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This is going to be a short thread.
There are several folks who are prominent in tech policy who are known for being verbally abusive, particularly to women and people of color. And yet intelligent people continue to interact with them in real life and online.
There are several folks who are prominent in tech policy who are known for being verbally abusive, particularly to women and people of color. And yet intelligent people continue to interact with them in real life and online.
Whenever I raise it to the people who I see interacting with abusive folks, the response is almost always something along the lines of "I know, but they are smart / made a good point / have a unique perspective."
Throughout history power has retained power by keeping others out. That's one way privilege propagates. It's not that their aren't others who aren't equally intelligent, they are just made unwelcome, forcibly or by implication.
When you interact with people who treat others like they don't matter, you are contributing to keeping other voices out. Voices that may have as much if not more to add to the conversations and debates.
There is no excuse. If you know, you have to stop promoting these voices. If you don't know and someone tells you, then you can no longer claim ignorance. We all have responsibility here.
And that's all. I just get sad every time I see known abusers promoted into my feed by folks who I know know better.
Thanks for the support on this folks. And because a good number of people are asking, this is about people who engage with people they know to be abusers. No one is perfect or knows everything. I know I don't (always happy to learn!). But if you do know, you have to act.
