this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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[–] davemeech@lemmy.ca 49 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

White dude here. It's super easy to read something like this without feeling disenfranchised or bullied. Sure we can do better to avoid it, but that should not at all be the main takeaway from this testimonial. Why aren't you angry at the common propensity for women in places of academic and professional authority being looked down upon and disrespected like this? This is super common.

[–] Abnorc@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago

One can and should be angry about both. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the person who posted this a racist, but it’s still not a good practice. Taking an example of a stupid thing someone did and directing the criticism at their race isn’t OK for good reason. (Yes, saying “a white male did ____” is directing the criticism at the group, not the individual.) It encourages people to form judgments about white males as opposed to assholes who belittle others, which is who she’s really having trouble with.

The same thing being done to minorities and women is a much bigger problem, but using the same attack in the opposite direction isn’t exactly a good solution.

[–] azenyr@lemmy.world -2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Why aren't you angry at the common propensity for women in places of academic and professional authority being looked down upon and disrespected like this?

Well, I am angry at that. Women and all races deserve equal rights and possibilities. We should keep fighting for that. But white males don't need to be transformed into comedy punching bags in exchange for women/other races equality. Can we respect everyone INCLUDING white males?

[–] King3d@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This comment has an “all races matter” vibe to it.

[–] _tezz@lemmy.world -2 points 7 months ago

No it doesn't. Not wanting to be the target of racial or sexual discrimination is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask for. I swear, half the "leftists" on Lemmy are just larping...

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works -3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

They could have simply said "post doc" and the story would read the same. Race/gender adds nothing to the story and is unneccesary and like they said if it was any other combo of race/gender it would be seen as racist so why add it?

[–] davemeech@lemmy.ca 9 points 7 months ago

Sure, I can appreciate that in cases where it feels particularly forced or inorganic. However, to the extent that the tech/software world aligns with academia or leadership, it's such a common trope that white guys are very predominant in these positions of authority and conduct themselves like this to women constantly. It doesn't feel inorganic I guess because of that frame of awareness.

So I do agree that mentioning race like this is sure to be received poorly, but I struggle to weigh that aspect of her post in the focused magnitude that others here as significant compared to her treatment.