17 replies to this topic

[Green Goblin]

http://knowyourmeme....-adria-richards

I'm surprised that this hasn't been discussed here yet. I'm also surprised that I had to go to "know your meme" to find and unbiased dictation of the facts at hand.

Long story short:

- Bunch of people at a tech conference
- Couple of guys in a speech audience are joking with one another and they make a joke about dongles (No one knows what the actual quote is at this point. Just think of literally the EASIEST joke you can make with the word "dongle").
- Woman named Adria Richards overhears is and is offended.
- She takes a snapshot of the gentlemen in question and uploads it on her Twitter, getting the attention of the Pycon moderators as well as the rest of the internet.
- Pycon moderators take the gentlemen aside and tell them to cool it.
- The other people on Ms. Richard's blog go even further and address the issue with the gentlemen's workplace, Playhaven.
- Playhaven responds to the criticism by firing one of the men (married, 3 kids to support, 2-story in suburbia, etc.)
- Ms. Richards talks about standing up for womens' rights about creating a non-hostile work environment (comparing herself to Joan of Arc).
- The REST of the internet gets wind of this and makes her their personal punching bag, by going after her company, SendGrid, and sending her VERY vile and hate-filled messages (involving threats of rape and murder).
- SendGrid responds by firing Ms. Richards.
- A lot of people call sexism.


My thoughts? Ms. Richards is a whiny little bitch (and I'm not referring to her as such in a sexist way. If she were a guy, I'd call her a whiny little bitch too).

1. A joke about dongles is something I'd hear on a sitcom in the 90's. Who the hell gets offended by this?!? Yes, I know they represent their company at these press conferences. But come on!! I work in an office. For a BIG frickin' company. The stuff that I hear daily (mainly by WOMEN, I might add) makes a dongle joke sound like a session of Sunday school. Suck it up and move on!!
2. Regardless if you're offended or not, it's CERTAINLY not sexist. How is it demoralizing to women to know that men have penises?
3. Even if you are offended, why not simply turn around and tell the people behind you to cool it??
4. Instead she decides to take their picture (without obtaining permission, I might add) and publicly shame them on the internet (which you know how powerful of a tool it can be, since you work in the tech industry).
5. Why would you continue to bask in the glory of rallying a personal internet army to essentially doc-drop these guys? You WORK in the tech industry. You know how groups like Anonymous are seen in the eyes of PROFESSIONALS?? They HATE folks like that. People who have no real stake in the industry but have the tools and the know-how to genuinely fuck shit up.
6. Her getting angry about the threats or rape and murder is just stupid. No one's gonna hurt you (physically), Adria. That's just standard internet hate. Give anyone anonymity and a soapbox to standon and they turn into the "ultimate angry badass" (ie: total fucktard). You pissed off the Internet, breaking rule #1 of the internet ("DON'T PISS OFF THE INTERNET!!"). Don't be upset when your small contingency of like-minded feminists get DESTROYED by the rest of the world for getting some poor schmuck fired for telling a joke that an 8-year-old could make and not be offended.
7. She got fired too? I can't really say "good", because honestly, in a perfect world, NO ONE would have been fired in this thing and it would be a non-issue. What I can say is "You should have seen this coming, you stupid fuck." Like a person waving around a wad of $100 bills while walking down the streets of Southeast DC at 1AM in the morning: If you get mugged, you pretty much walked right into it. I mean, you're a TECH person. You've GOT to know why this is a stupid-ass idea, right?

So yeah. That's my stance on this whole thing. What about yours? DISCUSS!!

[Oberon Storm]

So just days before the conference she tweets a joke that is pretty much just as crude as any joke these guys could have made?

Edited by Chief Fire Storm, 18 April 2013 - 12:37 AM.

[Green Goblin]

Cruder, techincally (Hers is actually DIRECTED towards someone.)

[Egann]

Two of my (liberal girl) classmates got offended when I quoted a bumper sticker "go green: give everybody birth control" because "men should be the ones to take birth control responsibility." Look, girls, it's a goddam bumper sticker, not a statement of serious policy.

I've found that feminist-type women get "offended" very easily (and not just in the above example), but they seldom actually mean they're offended: they just use it as a bludgeon to "correct bad behavior" by throwing a conniption fit every time somebody uses a word with an "-man" ending or uses "he" as the subjunctive pronoun. I can see one objection having merit, but the other is patently ridiculous. Either way, they're going about it in an infantile way.

I feel like my skin's expected to be plate armor while other people get away with wet toilet paper.

[Hana-Nezumi]

Can we please not jump into to the whole "feminism=misandry" mindset please? The actions of the radical/irrational feminists do not represent the whole group. Kthx.

