On Tue, 2011-02-01 at 13:43 +1100, Jacinta Richardson wrote:
> I explicitly and directly object to the the repeated comparisons to witch hunts
> and calling this the New Salem. These remarks appear to be both ignorant of
> history, and a vast misrepresentation of the issues. None of the Anti-Harassment
> policy, the Geek Feminism wiki, the organisers, nor the feminists who attended
> LCA are suggesting executing or imprisoning people for making other conference
> attendees feel unsafe or unwelcome. None are suggesting forcing you to dob in
> your mates for a more gentle sentence. No one asked Mark to leave the
> conference, and evicting people from the conference is generally considered a
> last resort. We are not facing issues caused by isolationism, religious
> extremism, false accusations, lapses in due process nor local government
> intrusion on individual liberties; against which the Salem Witch Trials are
> often used as a cautionary tale. As such I find the repeated references to the
> New Salem belittling, dismissive and a distraction from the discussion at hand.
When I speak of 'New Salem' I am speaking of a disturbing trend in our
society as a whole; it's not a vision which was brought to mind *solely*
by the topic of Mark's presentation and the subsequent events. I'm sorry
if you feel that it's belittling; I *do* mean it as a genuine cautionary
reference and not as a distraction.
I have personally experienced false accusations, lapses in due process
and intrusion on individual liberties, all under the cry of 'he has
upset me'. Contrary to your statement above, I feel that we *are* facing
those issues. It is one of the reasons I am so concerned by what
transpired at the conference, and the direction that society in general
is taking. (I really do recommend reading Ben Elton's 'Blind Faith'.)
The 'upset' claimed in the case I'm thinking of above was the use of a
figure of speech which was generally considered *so* innocuous that it
was used in my (then) employer's marketing material, shipped in
user-visible comments in its flagship products, and even seen in its bug
tracking system as the 'official' engineering response to high-profile
clients?.
The repeated lapses of due process in particular were the major
contributing factor in my decision to part ways with said employer,
after an experience which felt very *much* like a witch-hunt to me.
I am very supportive of women in our community, and would very much like
it to be a more welcoming environment. But I feel strongly that this
kind of thing is entirely counter-productive. In a sense it *is*
belittling, because we're focusing on trivia like Mark's talk instead of
the *real* problem.
The *real* problem, as I understand it, is more the occasional (or,
unfortunately, not so occasional) misogynist whose behaviour towards
individuals is threatening/demeaning/objectifying/etc. Or less often
their behaviour towards a group of people; perhaps by using
*egregiously* inappropriate images.
By making a fuss about non-issues or even borderline cases, we only
serve to make *that* person more strongly believe that there is no place
for women, children and the mentally ill in 'his' environment. And thus
we make the *real* problem worse.
--
dwmw2
? The figure of speech in question is still to be found in those places,
FWIW; even after the dust had settled, no move was made to remove it.
Received on Tue Feb 01 2011 - 14:27:02 GMT