I broadly wish we could get to a point where this is applicable, but I’m unsure whether the strategy outlined by the OP is the best one. Although, I’m by no means saying it is exactly comparable, but having experienced it myself, an oppressed minority has no solution but to get transparent about it. If you feel that you belong to a group with a bad reputation, you might experience fear and anxiety when opening up about it.
A small detail I’d add is that, as far as I perceive it, no one actually tries to debunk false ideas and over-generalizations related to EA. When I suggested doing so in the past, a few people actively discouraged me to do it. Some of those false ideas are emotionally hard to bear, others are completely outlandish.
What made my coming-out possible, in contrast, was the wealth of ressources and arguments I could throw to people, or just knowing they’ll run into them at some point.
This might be caused by us not owning our affiliation.
Yet EA is starting to become a well-identified group, something that people can have clichés about, and who can suffer unfair ostracisation. It’s very hard for me to publish my affiliation if I don’t feel defended from such downsides. So the circle continues.
I’ve thought a bit about that angle too, and I tend to think it is also a strategy (though obviously, a costly one) for oppressed minorities to have more people being outspoken about their belonging to a certain group. I think the quote from Change touches a bit on that. Though being a woman and being LGBTQ+ are very different flavours of ‘minority belonging’ (for several reasons that I won’t expand on here). For people to debunk stereotypes about certain populations, you need to show their diversity, or at least it seems to me like one of the viable strategies.
I am, by no means, saying it’s not costly. I think I would want more people to consider sharing the cost.
About this point
the wealth of ressources and arguments I could throw to people, or just knowing they’ll run into them at some point
I’d like to point you to this resource that do provide guidance on responding to criticisms of EA, if you don’t know about it. And I do think individuals are working to “debunk false ideas and over-generalizations related to EA” at their scale. I’m sad to read you’ve been discouraged to do so. I do agree that the EA community as a whole has not been communicative enough at the crucial moments when it made the news, and I have been (with other community builders) quite frank about it to CEA’s new CEO Zach Robinson, and CEA’s Communications Team. Hopefully, they are currently taking steps that go in this direction (as Zach’s talk at EAG London suggests). I also have suggested that community builders could also do a bigger part there, but it takes time.
I hope the EA community can step up to the task and better support each other in that endeavor.
I broadly wish we could get to a point where this is applicable, but I’m unsure whether the strategy outlined by the OP is the best one. Although, I’m by no means saying it is exactly comparable, but having experienced it myself, an oppressed minority has no solution but to get transparent about it. If you feel that you belong to a group with a bad reputation, you might experience fear and anxiety when opening up about it.
A small detail I’d add is that, as far as I perceive it, no one actually tries to debunk false ideas and over-generalizations related to EA. When I suggested doing so in the past, a few people actively discouraged me to do it. Some of those false ideas are emotionally hard to bear, others are completely outlandish. What made my coming-out possible, in contrast, was the wealth of ressources and arguments I could throw to people, or just knowing they’ll run into them at some point.
This might be caused by us not owning our affiliation.
Yet EA is starting to become a well-identified group, something that people can have clichés about, and who can suffer unfair ostracisation. It’s very hard for me to publish my affiliation if I don’t feel defended from such downsides. So the circle continues.
Thank you Camille for sharing this.
I’ve thought a bit about that angle too, and I tend to think it is also a strategy (though obviously, a costly one) for oppressed minorities to have more people being outspoken about their belonging to a certain group. I think the quote from Change touches a bit on that. Though being a woman and being LGBTQ+ are very different flavours of ‘minority belonging’ (for several reasons that I won’t expand on here). For people to debunk stereotypes about certain populations, you need to show their diversity, or at least it seems to me like one of the viable strategies.
I am, by no means, saying it’s not costly. I think I would want more people to consider sharing the cost.
About this point
I’d like to point you to this resource that do provide guidance on responding to criticisms of EA, if you don’t know about it. And I do think individuals are working to “debunk false ideas and over-generalizations related to EA” at their scale. I’m sad to read you’ve been discouraged to do so. I do agree that the EA community as a whole has not been communicative enough at the crucial moments when it made the news, and I have been (with other community builders) quite frank about it to CEA’s new CEO Zach Robinson, and CEA’s Communications Team. Hopefully, they are currently taking steps that go in this direction (as Zach’s talk at EAG London suggests). I also have suggested that community builders could also do a bigger part there, but it takes time.
I hope the EA community can step up to the task and better support each other in that endeavor.