In The News

[Corporal Hicks]

I completely agree. There's too much concern over what group will dislike what. I, personally, think people look for offence.

[Sabby]

I completely agree. There's too much concern over what group will dislike what. I, personally, think people look for offence.

I heard an interesting theory once that the human brain expects a certain amount of conflict. We evolved under regular adversity, and now a lot of us find ourselves in a world that's very comfortable and easy. I mean, you only ever see this SJW nonsense in parts of the world where people can afford to waste their time, it's almost like the adversity is completely fabricated.

I'm not sure what the term for this is, so I'm having a hard time finding any citation (that may change once I get a pot of coffee in me), so take that with a grain of salt.

[DoomRulz]

So, Russia is going to create an alternative wikipedia website for their citizens since:

Analysis of this resource showed that it is not capable of providing information about the region and life of the country in a detailed or sufficient way

and

President Vladimir Putin has branded the Internet a "CIA special project", and the Kremlin has said it must protect its online realm from threats from the West

also

Since August, bloggers in Russia with more than 3,000 followers must register with the Moscow's mass media regulatory agency and conform to rules applied to larger media outlets.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/14/us-russia-wikipedia-alternative-idUSKCN0IY1YT20141114

That seems to be a little totalitarian, maybe?

A little?

So Putin is promoting conspiracy theories now? Is there no end to this guy's madness?

[SM]

I completely agree. There's too much concern over what group will dislike what. I, personally, think people look for offence.

Indeed.

Which is why we have people to manage brand and image - and have had for a very long time.  You can't stop people arcing up online, so your best course is to give them as little as possible to arc up about.  If he hadn't worn the dumb shirt, people wouldn't have had anything to crack the shits about.  And other parties would've had to have found another target for their threats of death and rape.

[BANE]

What's the internet without threats of death and rape though? 

[Sabby]

I completely agree. There's too much concern over what group will dislike what. I, personally, think people look for offence.

Indeed.

Which is why we have people to manage brand and image - and have had for a very long time.  You can't stop people arcing up online, so your best course is to give them as little as possible to arc up about.  If he hadn't worn the dumb shirt, people wouldn't have had anything to crack the shits about. And other parties would've had to have found another target for their threats of death and rape.

So why take the steps to stop something you admit will always happen. Don't you think maybe catering to these people as a routine hands them the power?

[SM]

Only if you want to take seperate quotes out of the original context.

What's the internet without threats of death and rape though? 

No different to how it'd be without people whining and people whining about people whining.

[DoomRulz]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/19/ancient-whale-new-zealand_n_6184832.html

Scientists in New Zealand say they've discovered two previously unknown ancient whale species, rewriting the history of marine mammals in the Southern hemisphere.

Something different for us all.

[BANE]

Only if you want to take seperate quotes out of the original context.

What's the internet without threats of death and rape though? 

No different to how it'd be without people whining and people whining about people whining.

And people whining about people whining about people whining.

[SM]

Alright, Stan. Don't labour the point.

[Sabby]

Not wanting to kick the hornets nest, but this would have been a great addition yesterday.

[SM]

Ye olde "BUT THEY'RE DOING IT TOO!!!!!" argument as if that all makes it better.

That aside, I've really tried to read Jessica Valenti's stuff on the Guardian, but she continually comes across as one of the aforementioned group of disproportionate complainers.  Not that there's nothing to complain about - there generally is - but she just goes over the top.  Even a lot of the traditional Guardian readership who'd be completely sympathetic with her views find it hard due to poor writing or research, or just her general over-the-topness.

[Sabby]

Ye olde "BUT THEY'RE DOING IT TOO!!!!!" argument as if that all makes it better.

Oh, I agree with you, that doesn't help your case, if your case is trying to get Matt off the hook, but that's not the point the picture is trying to make. It's trying to point out an obvious case of bias and hypocrisy. Her wearing that shirt doesn't make Matts case any better, but the people who lay into him this relentlessly are quite happy to ignore the exact same thing so long as it's done by an outspoken feminist.

Hell, I'd say Jessica's shirt is far worse. Neither one justifies a moral outrage in my opinion, but if I had to pick which was more offensive, I'd go for the one that revels in the suffering of half the human race over the one with a sexy image on it.

If someone had been wearing that "male tears" t-shirt whilst being a government employee interviewed for international publication about a major scientific achievement, there'd probably be some backlash.

Context is certainly a factor, yeah. Would you consider it unprofessional for a journalist for The Guardian who writes on gender equality issues to wear a sexist shirt and then broadcast it on her personal Twitter account?

I do think Matt is in a worse position, though.

[SM]

Oh, I agree with you, that doesn't help your case, if your case is trying to get Matt off the hook, but that's not the point the picture is trying to make.

I don't have a case.

ESA guy made an unprofessional mistake.  If he was wearing his scantily clad women shirt on a beach like she is, there's no story.
Valenti is a feminist writer so the t-shirt fits in with her job.  If she wears her top in her Guardian profile pic - well the Guardian aren't going to let that happen and she doesn't, so again, no story.  And she's not pimping some world wide news so the stories aren't terribly comparable anyway.

But people will find something to get outraged about in either case because internet.

In either case, I don't care.

[Sabby]

Oh, I agree with you, that doesn't help your case, if your case is trying to get Matt off the hook, but that's not the point the picture is trying to make.

I don't have a case.

I didn't say you did, I said that if you wanted to make that argument, going 'they did it to' isn't a good way to do it. I was agreeing with you.