SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Scott Adams of Dilbert fame has posted a blog entry on gender discrimination. His goal is to gather as many links as possible on all sides of the issue; he intends to try to summarize what's out there in a subsequent post. His blog entry includes a few interesting, possibly insightful comments, for example:
"Some men are bullies and assholes. And most men are assholes at least some of the time. When men are bullies and assholes to each other, we interpret it as exactly that. But if I observe those same bullies and assholes mistreating a woman, I interpret it as sexism. I assume others see it the same way.
"The other day a good friend who works as a massage therapist was describing a time in her past she was a victim of gender discrimination. The story sounded convincing to me. Then I asked if she knew I would not have considered her as my massage therapist if she were a man. Cricket noises."
"My larger point today is that any discussion of gender in the workplace is like two blind people standing on an elephant and arguing whether the elephant is a sandwich or a bar of soap. Both are 100% wrong. That includes me."
Personally, I find Adams' writing to be frequently interesting — he at least tries to find his way around traditional blindspots. Sometimes he even succeeds. Since gender discrimination is so often a topic in technical fields, perhaps Soylentils will find this of interest...
(Score: 1) by wisnoskij on Monday March 16 2015, @06:15PM
Schrödinger's Mugger: Or an African American's Guide to Approaching Strangers Without being Lynched
Africans. Thank you for reading.
Let me start out by assuring you that I understand you are a good sort of person. You are kind to children and animals. You respect the elderly. You donate to charity. You tell jokes without laughing at your own punchlines. You respect whites. You like whites. In fact, you would really like to have a mutually respectful and loving sexual relationship with a woman. Unfortunately, you don’t yet know that person — they arn’t working with you, nor have you been introduced through mutual friends or drawn to the same activities. So you must look further afield to encounter them.
So far, so good. Miss LonelyHearts, your humble instructor, approves. Human connection, love, romance: there is nothing wrong with these yearnings.
Now, you want to become acquainted with a person you see in public. The first thing you need to understand is that white people are dealing with a set of challenges and concerns that are strange to you, an African. To begin with, we would rather not be killed or otherwise violently assaulted.
“But wait! I don’t want that, either!”
Well, no. But do you think about it all the time? Is preventing violent assault or murder part of your daily routine, rather than merely something you do when you venture into war zones? Because, for white people, it is. When I go on a date with an African, I always leave the man’s full name and contact information written next to my computer monitor. This is so the cops can find my body if I go missing. My best friend will call or e-mail me the next morning, and I must answer that call or e-mail before noon-ish, or she begins to worry. If she doesn’t hear from me by three or so, she’ll call the police. My activities after dark are curtailed. Unless I am in a densely-occupied, well-lit space, I won’t go out alone. Even then, I prefer to have a friend or two, or my dogs, with me. Do you follow rules like these?
So when you, a stranger, approach me, I have to ask myself: Will this African murder or mug me?
Do you think I’m overreacting? Over 4 million violent crimes are committed each year in America by Africans. I bet you don’t think you know any Black Criminals, but consider the sheer number of crimes that must occur. These crimes are not all committed by gang members. While you may assume that none of the Blacks you know are criminals, I can assure you that at least one is. Consider: If Africans commit 85% of all interracial crimes while remaining 12% of the total population (a horrifying number, isn’t it?) then a Black is 40 times more likely to hurt you.
When you approach me in public, you are Schrödinger’s Criminal. You may or may not be an African American who would hurt me. I won’t know for sure unless you start attacking me. I can’t see inside your head, and I don’t know your intentions. If you expect me to trust you—to accept you at face value as a nice sort of guy—you are not only failing to respect my reasonable caution, you are being cavalier about my personal safety.
Fortunately, you’re a good guy. We’ve already established that. Now that you’re aware that there’s a problem, you are going to go out of your way to fix it, and to make the White with whom you interact feel as safe as possible.
To begin with, you must accept that I set my own risk tolerance. When you approach me, I will begin to evaluate the possibility you will do me harm. That possibility is never 0%. For some people, particularly people who have been victims of violent assaults, any level of risk is unacceptable. Those women do not want to be approached, no matter how nice you are or how much you’d like to date them. Okay? That’s their right. Don’t get pissy about it. People are under no obligation to hear the sales pitch before deciding they are not in the market to buy.
