything about this twitter exchange nor do I really know anything about Wilde and Bieber (nor do I care to really).
- pifflesnort 14y ago
  > I'm curious as to why you believe microaggression is being misused here You're using it to create a false equivalence between immature jokes and sexual/racial violence, and having done that, are using racial/sexual violence as an appeal to emotion and morality. Having done that, you're using that appeal to rationalize Adria's disproportionate response and overstate the severity of the offense, manufacturing a reality in which the conclusion of any rational observer is foregone; Adria is the victim of sexism backed by sexual and racial violence, rather than the reality: she overheard an immature and minimally offensive joke. In this context, 'microaggression' gives you the rhetorical tool you need to tie together minor offenses into a broader tapestry of systemic violence and oppression from which you can use emotional appeals to justify almost any response, no matter how disproportionate to the original offense. Adria chose to evoke public mob justice by shaming individuals for behaviors that she herself engaged in, while giving the individuals in question no equivalent platform to defend themselves. This was wrong, and was done in the name of an ideology that uses rhetorical tricks such as your 'microaggressions' to justify such disproportionate behavior.