Was firing an over-reaction? [LWN.net]

Was firing an over-reaction?

Posted Mar 25, 2013 0:26 UTC (Mon) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129)
In reply to: Was firing an over-reaction? by sjj
Parent article: Blum: Adria Richards, PyCon, and How We All Lost

The culprits are being (probably falsely) accused of sexism, and whether they're guilty of that very much depends on what sexism is. So how is the distinction between sexism and obscenity *not* meaningful here?

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Was firing an over-reaction?

Posted Mar 25, 2013 0:51 UTC (Mon) by sjj (subscriber, #2020) [Link]

They were not accused of sexism, they were accused of behaving in an inappropriate way. Both sexist and obscene talk are inappropriate in that situation, so I still don't see your point.

Hint: they are not being accused of *being* sexist, they are being accused of *behaving in a sexist way*. It's not about what people think, it's about what they do. This matters in a public setting exactly because the two would sound the same. If you don't want people around you to think you're sexist or racist etc, don't say things sound racist or sexist. How are the people in the next row who don't know you supposed to tell the difference and just think "oh he's a nice guy, he didn't mean it, it's just a joke"?

Society/community/organization cannot police what people think, but they can police what they do.

Was firing an over-reaction?

Posted Mar 25, 2013 2:37 UTC (Mon) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129) [Link]

This matters in a public setting exactly because the two would sound the same.

Here's an example: All women are stupid is sexist, but not obscene. I have a really big dong is obscene, but not sexist. So no, they don't sound the same at all. Stop saying that because it's bollocks.

Was firing an over-reaction?

Posted Mar 25, 2013 3:37 UTC (Mon) by sjj (subscriber, #2020) [Link]

Sigh. Yeah, so what? Both are INAPPROPRIATE behavior in this context. So is smoking weed in a presentation and heckling a female presenter: http://term.ie/blog/how-to-get-banned-from-pycon/

Again, inappropriate behavior is the problem. There's no need to lawyer around which exact bin it belongs to.

I'm so out of this thread.

Was firing an over-reaction?

Posted Mar 25, 2013 8:20 UTC (Mon) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

> I'm so out of this thread.

... but apparently only as long as you have the last post in every sub-thread.

Was firing an over-reaction?

Posted Mar 25, 2013 10:30 UTC (Mon) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129) [Link]

By that logic, running a red light is the same as shooting someone because they're both forbidden by law. Of course, someone as unable to make distinctions as you will fail to see why that is a problem.