Thanks for writing this comment as I think you make some good points and I would like people who disagree with Hypatia to speak up rather than stay silent.
Having said that, I do have a few critical thoughts on your comment.
Your main issue seems to be the claim that these harms are linked, but you just respond by only saying how you feel reading the quote, which isn’t a particularly valuable approach.
I don’t think this was Hypatia’s main issue. Quoting Hypatia directly, they imply the following are the main issues:
The language used in the statement makes it hard to interpret and assess factually
It made bold claims with little evidence
It recommended readers spend time going through resources of questionable value
Someone called Encompass a hate group (which as a side note, it definitely is not). The Anima Executive Director in question liked this comment.
You bring this up a few times in your comment. Personally I give the ED the benefit of the doubt here because the comment in question also said “what does this have to do with helping animals” which is a point the ED makes elsewhere in the thread, so it’s possible that they were agreeing with this part of the comment as opposed to the ‘hate group’ part. I can’t be sure of course, but I highly doubt the ED genuinely agrees that Encompass is a hate group given their other comments in the thread seeming fairly respectful of Encompass including “it’s not really about animal advocacy, it’s about racial injustice and how animal advocates can help with that. That’s admirable of course, I just don’t think it’s relevant to this group”.
This was a red-flag to ACE (and probably should have been to many people), since the ED had both liked some pretty inflammatory / harmful statements, and was speaking on a topic they clearly had both very strong and controversial views on, regarding which they had previously picked fights on.
You seem to imply that others should have withdrawn from the conference too, or at least that they should have considered it? This all gets to the heart of the issue about free speech and cancel culture. Who decides what’s acceptable and what isn’t? When is expressing a different point of view just that vs. “picking a fight”. Is it bad to hold “strong and controversial views”?
People were certainly affected by the ED’s comments, but people are affected by all sorts of comments that we don’t, and probably shouldn’t, cancel people for. People will be affected by your comment, and people will be affected by my comment. When talking about contentious issues, people will be affected. It’s unavoidable unless we shut down debate altogether. You imply that the ED’s actions were beyond the pale, but we need to realise that this is an inherently subjective viewpoint and it’s clearly the case that not everyone agrees. So whilst ACE had the right to withdraw, I’m not sure we can imply that others should have too.
Thanks for writing this comment as I think you make some good points and I would like people who disagree with Hypatia to speak up rather than stay silent.
Having said that, I do have a few critical thoughts on your comment.
I don’t think this was Hypatia’s main issue. Quoting Hypatia directly, they imply the following are the main issues:
The language used in the statement makes it hard to interpret and assess factually
It made bold claims with little evidence
It recommended readers spend time going through resources of questionable value
You bring this up a few times in your comment. Personally I give the ED the benefit of the doubt here because the comment in question also said “what does this have to do with helping animals” which is a point the ED makes elsewhere in the thread, so it’s possible that they were agreeing with this part of the comment as opposed to the ‘hate group’ part. I can’t be sure of course, but I highly doubt the ED genuinely agrees that Encompass is a hate group given their other comments in the thread seeming fairly respectful of Encompass including “it’s not really about animal advocacy, it’s about racial injustice and how animal advocates can help with that. That’s admirable of course, I just don’t think it’s relevant to this group”.
You seem to imply that others should have withdrawn from the conference too, or at least that they should have considered it? This all gets to the heart of the issue about free speech and cancel culture. Who decides what’s acceptable and what isn’t? When is expressing a different point of view just that vs. “picking a fight”. Is it bad to hold “strong and controversial views”?
People were certainly affected by the ED’s comments, but people are affected by all sorts of comments that we don’t, and probably shouldn’t, cancel people for. People will be affected by your comment, and people will be affected by my comment. When talking about contentious issues, people will be affected. It’s unavoidable unless we shut down debate altogether. You imply that the ED’s actions were beyond the pale, but we need to realise that this is an inherently subjective viewpoint and it’s clearly the case that not everyone agrees. So whilst ACE had the right to withdraw, I’m not sure we can imply that others should have too.