{"id":1771,"date":"2020-12-15T03:13:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T03:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1331628"},"modified":"2020-12-15T03:13:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T03:13:48","slug":"why-are-minorities-in-stem-so-easily-offended-and-other-stupid-questions-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=1771","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Why are minorities in STEM so easily offended?\u2019 And other stupid questions answered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fair warning: This is an opinion piece. I was one of the background people arguing on Twitter over the weekend. <\/em><\/p>\n

Last Friday I had the distinct privilege of engaging with a legend in the computer science world. Saying I\u2019m a fan of their work is a massive understatement. In fact, if you were to Google this person\u2019s name and then select the \u201cnews\u201d tab, you wouldn\u2019t have to scroll far to come across several articles I\u2019ve written with reverent references to them.<\/p>\n

You know what they say: Never meet your heroes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the story:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an annual event in the STEM community called the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems<\/a>. The official acronym for this conference used to be \u201cNIPs.\u201d It was recently changed to NeurIPS.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Wikipedia<\/a> has to say about that:<\/p>\n

\n

Conference organizers considered abandoning the conference name because of a slang connotation of its abbreviation, NIPS, with the word nipples and as a slur against Japanese. After a comment period and survey of 2,270 conference participants, conference organizers decided to keep the name and instead considered changing the acronym, since that was the main concern.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This name change sparked widespread outrage in the STEM community.<\/p>\n

Some people believe that \u201cNIPs\u201d is an innocuous acronym. There are cookies and crackers named \u201cNips\u201d after all. Jack Frost nips at your nose doesn\u2019t he? As best I can tell, these people believe that we should address bad behavior, not change the world around it.<\/p>\n

It seems like what they\u2019re saying is that if a horny dev, for example, walks around saying \u201cNICE NIPS!\u201d to every woman he sees, at a conference, while pointing at their boobs, we should all collectively rebuke that person and tell them, in no uncertain terms: \u201cNo! That is not appropriate!\u201d<\/p>\n

The good-faith idea here is that, if we keep rubbing their noses in it when they do it, these people will eventually stop doing it.<\/p>\n

That idea stinks so bad it smells like shit. For the same reason that it\u2019s animal abuse to rub a dog\u2019s nose in shit<\/a>: because the person making the joke has no way of knowing why it\u2019s wrong when we\u2019ve created an environment that encourages it.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the people who don\u2019t want the name to be changed don\u2019t think anyone should be bothered by it, thus anyone who is bothered by it doesn\u2019t matter to them. They submit that if someone steps out of line it should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s called policing. And it\u2019s not any woman\u2019s job to do that unless she\u2019s wearing a badge. It\u2019s a system set up to purposely harm women, and it goes like this:<\/p>\n

Guy: Nice nips lady!<\/p>\n

Woman: Excuse me?<\/p>\n

Guy: I said it\u2019s nice to be at NIPs. Haha.<\/p>\n

The problem is that, more often than not, if that woman goes and complains she\u2019s being hysterical or deranged. If she doesn\u2019t then she\u2019s asking for it.<\/p>\n

For as long as there\u2019s been a \u201cNIPs\u201d conference, there have been women and allies asking for the acronym to be changed. I can\u2019t speak for anyone else, but it\u2019s been my experience in engaging with these people that none of these women and their allies are offended by the term NIPs. The people I\u2019ve spoken to say it makes them uncomfortable<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I mean: Calling me a faggot is offensive (for reasons I\u2019ll get into soon). Walking up to me at work and telling me I have nice eyes makes me uncomfortable. The first is always wrong, the second is wrong the moment I make it known I\u2019m uncomfortable with it.<\/p>\n

By US Federal law, an action doesn\u2019t have to be inherently offensive to be considered harassment if it produces a quid pro quo environment or makes someone uncomfortable. But this isn\u2019t about the law or even about ethics or morality. It\u2019s about teamwork.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, two years ago, the name was changed.<\/p>\n

The current kerfuffle centers on Anima Anandkumar, the Bren Professor of Computing at California Institute of Technology and Director of Machine Learning research at NVIDIA and Pedro Domingos, a tenured professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington and the author of the book \u201cThe Master Algorithm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While numerous other people have been involved, the main disagreement between those two stemmed from discourse over the firing of AI scientist and ethicist Timnit Gebru. Here\u2019s more on that<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

As best I can tell, here\u2019s what Domingos and his supporters are, as of this morning, trying to convey:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They\u2019d prefer a workplace where people can actually take a joke<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The real world isn\u2019t always perfect<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. NIPs isn\u2019t offensive unless you choose to see it that way<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. We could be focused on real problems that effect women instead of an acronym<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Most women surveyed didn\u2019t want the name changed<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. The people speaking out against NIPs\/Gebru\u2019s firing are just crisis actors<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. The people speaking out against NIPs\/Gebru\u2019s firing have weaponized outrage to punish their enemies<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. The people speaking out against NIPs\/Gebru\u2019s firing suddenly started attacking Domingos and anyone who agreed with them <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, here\u2019s the thing. The rhetoric coming from Domingos and those supporting him seems like it can be summed as \u201cDomingos was trying to engage in civil debate when he was suddenly called names, bullied, and attacked by Anandkumar and her friends.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

