Why I'm not posting this week.
I have some new posts on tap -- work and life having kept me away...But they will have to wait a week.
What follows may be triggering to some...but this post explains the basics, and is far less trigging than what's to follow.
I do ask that you please repost this, because this kind of behavior? Is all over the 'Net, is poisoning our communications, is pushing good and upright people out of freely communicating.
It's way past time we started pushing back.
Why am I not posting? Because of the disgusting, hate-filled, and ugly sexist attacks, including fucking death threats on Kathy Sierra -- a brilliant and giving woman who's insights into writing for a Tech audience led to not only the amazing Head First Tech Book series, but also into a blog, Creating Passionate Users, that's been a template for me, personally, in teaching classes and thinking about improving Pennsic University.
Kathy has always, always run a positive, powerful, and highly uplifting blog. There's not a damned post she's made that has been nasty, in a personal way, and she's bent over backwards for posters who didn't deserve her time, in my opinion. Hell, even in the midst of her fear, she's still positive and uplifting, exposing these assholes to the light of day, and Naming Some Goddamn Names.
And all too many women -- and a few guys -- know what she means when she says:
...then you can see her fear. See how much more magnified her fear would be. See how strong she had to be just to post what she did, knowing it could bring them out again, encourage more attacks, including possibly going through with their threats. And see how she needs to know that we, the vast, vast majority, stand with her, beside her, and against this kind of craven display.
So. As Scroble says, I'm out for the week. Feel free to repost this message, or to make your own. If you want to talk about something, take this cue from Scroble:
What follows may be triggering to some...but this post explains the basics, and is far less trigging than what's to follow.
I do ask that you please repost this, because this kind of behavior? Is all over the 'Net, is poisoning our communications, is pushing good and upright people out of freely communicating.
It's way past time we started pushing back.
Why am I not posting? Because of the disgusting, hate-filled, and ugly sexist attacks, including fucking death threats on Kathy Sierra -- a brilliant and giving woman who's insights into writing for a Tech audience led to not only the amazing Head First Tech Book series, but also into a blog, Creating Passionate Users, that's been a template for me, personally, in teaching classes and thinking about improving Pennsic University.
Kathy has always, always run a positive, powerful, and highly uplifting blog. There's not a damned post she's made that has been nasty, in a personal way, and she's bent over backwards for posters who didn't deserve her time, in my opinion. Hell, even in the midst of her fear, she's still positive and uplifting, exposing these assholes to the light of day, and Naming Some Goddamn Names.
And all too many women -- and a few guys -- know what she means when she says:
I do not want to be part of a culture--the Blogosphere--where this is considered acceptable. Where the price for being a blogger is kevlar-coated skin and daughters who are tough enough to not have their "widdy biddy sensibilities offended" when they see their own mother Photoshopped into nothing more than an objectified sexual orifice, possibly suffocated as part of some sexual fetish. (And of course all coming on the heels of more explicit threats)No more fear, if I can do anything about it. Having been stalked, having been approached to be molested, maybe I'm a bit more sensitive than most...but I also realize that I'm a 6'4" black male, and you should realize that if these things can happen to me, an man more than capable of protecting myself (as I did in both cases)...
[...]Most of all, I now fully understand the impact of death threats. It really doesn't make much difference whether the person intends to act on the threat... it's the threat itself that inflicts the damage. It's the threat that makes you question whether that "anonymous" person is as disturbed as their comments and pictures suggest.
It's the threat that causes fear.
...then you can see her fear. See how much more magnified her fear would be. See how strong she had to be just to post what she did, knowing it could bring them out again, encourage more attacks, including possibly going through with their threats. And see how she needs to know that we, the vast, vast majority, stand with her, beside her, and against this kind of craven display.
So. As Scroble says, I'm out for the week. Feel free to repost this message, or to make your own. If you want to talk about something, take this cue from Scroble:
We have to fix this culture. For the next week, let's discuss how.
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[...] …and with an update. When last I left, I mentioned the Kathy Sierra situation. It’s not been resolved, far from it, but the fallout has been interesting — and powerful. Perhaps it’s best that I leave you with pieces of the joint statements between Kathy and Chris Locke. They’ll also be on CNN today. First, from Kathy: Chris and I felt that if we — of all people — could demonstrate that we could see past the anger, connect with each other, and learn something together, maybe we could help encourage others to have a more calm, rational productive discussion. We should be talking about it, not reacting, over-reacting, and counter-reacting. [...]