6. Her getting angry about the threats or rape and murder is just stupid. No one's gonna hurt you (physically), Adria. That's just standard internet hate. Give anyone anonymity and a soapbox to standon and they turn into the "ultimate angry badass" (ie: total fucktard). You pissed off the Internet, breaking rule #1 of the internet ("DON'T PISS OFF THE INTERNET!!"). Don't be upset when your small contingency of like-minded feminists get DESTROYED by the rest of the world for getting some poor schmuck fired for telling a joke that an 8-year-old could make and not be offended.

I don't care how much of an idiot she is, nobody deserves to be threatened with rape and murder. It being "on the internet" doesn't just make it okay. And with all the unstable people in the world you never truly know if a threat is an empty one or not.

[Nevermind]

Like Muslim extremists, feminist extremists are the ones who get the limelight. If other femimists are not misandrists, then perhaps they should speak up a little more rather than just saying they‘re not like that. The loudest voice in feminism is that of misandry, whether it is the right voice or not. That‘s all we get and are made to look and feel bad if we take issue. What she did was stupid and the reasons she claims to have done them are even more stupid. Perhaps it is feminists who should be jumping on her case, if she is giving people the wrong impression about it all.


As for rape and murder threats, well that‘s idiotic but welcome to the internet. It happens. Like, ALL THE TIME.

Edited by Nevermind, 18 April 2013 - 09:29 AM.

[Jasi]

Like Muslim extremists, feminist extremists are the ones who get the limelight. If other femimists are not misandrists, then perhaps they should speak up a little more rather than just saying they're not like that.

Orrrr people could educate themselves and realize that not all muslims/feminists/etc. are represented by the feelings of a few.

[Nevermind]

Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiich they do/have done/will do NEVER.

Incite major cultural/lifestyle shift or accept that the masses will hate on a group based on the bad actions of the few who do not truly represent them unless they come to their own defence in order for people to be educated.

Edited by Nevermind, 18 April 2013 - 03:49 PM.

[Selena]

I've found that diehard social justice bloggers are usually the most unhappy and unpleasant people ever - despite "crusading for the betterment of all." There's practically a whole culture of trigger-happy, ultra-sensitive people out there who are looking for any excuse to "educate" or correct people when it comes to their pet topic. Whether it's feminazis, religious nuts, wannabe Black Panthers, or any other specific cultural group.

These are people who are happy to attack and insult anyone who supports their cause. If another feminist is comfortable enough with herself to make some silly women-related joke, she's pounced on and ripped apart by these people. Same with any gay people who laugh at stereotypical gay jokes, or any black people who casually use the word nigger. They will go after you. Not only will they go after you, but they will berate you with essay-length hate mail. And then they whine when someone argues with them. They're bigger bullies than most genuine bullies.

And worse yet, most of these people care for nothing outside of their own specific cause. That's part of the reason I hate culture-centric activism. They don't give a shit about anyone outside of "their" circle, which is pretty damn ironic.

There are a lot of stupid, bigoted people in the world. It's understandable that people want to make efforts to put a stop to genuinely insulting attitudes. And that's good. There's such a thing as too much. Inappropriate humor exists, will always exist, and it does not automatically equate to genuine bigotry. If that were true, then I'd be a pretty horrible person. You can generally tell when someone has a genuine prejudice.

It's easy to make fun of other people, but it takes a well-adjusted and confident person to make fun of themselves. And apart from lacking a sense of humor in general, I think that's the main problem of all the crazed social justice warriors in the world. They can't recognize a joke as a joke. They take it as some appalling personal insult, despite the fact that it never was one.


Feminists like this, however, are the main reason that women won't actively declare themselves to be "feminists" even when they are. Which is very sad. And you can say that they should be out-shouted by the more adjusted people. But if religion is any example, then it should be clear that everyone's thoughts go straight to the crazies when they think about the whole movement. Crazy people are passionate people, and they will always - always - yell louder to get the attention they're so starved for.

[Elvenlord]

This is like the third post of yours Lena I want to post everywhere

[Hana-Nezumi]

This is like the third post of yours Lena I want to post everywhere

Only the third???

[Selena]

I MAKE WURDS GUD <3

[Elvenlord]

This is like the third post of yours Lena I want to post everywhere

Only the third???

I'm difficult to impress.

SO CAN I?

[Selena]

Well, if you want! Free country and all that.

[Sir Turtlelot]

This is like the third post of yours Lena I want to post everywhere

Lena is the reason why I normally don't post in contro. She always makes every point I had in mind, but is far better at expressing said points than myself.

[Selena]

I am the mouth of Turtlelot.

[Hana-Nezumi]

This is like the third post of yours Lena I want to post everywhere

Lena is the reason why I normally don't post in contro. She always makes every point I had in mind, but is far better at expressing said points than myself.

Eheh... That happens to me sometimes too... ^//^;

[Jasi]

Yup, Lena is always right, imo