feminist?
Out of context: Reply #419
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Our culture of shaming everyone who makes a public mistake is a serious problem that we need get past as a global society. Shaming clouds the issues and belittles the efforts of causes such as feminism, and it creates an "us vs them" mentality that is not productive.
For example, the reason this Tim Hunt scientist resigns is because of public shaming and ridicule, not because of feminism. Sure, it is feminists doing a lot of the shaming, but feminism itself is not the CAUSE of the shaming. If shaming was coming ONLY from feminists, then we could make that argument. But it's not. We see shaming all over the the internet for every issue (e.g. race, sexism, religion, etc). Find any controversial issue and you can find people shaming others over it.
The problem is this: now people like Georges can say 'Look, feminism causes scientists to quit, therefore feminism is bad!' which simply isn't true. Many feminists would argue that the man shouldn't be shamed (but you won't hear those voices, because they are drowned out by the shame people screaming.)
This one particular example has created a "feminism vs science" war. The two things have nothing to do with each other.
Let's also not forget that we had an OLD MAN say one thing that was very sexist. WHAT A SHOCKER. AN OLD MAN IS SEXIST! OH MY GOD! NOW I'VE SEEN EVERYTHING! STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND WATCH THIS VIDEO AND SHARE IT BECAUSE YOU WON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES.
Tim Hunt is 72. Find any group of white men over 70 and you'll find that they're basically all full of outdated ideas. They'll be a bunch of sexist, racist, homophobes, probably. They're from a different time. This doesn't excuse their behaviour, but maybe we can all calm down about something that isn't really a problem. Tim Hunt at 72 is not the spokesperson for men, nor professors, nor scientists, nor anybody. Just one sexist old man who has probably had tenure for 30 years and nobody ever corrects him. He makes a bad joke on TV and the world falls apart.
My point is this: if we want to grow as a global community and make great things and all that crap, we need to stop shaming everyone. We could cut Tim Hunt some slack. All he really needs is to be explained why he's wrong in a calm way. And if he won't back down, then maybe he can't be a professor anymore. No big deal, we all move on. And we could also take it easy on some of these young feminists who hold up stupid signs. Sure, they might have some dumb ideas on their signs, but a lot of them are teenagers or early 20s. I know I had some pretty stupid views on the world at that age.
These shame wars that cloud the issue also create a situation where people are on twitter threatening to kill and maim and rape a woman who spoke out against sexism in the video game industry or movie industry or basically wherever. Like, take it easy, you fucking psychos. You are proving why we need feminism. Trust me, if anyone of us got 500 messages on the internet from strangers publicly threatening to kill you and saying they know where you live, you'd feel a tiny bit worried going out of your house at night.
Then these psychos say they have freedom of speech and should be allowed to say whatever they want. So, the woman writes a blog article about equality/sexism, and you threaten to kill her for it. And you say that feminists are the problem? Wake up. It's everybody.
And, before you start posting a bunch of jpgs of those times when feminists posted on tumblr threatening to cut someones dick off or whatever, please keep in mind that I'm saying that BOTH SIDES need to chill the fuck out.
- your'e giving it a bit too much thought. just slacktivists having hissy fits********
- Valid points. Very well written.********
- I dig these words man. Wish people would forget their ego's for 5 minutes and chill the fuck out. I fucking hate people!Ianbolton
- your'e giving it a bit too much thought. just slacktivists having hissy fits