I've done a lot of thinking about this since I first saw your post linked a few days ago. You see, I know the person in question. I've worked with him at a few different conventions. I wouldn't exactly call him a friend, but when I saw your post, I was conflicted - and not for the reason you might think. I did a lot of thinking before I posted this, so please bear with me.
I deeply believe in women's rights, especially in the geek community. I've been attending conventions for over eleven years now, and have been a staff member for five. I've seen more cases of sexual harassment in the community than I would care to admit, and I've been on the receiving end of it myself once or twice.
And the idea that someone I knew would be doing these sorts of things was frankly appalling. I am proud of you for standing up for your rights and not meekly submitting to harassment - no one should have to put up with that sort of treatment, regardless of gender. You ARE brave, and I want to thank you for raising awareness of a problem that most people just shrug off.
HOWEVER. Internet witch hunts are scary, scary things. There's this... sort of crazed mob mentality that comes about with the anonymity of the internet, and while I absolutely and totally agree that the individual in question should be (and has been) penalized for his transgressions, I *don't* think that posting his personal information (especially his work place) on a public forum was the right way to go about it.
I know why you did it. Or at least, I think I do. To raise awareness of this one person in particular, to help other women who might have been hurt by him, or potentially could be hurt by him.
And that was good and noble. But there's another side to that, a much darker side. I've seen internet witch hunts before. Honestly, they terrify me. It starts with a couple of people posting to the person's facebook wall. Then some people start hunting down the person's phone number and leaving them nasty messages. A few calls turns into a flood. Calls to the individual's work are placed. Jobs have been lost. Lives have been ruined.
All because someone posted a story online which boils down to "he said, she said."
Please don't misunderstand me on that last bit - I'm *not* accusing you of lying. I wasn't there. I have no idea what happened. But in our society, people are innocent until proven guilty. In a court of law, you bring your evidence to a judge and jury, who review the facts, and then decide upon a suitable punishment.
It seems to happen more and more often on the internet that the viewers of a post don't bother trying to get both sides of the story. The accused is often attacked without the people on the other side of the computer screens taking a moment to consider whether or not they should be the ones deciding their punishment.
I've done a lot of thinking about this since I first saw your post linked a few days ago. You see, I know the person in question. I've worked with him at a few different conventions. I wouldn't exactly call him a friend, but when I saw your post, I was conflicted - and not for the reason you might think. I did a lot of thinking before I posted this, so please bear with me.
I deeply believe in women's rights, especially in the geek community. I've been attending conventions for over eleven years now, and have been a staff member for five. I've seen more cases of sexual harassment in the community than I would care to admit, and I've been on the receiving end of it myself once or twice.
And the idea that someone I knew would be doing these sorts of things was frankly appalling. I am proud of you for standing up for your rights and not meekly submitting to harassment - no one should have to put up with that sort of treatment, regardless of gender. You ARE brave, and I want to thank you for raising awareness of a problem that most people just shrug off.
HOWEVER. Internet witch hunts are scary, scary things. There's this... sort of crazed mob mentality that comes about with the anonymity of the internet, and while I absolutely and totally agree that the individual in question should be (and has been) penalized for his transgressions, I *don't* think that posting his personal information (especially his work place) on a public forum was the right way to go about it.
I know why you did it. Or at least, I think I do. To raise awareness of this one person in particular, to help other women who might have been hurt by him, or potentially could be hurt by him.
And that was good and noble. But there's another side to that, a much darker side. I've seen internet witch hunts before. Honestly, they terrify me. It starts with a couple of people posting to the person's facebook wall. Then some people start hunting down the person's phone number and leaving them nasty messages. A few calls turns into a flood. Calls to the individual's work are placed. Jobs have been lost. Lives have been ruined.
All because someone posted a story online which boils down to "he said, she said."
Please don't misunderstand me on that last bit - I'm *not* accusing you of lying. I wasn't there. I have no idea what happened. But in our society, people are innocent until proven guilty. In a court of law, you bring your evidence to a judge and jury, who review the facts, and then decide upon a suitable punishment.
It seems to happen more and more often on the internet that the viewers of a post don't bother trying to get both sides of the story. The accused is often attacked without the people on the other side of the computer screens taking a moment to consider whether or not they should be the ones deciding their punishment.
(to be continued...)
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