I think that feminism represents some of the most important goals to aspire to. Achieving those goals will require significant struggle. A lot of people out there are trying to evangelize for it. To really change someones mind requires care and attention. But theres a problem; we only have so much energy and time. When were trying to accomplish something under resource constraints (in this case, the resources are energy and time), we should try to be as efficient as possible with respect to those resources. What can we do to be more efficient with our time and energy in advancing our goals? There is no reason not to bring every bit of our strategic sense to this ongoing struggle. This is brought to mind by the recent brouhaha over at Scott Aaronsons blog. He posted some things that indicated hed bought into a lot of the Nice Guy narratives, and the internet came down on him like a ton of bricks. He became defensive and has since shown no signs of changing his beliefs. Laurie Penny wrote something really great to him, but she was drowned out in the noise. This, I think, is especially regrettable because hes a fairly prominent computer science blogger. If you want to reach the computer science brand of nerd, alienating Aaronson was not so great. Likewise, in the .NET world, Scott Hanselmann has a TON of eyeballs. Publicly excoriating him for saying something stupid might feel good, but its actively counterproductive to the larger goals of feminism if it gives credence in his mind to the idea that feminists are jerks. It takes time and energy to craft a message or enter a dialogue that can really reach someone. In the feminist places on the internet I hang around, its frequently mentioned that this process is exhausting. But spending the energy to get that message right may pay a greater dividend if it targets someone who is highly visible. Aaronson heard Pennys response and specifically mentioned it as giving him a lot more food for thought than anything else hed read (but his position was hardened by the much greater volume of less careful messages). When someone who is not in your subcultures says something you disagree with, tread carefully. You may not know what kind of engagement will be most effective for them. You may not know how visible they are (and consider- if theyre not in your subculture, why are you hearing about them and what they said?). It makes sense to focus your energies on the subcultures you are familiar enough with to act productively in. And if you havent heard of someone before you start to respond to them, consider saving your energy for something more productive.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:15:48 +0000
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