    A few points: there was nothing <\/span>sudden<\/i> about it. This debate has been going on for years and the two of them engaged in civil back-and-forth for days before it careened into \u201cname-calling.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

    The fact of the matter is that good faith arguments such as \u201cit\u2019s a racist slur against the Japanese\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m a woman that was made uncomfortable by it,\u201d fell on deaf ears. Anandkumar explained her case and her agency was disregarded \u2013 that is, her right to say \u201cI was uncomfortable\u201d and be taken seriously. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s the rub:<\/span><\/p>\n

    One side apparently thinks the other side is lying. They seemingly think we\u2019re manufacturing outrage because, as they\u2019ve said time and time again: it\u2019s just a word. They appear to believe that <\/span>if you can\u2019t get over yourself and a simple word, you won\u2019t be able to do science in a world where things don\u2019t always go your way. (<\/i>Oh, the irony).<\/span><\/p>\n

    They see Occam\u2019s Razor as shaving away all the bullshit until what you have left is a shrieking woman going \u201cI\u2019m upset! Pay more attention to me than science because a tech bro giggled at my breasts.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

    They\u2019re the ones who think they\u2019re being mature when they imagine themselves standing up and saying something like \u201cSit down lady, everybody has nipples. We\u2019re trying to learn.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

    And they cannot fathom how anyone else could see things differently. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here are some links to some articles about professional environments with a long-standing tradition of sexual harassment and assault:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Report: As sexual assault reports increase at Naval Academy, prevention efforts may not be effective<\/a><\/p>\n

    Exclusive: Border Patrol Knew About Harrowing \u2018Game Of Smiles\u2019 Sexual Assault Claims, But Did Not Take Action, Former Official Says<\/a><\/p>\n

    And here\u2019s some about the STEM industry:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tech conferences have a sexual harassment problem<\/a><\/p>\n

    Study: 4 in 10 women keynote speakers cite sexual harassment at tech events<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u2018We Need Less Ally Theater\u2019: Little Has Changed for Women in Tech Since the #MeToo Movement<\/a><\/p>\n

    The status quo says: if you see a problem, report it. We may as well be telling women \u201cWe know there are people making these jokes, but it\u2019s up to you to report them.\u201d This is a broken system. It\u2019s a system that says \u201cIf you got a problem with the way we do business here, feel free to go tattle about it. Let\u2019s see who they believe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    For decades now women, POCs, and queers have been told that we work in \u201cequal opportunity\u201d workplaces, yet STEM is still a field dominated by straight white men. We\u2019re still harassed and excluded. The same people who\u2019ve always hired and promoted the ones making the jokes are still there to decide who\u2019s a good \u201cteam player\u201d and who\u2019s disruptive. <\/span><\/p>\n

    And it\u2019s all because \u201cdisruption\u201d is a greater sin in STEM than harassment. And that\u2019s as ironic as it is stupid. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Anima Anandkumar is a disruptive woman. That may just be my opinion, but I stand by it. When she and others felt uncomfortable over the rampant jokes, Reddit groups, and internal emails every year about how people \u201chope it\u2019s cold at NIPs this year,\u201d and what-not, she and others stood up to do something about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    STEM <\/span>is<\/i> disruption. When you see something that needs to be changed, you do the work. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Now, with the background out of the way, here\u2019s the stupid questions you were promised answers to. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cWhy are you so scared of NIPs, it\u2019s just a word?\u201d <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    Nobody\u2019s scared of words.<\/span><\/p>\n

    But words have power. I know that gay men are called \u201cfaggots\u201d and \u201cfags\u201d because that\u2019s what was used to light the fire when bigots and zealots burned us at the stake. If someone calls me a faggot the threat of violence is inseparable from the insult. <\/span><\/p>\n

    The word \u201cnip\u201d is an offensive slur against Japanese people that carries the same threat of violence due to its relation to WWII and internment camps. Full stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The continued use of this acronym is counter-productive. NIPs, as an acronym or word, isn\u2019t offensive on its own, but neither is faggot<\/i> or <\/span>bitch<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

    We aren\u2019t children. If you walked up to me and yelled \u201cBitch ass faggot\u201d and I called you an \u201casshole bigot,\u201d it wouldn\u2019t make you the victim. Not even if you then said \u201cI was saying female dog, donkey, and bundle of sticks. You owe me an apology.\u201d Again, because we\u2019re not children. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Next question. <\/span>\u201cWhy are (insert minority) always so easily offended.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

    We\u2019re not. I laugh at this all the time. Dudes can\u2019t imagine how thick women\u2019s skin needs to be just to walk down the street.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The same people who are afraid to be in a locker room with me just because they know I\u2019m queer have no problem with women being catcalled and harassed. <\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019d be funny were it not for the statistics<\/a> such as \u201cIn 2019, 406,970 women were raped or sexually assaulted while the corresponding number for men was 52,336,\u201d \u2013 and that\u2019s just those that were actually reported in the US. <\/span><\/p>\n

