Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up, Habiba!
I just want to call out what I felt was one of the most valuable parts of this post for me with respect to online conversations:
> a number of men that I knew where horrified / shocked / shaken but felt some combination of a) anxiety about saying the wrong thing, b) nervousness about taking up space, c) hesitation about just offering words which seemed insubstantial / performative / just virtue signalling, and d) hesitation about having nothing novel or particularly insightful to say
> I think these hesitations were totally understandable—in the wider world (particularly contemporary American culture) there is a strong emphasis on platforming those affected and a push that we need stronger deeds than just words. However, I think the discourse in EA isn’t that mature yet! That means the simply the way that the online discourse goes and whether “basic” stuff gets said, feels more important at this stage.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up, Habiba!
I just want to call out what I felt was one of the most valuable parts of this post for me with respect to online conversations:
> a number of men that I knew where horrified / shocked / shaken but felt some combination of a) anxiety about saying the wrong thing, b) nervousness about taking up space, c) hesitation about just offering words which seemed insubstantial / performative / just virtue signalling, and d) hesitation about having nothing novel or particularly insightful to say
> I think these hesitations were totally understandable—in the wider world (particularly contemporary American culture) there is a strong emphasis on platforming those affected and a push that we need stronger deeds than just words. However, I think the discourse in EA isn’t that mature yet! That means the simply the way that the online discourse goes and whether “basic” stuff gets said, feels more important at this stage.