4 ms·

It's pretty heavy conjecture to assume that jerks are bigots or misogynists becuase they're mad at someone else at work.

• michaelochurch 13y ago
  If someone's a member of the Taliban or the Ku Klux Klan, it's likely that his issues go deeper than "mad at the boss man". However, even your most obnoxious brogrammer is not likely to be in the Klan. He probably isn't even a bigot. He's a bully. There's a difference. Bullies attack those who are politically weak. It so happens that politically weak people are often in a minority in that environment, but I don't think gender, race, or age are explicitly part of their selection process. The archetypical bully brogrammer doesn't wake up and say, "after my 10:30 protein shake, I'm going to direct a few microaggressions at female programmers. Oh, and Mark turns 40 on Thursday, so I need to put him on my rotation." It doesn't work that way, obviously. They pick on the weak-- whoever that may be, and it often changes-- because they're picked-on from above and it's their only way to restore their battered confidence.
  • mjolk 13y ago
    You seem to have a very specific anecdote in mind.
    • michaelochurch 13y ago
      Actually, no. The "protein shake" anecdote was just me throwing bro stereotypes and tech-sphere complaints together. Typical tech bullies avoid and ignore me because they know I'm good at what I do, and better than most of them. The only time I face adversity from a programmer is when I make him insecure (which doesn't require that I be better, although that's often the case.)