    The NIPs argument has nothing to do with taking offense. I\u2019m not offended. And as far as I can tell Anandkumar (whom I don\u2019t know) and her supporters don\u2019t appear to be offended either. <\/span><\/p>\n

    I\u2019m disappointed. Rather than simply say \u201cI\u2019m not uncomfortable with NIPs, but a rational person could see how a woman, person from Japan, or an ally could be. I support you and this change,\u201d the majority of our peers said \u201cno, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re right about being uncomfortable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    It takes courage to know that\u2019s how so many people in STEM feel about you and still want to work in this industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

    I\u2019m also upset that Anandkumar was framed as deranged, hysterical, and a bully. Her crime is that she refused to accept bigotry and misogyny as something that belonged in a so-called \u201ccivil debate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    That brings us to the next question: <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cAll I did was tell this woman she was being deranged and hysterical and that I didn\u2019t believe her. Then she called me a misogynist and used mean words. Why am I being victimized?\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    Answer: You\u2019re not. Worst case scenario, someone\u2019s being mean to you online. Have you considered logging off and refilling your butthurt-cream prescription? Most likely scenario: You\u2019ve expressed a shitty opinion and are under the illusion that all opinions should be respected.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We don\u2019t respect the opinions of flat-Earthers, anti-vaxxers, bigots, racists, and pedophiles for a very good reason: they aren\u2019t compatible with civilized society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    For example, if you say \u201cwomen should learn to take a joke\u201d and I call you a misogynist, <\/span>you aren\u2019t being victimized<\/i>. Not even if I call you \u201ca stupid fucking misogynist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    The difference is that I\u2019m being an asshole <\/span>because<\/i> you\u2019re being a misogynist. That\u2019s the proper response to bigotry. Bigotry and misogyny are incompatible with civil discourse no matter how polite the person spewing them are.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Serving a turd on a silver platter doesn\u2019t make it tastier.<\/p>\n

    If you politely inform me of your opinion that astrology or ghosts are real, I\u2019ll respectfully disagree with you. If you politely inform me of your opinion that white people are the master race or that women aren\u2019t good at tech, I\u2019ll call you a fucking asshole or worse. In this scenario the bigot is always the one being uncivil. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Next question. \u201cWhy do you<\/i> have to be an asshole? Why can\u2019t you engage in civil discourse?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Answer: I don\u2019t have to be an asshole, I just choose to. One of the most-used tactics to shut women, POCs, and queers up is to tell us we\u2019re hysterical, deranged, and incapable of civil discourse. Bigotry and misogyny aren\u2019t civil. If you engage in either, you don\u2019t deserve civility. Full stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If the tone of our complaints bother you it\u2019s because you weren\u2019t paying attention when we were being nicer.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s been said a thousand times: There is no \u201cacceptable\u201d way in which Colin Kaepernick, nasty women, uppity queers, and allies can disagree with those in power. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Next stupid question: \u201cWhy can\u2019t we just punish people for being bad when they do bad things?\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    Because that ain\u2019t my job. It ain\u2019t Anandkumar\u2019s either. I\u2019m not the \u201cdon\u2019t be mean to queers police\u201d and she doesn\u2019t appear to be the \u201cwoman who has to police all men police.\u201d Police your own horny men. Horny men aren\u2019t my problem. My problem is that \u201cNIPs\u201d made me uncomfortable because of the horny men and the fact it\u2019s also a racist slur. It\u2019s easier to change the acronym than it is to make men less horny and racist.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Next: \u201cWhy do wokes want to cancel everyone who doesn\u2019t agree with them?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    So it\u2019s hilariously ironic that Pedro Domingos is currently engaged in a campaign to get Anandkumar fired for being mean to him on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

    But the answer to this question is: there\u2019s no such thing as canceling, being canceled, or cancel culture.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s say that again: canceling doesn\u2019t exist. If you do or say something so bad that nobody wants to work with you, that\u2019s something you\u2019ve done to yourself. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Bottom line, while canceling doesn\u2019t actually exist (he\u2019ll still be a rich, famous, tenured professor when the dust settles again), he certainly has no problem trying to get a woman fired over her \u201cFree Speech.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

    Last question: <\/span>\u201cWhy do you hate white men and think gays and POCs and women should be in every work place?\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

    Lol. Statistically speaking, nobody hates white men. Otherwise they wouldn\u2019t own the vast majority of wealth, businesses, and political positions in the world. But I want women, queers, and POCs in every work place because we make every work place better<\/a>. It\u2019s going to be too expensive for any big tech business or academic institution to do business without us in the hyper-personalized near future. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Because, just like the current occupants of the White House, the status quo in STEM is a lame duck regime. The world\u2019s moved on past boys clubs and unchallenged male authority. <\/span><\/p>\n

    And, since all of this is about being able to take a joke, here\u2019s one I just made up:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Why <\/span>didn\u2019t<\/i> the bigot\/misogynist chicken cross the road? <\/span>Because there was no place in this world for it over there either. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Published December 15, 2020 \u2014 03:13 UTC <\/p>\n

    Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Fair warning: This is an opinion piece. I was one of the background people arguing on Twitter over the weekend.  Last Friday I had the distinct privilege of engaging with a legend…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}