Obryn
Hero
Hahah, thanks.I have never seen a complicated social problem explained so succinctly. Excellent points, Obryn.
Yes! There's more purposes to statements than explicitly trying to persuade the person you're calling out. One of those is showing support to other people.Strong statements are "bothering to do something about it." They just might not be bothering to change the mind of the person on the butt end of the statement.
Strong statements have the function of:
* Excluding bad actors from a community. "You gonna act that way? Great, we're done, you're not welcome here anymore." It doesn't always work, but sometimes it works. Maybe they'll go find another community to be a part of.
* Reminding people in the community that you have their back and their interests at heart. That, despite the actions of some, the people you want in your community are welcome there.
When a woman gets hired for a design position at Wizards, and there is an immediate vocal outpouring of speculation about her qualifications, many people see that and say, "I don't feel welcome in that community. That community is hostile to women." By coming and saying, "Nah, screw those sexist s, we don't want them around here and don't care what they think," Mearls is saying, "We do want you here, and we're willing to risk alienating potential customers to make that clear."
No, because that's a myopic view of the purpose of speech. See redrick's post for one example. If someone's being attacked - which was in fact happening here - it's crucial to show support. Publicly. Loudly. Both for the target's benefit, and as shelter for other folks who want to show support. If some misogynists get called out along the way, welp.See my clarification post. But hey, if we're going for sound bites, I'm insisting that it'd be lot quieter if folks did more and shouted less.
..but really, I'm challenging the action and questioning its effectiveness while attempting to highlight how such action can be detrimental and in conflict with promoting healthy, meaningful change*.
* ..for those at the back, this is a gross simplification, as one would expect from a line or so summary of numerous posts!
And, frankly, you're promoting engaging with trolls. There's a huge effort gap between 'being a troll' and 'trying to constructively engage and have meaningful dialogue with trolls.' For women - who are very often the targets of misogynistic trolling - giving out a Feminism 101 lesson to each and every one of them, answering the same. damn. questions. time. and. time. again. and returning to first principles for every new dude who pops up with 'fake geek girl' nonsense ... well, it's not only unrealistic and wearying, it's downright absurd. If it's not specifically victim-blaming, it's victim-blaming's first cousin.