Social Justice Warriors

[Darren_Garrison]

@Rick_Sanchez

Besides, why the hell do you even want it to work? You do realize that there’s nothing about your position that precludes bigots from shutting up people like you, right? When, eventually, the shoe is on the other foot and a liberal speaker is shouted down by a bunch of right-wing agitators, what are you going to say? You can’t complain. They’re just doing what people like you do.

Also, this isn’t too far off from what you hypothesized.

[sleestak]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

So what, though? If an injustice is not really an injustice, but the people who believe it is are motivated by a sincere but misguided analysis of the facts, that doesn’t suddenly make the injustice real.

True, but the way things are going these days, the fallout from the fake injustice can be quite damaging. On top of that, it stifles real discussion and can cause real harm.

As an example, take the case of Tim Hunt. Tim Hunt won the Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001.

In 2015 he was asked to give a short speech, one he was unprepared for, at a conference. On Twitter his speech was reported as:

Nobel scientist Tim Hunt FRS @royalsociety says at Korean women lunch “I’m a chauvinist and keep ‘girls’ single lab

on Twitter by Connie St. Louis, a reporter.

A shitstorm ensued. Hunt claimed he was making a joke and apologized. All this led to Hunt resigning from the University College London’s Faculty of Life Sciences and from the Royal Society’s Biological Sciences Awards Committee. Additionally, Hunts wife was told to resign from UCL as well.

You see, Hunt was now and forever a sexist because Connie St. Louis said so. This despite the fact that Hunts wife is a scientist and that Hunt had a great reputation for treating female scientists, who worked with him and in his lab, well.

Then a bit later, an actual recording of what Hunt said turned up:

It’s strange that such a chauvinist monster like me has been asked to speak to women scientists. Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry. Perhaps we should make separate labs for boys and girls? Now seriously, I’m impressed by the economic development of Korea. And women scientists played, without doubt, an important role in it. Science needs women and you should do science despite all the obstacles, and despite monsters like me**.

The audience in the recording laughs, they know it is a joke.

followed later in the same speech by:

So, congratulations, everybody, and I hope – I hope – I hope – I really do hope there is nothing holding you back, especially not monsters like me.

It is quite clear that Hunt was making a self-depreciating joke. Was it a good idea? Nope, Hunt admits it wasn’t a great thing to say. Was the intent to insult women? No. Was it meant to be sexist? Nope.

Yet by the time the actual truth came out the damage had already been done. The fact that Hunt had been ’ always immensely supportive of the ERC’s work around gender equality. His off-the-cuff remarks in Korea are clearly inappropriate and indefensible, but … he has worked tirelessly in support of young scientists of both genders’ didn’t matter at all.

Link.

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

If an injustice really is an injustice, but the people who believe it is are motivated by some weird neurosis, that doesn’t make the injustice any less real.

In the Hunt case, someones weird neurosis cost a Nobel winning scientist his job and damaged his reputation greatly over an improvised joke that one reporter in the audience didn’t understand.

Slee

[Stringbean]

@Inbred_Mm_domesticus

Rick Sanchez, Latro, and Stringbean, I know you are unable to yell at me for my views because this is the internet, but your irrational and ridiculous over-the-top statements are pretty much the internet equivalent of “making a scene”. It makes me not want to participate in the discussion any longer. I think this shows that yelling, mocking, interrupting, and making a scene to make a political point and shut down your political opponents is an effective tactic in preventing discussion of topics we find offensive.

You said “aggressively preventing” an individual from talking is acceptable.

I say your assertion forsakes everything we stand for as a nation.

Your words are the scene. Don’t fall on your sword - it’s made of vapor.