Comment by imgabe | Hacker News Reader

Comment by imgabe | Hacker News Reader

> We live in a society that’s sexist in ways it doesn’t understand. One of the consequences is that men are extremely sensitive to being criticized by women. I think it threatens them in a very primal way, and male privilege makes them feel free to lash out.

I don't mean to "Not all men" this, but I wish we would stop treating behavior like this as a normal part of the male psyche. It's not. It's seriously disturbed. It's an unfortunate consequence of the Internet and any area where you have a large audience that a small active segment is going to produce a large impression.

Yes, maybe your friend and even most men feel differently when a woman criticizes them than when a man does. No it is absolutely NOT a normal, male response to start making rape and death threats because of it.

I think these responses are a combination of seriously disturbed individuals and literal or mental children who haven't yet fully internalized that there are real live human beings on the other end of the keyboard and are trying to be shocking.

I think making a few examples would deter the idiots who think this is amusing. I mean, that one kid in Texas made an offhand, sarcastic comment about shooting up a school and got himself arrested within a couple of days. It would be nice to see police take other threats as seriously.

>I hate to "Not all men" this, but I wish we would stop treating behavior like this as a normal part of the male psyche. It's not. It's seriously disturbed.

I think that realization is the very opposite of the "Not all men" mindset. Saying "Not all men are like that" is a red herring - it's a way of distracting yourself from the fact that there are people out there who treat women like dirt by saying you don't do that.

I think where we're failing as a society is the inability to close the loop and turn "not all men" into "yo dude, not cool" - we don't seem to be very good at getting men to call out sexism in other men.

I would love some kind of resource for how to do that effectively.

I would love some kind of resource for how to do that effectively.

You don't need a resource. Do it yourself. Do it in situations where no one else will. This will encourage other to. This isn't an issue that's going to go away without grassroots support. There's no silver bullet, it's going to take work and unfortunately, time.

Maybe what I meant was some kind of a way to do this without provoking a confrontation.

Perhaps that's just the nature of the beast, though.

Unfortunately I have no choice but to deal with racist people from time time and am constantly repeating the phrase, "not all (insert race) people are like that."

Is that a "Red Herring?"

I think that is almost exactly the opposite situation. You want to derail someone's racist diatribe, as whatever nonsense they're spouting is not a real problem that needs to be addressed.

What if the diatribe targets straight white men? Is it OK then?

Yo, dude, it's not cool to use the fringe behavior of a few individuals as leverage to baselessly and hatefully defame and entire gender.

You need to cut that shit out, and you need to cut it out right fucking now.

That kid in Texas was then turned out in jail. What has happened to him is horrific.

Yeah, I'm not supporting that case at all. I think given the context it was perfectly clear that he was not making a serious threat.

It's stupid that in these cases where the context is a LOT more ambiguous that absolutely nothing can be done about it. That energy should be redirected to where it could do some good.

I have to agree with most of this. I see these articles from time to time, and I know the facts behind them are real enough, but my immediate reaction is always the same: "I don't know any people who act this way, and I wouldn't stand for it if I ever saw something like this, but I have never seen it happen, so where the hell is this coming from?"

There must be some people with serious issues out there to generate things like this. Those people are not normal and this behaviour is not acceptable.

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