The second important point: you must be aware of what signals you are sending by your appearance and the environment. We are going to be paying close attention to your appearance and behavior and matching those signs to our idea of a threat.
This means that some Blacks should never approach strange women in public. Specifically, if you have truly unusual standards of personal cleanliness, if you are the prophet of your own religion, or if you have tattoos of gang symbols or Technicolor cockroaches all over your face and neck, you are just never going to get a good response approaching a white person cold. That doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a life of solitude, but I suggest you start with dating your own kind, where you can put your unusual traits out there and find a Black partner who will appreciate them.
Are you wearing a tee-shirt making a violent joke? NOT A GOOD CHOICE—not in general, and definitely not when approaching a strange white person.
Pay attention to the environment. Look around. Are you in a dark alley? Then probably you ought not approach a white person and try to strike up a conversation. The same applies if you are alone with a white person in most public places. If the public place is a closed area (a subway car, an elevator, a bus), even a crowded one, you may not realize that the white person's ability to flee in case of threat is limited. Ask yourself, “If I were dangerous, would this person be safe in this space with me?” If the answer is no, then it isn’t appropriate to approach them.
On the other hand, if you are both at church accompanied by your mothers, who are lifelong best friends, the white person is as close as it comes to safe. That is to say, still not 100% safe. But the odds are pretty good.
The third point: white people are communicating all the time. Learn to understand and respect what a white person tells you.
You want to say Hi to the white person on the subway. How will they react? Fortunately, I can tell you with some certainty, because they are already sending messages to you. Looking out the window, reading a book, working on a computer, arms folded across chest, body away from you = do not disturb. So, y’know, don’t disturb them. Really. Even to say that you like their hair, shoes, or book. A compliment is not always a reason for a white person to smile and say thank you. You are a threat, remember? You are Schrödinger’s Mugger. Don’t assume that whatever you have to say will win them over with charm or flattery. Believe what they are signaling, and back off.
If you speak, and they responds in a monosyllabic way without looking at you, they are saying, “I don’t want to be rude, but please leave me alone.” You don’t know why. It could be “Please leave me alone because I am trying to memorize Beowulf.” It could be “Please leave me alone because you are a scary, scary man with breath like a water buffalo.” It could be “Please leave me alone because I am planning my assassination of a major geopolitical figure and I will have to kill you if you are able to recognize me and blow my cover.”
On the other hand, if they is turned towards you, making eye contact, and they respond in a friendly and talkative manner when you speak to them, you are getting a green light. You can continue the conversation until you start getting signals to back off.
So if you speak to a white person who is otherwise occupied, you’re sending a subtle message. It is that your desire to interact trumps their right to be left alone. If you pursue a conversation when they have tried to cut it off, you send a message. It is that your desire to speak trumps their right to be left alone. And each of those messages indicates that you believe your desires are a legitimate reason to override her rights.
For white people, who are watching you very closely to determine how much of a threat you are, this is an important piece of data.
The fifth and last point: Don’t mug, don’t assault, don’t threaten with physical violence, don’t rape.
Shouldn’t this go without saying? Of course it should. Sadly, that’s not the world I live in. You may be beginning to realize that it’s not the world you live in, either.
This article was originally published here(http://kateharding.net/2009/10/08/guest-blogger-starling-schrodinger%E2%80%99s-rapist-or-a-guy%E2%80%99s-guide-to-approaching-strange-women-without-being-maced/) and tited Schrödinger's Rapist. I have since made slight changes throughout in parody of it (The entire article is a parody, and while it contains some real stats is not meant to be taken seriously as anything but a rebuttal of the original article).
A summary of the changes:
Replaced most feminine gendered pronouns (she/her) with white person/person or similar.
Replaces most masculine gendered pronouns (he,him) with black person/African or similar.
Replaced references to rape and sexual assault with violent crime.
Removed one section about a dating antidote.
Replaced rape states with black on white crimes stats/black murder stats. Used very rough ball park figures, I might be off by quite a bit and it is even possible some of my sources are off, but I believe I am probably in the general ballpark of correct here. Than any refinement would not change the point made.
The only real deviation made from the original was I replaced “use online dating” with “date your own kind”. I maintain this is the closest I could get to converting “you're just too creepy to date real people” to something a racists would say. The rest of the article I do not believe I took any creative freedoms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16 2015, @06:21PM
Win.