<story><title>Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)</title><url>https://medium.com/@maradydd/okay-feminism-its-time-we-had-a-talk-about-empathy-bd6321c66b37</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>The &amp;quot;shut up and build things&amp;quot; position embodies the tacit assumption that the world naturally pushes itself to an equillibrium that is fair and just. The assumption that racism and sexism result in elastic deformation of society that will go away as soon as you remove whatever force is warping it.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think history bears that out. Society is a soft ductile metal. If you bend it, it&amp;#x27;ll stay bent. You have to hammer it back into straightness. Talking (and browbeating and prosecuting when necessary) is how you do that.&lt;p&gt;PS: I don&amp;#x27;t disagree with the author that not everyone needs to be on the front line of every culture war. But I think someone needs to be.</text></item><item><author>vonklaus</author><text>This was awesome. Not because it dispels a meme that is negative in the industry, not because it is some sort of proof a woman can succeed in tech, or any other of this tropic nonsense. It was such an amazing message that was totally gender neutral:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I like building things because I am curious and I pursue knowledge for its own sake&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;With all the confirmation bias and name calling (which I am certainly guilty of from time to time) it is refreshing to hear someone talking about how they just want[0] to focus on building something exciting and not focusing on politics.&lt;p&gt;[0]this originally said &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;both sides to shut up to they can get back to building and hacking.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;, which was not meant literally, but to convey the sentiment the edited section now reflects.&lt;p&gt;edit: If you strongly disagree with me, and I am being sincere here, I can promise your energy will be much better spent building&amp;#x2F;doing&amp;#x2F;creating&amp;#x2F;enjoying something than engaging in a debate with me. If you are up to the challenge, go out and do. If you take some time to go out and do something awesome and you still feel like you would like to converse, I would like to talk about your projects&amp;#x2F;etc and my email is listed.&lt;p&gt;Cheers.&lt;p&gt;[final edit:] I have been doing a lot of thinking about cultural problems. I have began a change in perspective that has lead to personal growth, asking not why something matters but when&amp;#x2F;contextually something matters. Maybe whatever is being argued down thread is the single biggest issue you find fault with in our society or maybe it is the 5th, 10th issue, etc. I can only reiterate that &amp;quot;creating&amp;quot; will better your cause but this is not the context or the &amp;quot;when&amp;quot;. Go start a scholarship, teach people to code, work on a product, call your senator, etc. Doing something is much better than talking about something and if there was a place to reasonably have meaningful discourse, I assure you this is not that place.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jimbokun</author><text>&amp;quot;The &amp;quot;shut up and build things&amp;quot; position embodies the tacit assumption that the world naturally pushes itself to an equillibrium that is fair and just.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It does not.  It embodies the tacit assumption that some people prefer to spend their time building something tangible rather than devoting their lives tilting at the windmills of eradicating racism, sexism, and all the other bigotries endemic to our society.&lt;p&gt;Tilting at those windmills is important, and might be a cause worthy of devoting your life to it, but it&amp;#x27;s not everyone&amp;#x27;s calling.&lt;p&gt;Lastly, the author of the original article is arguably doing more to advance the cause of women in technology by participating in and engaging with the community, than many of the people writing articles and complaining about the problems.</text></comment>
<story><title>Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)</title><url>https://medium.com/@maradydd/okay-feminism-its-time-we-had-a-talk-about-empathy-bd6321c66b37</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>The &amp;quot;shut up and build things&amp;quot; position embodies the tacit assumption that the world naturally pushes itself to an equillibrium that is fair and just. The assumption that racism and sexism result in elastic deformation of society that will go away as soon as you remove whatever force is warping it.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think history bears that out. Society is a soft ductile metal. If you bend it, it&amp;#x27;ll stay bent. You have to hammer it back into straightness. Talking (and browbeating and prosecuting when necessary) is how you do that.&lt;p&gt;PS: I don&amp;#x27;t disagree with the author that not everyone needs to be on the front line of every culture war. But I think someone needs to be.</text></item><item><author>vonklaus</author><text>This was awesome. Not because it dispels a meme that is negative in the industry, not because it is some sort of proof a woman can succeed in tech, or any other of this tropic nonsense. It was such an amazing message that was totally gender neutral:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I like building things because I am curious and I pursue knowledge for its own sake&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;With all the confirmation bias and name calling (which I am certainly guilty of from time to time) it is refreshing to hear someone talking about how they just want[0] to focus on building something exciting and not focusing on politics.&lt;p&gt;[0]this originally said &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;both sides to shut up to they can get back to building and hacking.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;, which was not meant literally, but to convey the sentiment the edited section now reflects.&lt;p&gt;edit: If you strongly disagree with me, and I am being sincere here, I can promise your energy will be much better spent building&amp;#x2F;doing&amp;#x2F;creating&amp;#x2F;enjoying something than engaging in a debate with me. If you are up to the challenge, go out and do. If you take some time to go out and do something awesome and you still feel like you would like to converse, I would like to talk about your projects&amp;#x2F;etc and my email is listed.&lt;p&gt;Cheers.&lt;p&gt;[final edit:] I have been doing a lot of thinking about cultural problems. I have began a change in perspective that has lead to personal growth, asking not why something matters but when&amp;#x2F;contextually something matters. Maybe whatever is being argued down thread is the single biggest issue you find fault with in our society or maybe it is the 5th, 10th issue, etc. I can only reiterate that &amp;quot;creating&amp;quot; will better your cause but this is not the context or the &amp;quot;when&amp;quot;. Go start a scholarship, teach people to code, work on a product, call your senator, etc. Doing something is much better than talking about something and if there was a place to reasonably have meaningful discourse, I assure you this is not that place.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>droopyEyelids</author><text>I think you&amp;#x27;re right about the ductile nature of society, but at the same time I think you&amp;#x27;re on a fine line about how to change it.&lt;p&gt;I really believe that only love can overcome hate- you can&amp;#x27;t fight personal negativity with more negativity or disparagement. It only makes people dig their heels in deeper. I know this is a controversial and probably offensive opinion, but it&amp;#x27;s a core part of who I am so I feel I should say it and take whatever comes.</text></comment>