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“Let her speak please”

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Re: “Let her speak please”

#141

Post by sinistersnare »

ivraatiems wrote: post #117
exodust wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's spot on. Unfortunately the swarm of social media opinion in support of the more scornful verdict, is what the news outlets pick up and run with regardless of truth. That said, he was insensitive at the point in question where he should have let her speak. You could sort of tell he was trying to organise and grasp the ideas in his own mind, probably in an effort to stay on top of things. A clumsy moderator mome…

> Let's not forget, she had the right to speak up and say "can I answer the question"... We all have the responsibility and option to guide things back on track if something isn't running smoothly. Don't just sit there waiting for balance to restore, or for the audience to come to rescue, do something about it. Women who do this are very often shamed and called "pushy" or "aggressive" for doing so, even though a man…

Is it the advice thats part of the problem, or the reaction?

The advice is great, why should a panelist take charge if he/she is being run-over by the moderator? The real issue is, like you said, that women are not 'supposed' to be pushy like a man.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#142

Post by exodust »

rainbowmverse wrote: post #111
exodust wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's spot on. Unfortunately the swarm of social media opinion in support of the more scornful verdict, is what the news outlets pick up and run with regardless of truth. That said, he was insensitive at the point in question where he should have let her speak. You could sort of tell he was trying to organise and grasp the ideas in his own mind, probably in an effort to stay on top of things. A clumsy moderator mome…

The only thing as annoying as a moderator who speaks over guests is a guest who speaks over the moderator. Moderators are there for a reason. If they aren't doing their job, the whole thing descends into an anarchy of people talking past each other while the least bold panelists sit there quietly bemused.

Surely audience members speaking over the moderator is worse than a risk of "anarchy" from a guest chiming in with "please let me answer".

It's not machine code on stage. It's humans. While there's obvious guidelines, there's also normal breathing space for polite interruption as people remember things to add, seek clarification, or in this case answer the question they feel they didn't get the chance to.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#143

Post by tomp »

throwaway91111 wrote: post #43
obstacle1 wrote: post #23

What's really interesting is that the author only became 'boiling' with rage when this socially-unaware moderator talked over the woman on the panel, not when he talked over the other men. This kind of behavior is extremely common in STEM, and happens to everyone. If you don't talk with confidence, purpose, and animation, you're going to get talked over by the alpha nerd of the group. Man, woman, or purple elephant.…

What's really interesting is that every time sexism comes up there are volunteers eager to show it isn't sexism.

Alternatively, every time a a man is rude to a woman, there are volunteers eager to show it's sexism.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#144

Post by Quarrelsome »

CPLX wrote: post #126
Quarrelsome wrote: post #35

he doesn't interrupt just her. His role is host, his role is to move the conversation about and yes he does fuck up by saying some stuff he should leave to her. However to me the evocative language used in the Facebook post suggests there is an aspect of deliberately seeking out "injustice" and being overly sensitive to it and seeing the world as a gender battle. If you're looking at the world through such a frame yo…

I tend to be sympathetic to the original poster of the story, it sounds like the woman was treated differently, and an expert being talked over like that by a host is ridiculous. It does indeed sound like an example of sexism. This probably marks me as an ignorant oppressor, but I do find this style of telling a story to be a bit confusing and off-putting though. Why all the references to "with my hands shaking" and…

I sympathise with that position but the issue here is that the woman was 1. If there were two women and the same happened with both we could be much confident with our assertions as we'd effectively have a "control" woman but with just one its hard to make social assertions as to whether it was sexist or there were other factors that led to the outcome.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#145

Post by trendia »

FussyZeus wrote: post #137
andai wrote: post #86

> You may be amazed to hear it, but during this panel session I genuinely did not feel affronted or discriminated by the moderator’s behavior. It seemed more amusing to see him try posing a question in a way that at the same time tried answering it. It’s true that this made the question a bit of a moving target for me (and therefore harder to address coherently), but I don’t a-priori assume that the incident was root…

You'd have to agree though that it's a remarkable coincidence that this only happened to the only female scientist who was part of the panel.

You'd have to agree though that it's a remarkable coincidence that the moderator began to ramble when he started talking about a topic that he was particularly excited about and which he was not particularly knowledgeable about.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#146

Post by curiousgal »

specialist wrote: post #77
mosselman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly. It is beyond all doubt that sexism exists in the world, there are countless examples of it, from Disney movies, toy advertisement, philharmonic orchestra, etc, etc. I find it a bit strange to label the speaker as a sexist just because he didn't let someone speak. Maybe he is just a dick? Maybe she was rude to him back stage? Maybe he was having a bad day? Maybe the chemistry between them was off?…

You don't have to be a sexist, racist to say stupid things. Bill Maher just dropped the n-bomb. It's not for me to determine what offends other people. To have successful interactions, relationships, I try very hard to meet other people where they're at, listen more than talk, adapt. Sometimes it doesn't work. Most of the time it does. --- In this case, the moderator's job is to make the panel shine, just like Johnny…

> the moderator's job is to make the panel shine

To be honest, it wasn't any different from any panel I've witnessed, there's always people speaking over each other, let alone in vague subjects such as cosmology and string theory.

Just a classic case of confirmation bias if you ask me; "Scientists are sexist" "Oh he interrupted her!" "Yup sexism is confirmed"

Re: “Let her speak please”

#147

Post by andrepd »

"With my hands shaking, I finally say from my seat in the 2nd row of the audience, as clearly, directly and loudly as possible;

"Let. Her. Speak. Please!"

The moderator stops.

They all stop.

The auditorium drops into silence.

You could hear a pin drop.

And then the audience explodes with applause and screams.

Jim Holt eventually sat back, only after saying I was heckling him."

I just love these comically self-aggrandizing retellings of one's brave intervention in an unjust situation. Reminds me of the "atheist in store copy-pasta"[0] Not very important, I know, but it just ticked me off the wrong way.

PS: Watch the video and you will notice that there is no delay between her shouting and the audience applauding, nor did the interviewer ever say she was heckling.

[0](https://www.reddit.com/r/circlejerkcopypasta/comments/w9iy3/)

Re: “Let her speak please”

#148

Post by d3ad1ysp0rk »

curiousgal wrote: post #138
Tiki wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comment in full: Veronika Hubeny: I applaud your heroism in standing up for what you believe in! I know well the shaky feeling and subsequent exhilarated and heartwarmed contentment in the knowledge of having done the right thing, and I think that doing so has become more crucial than ever. Your behavior was inspiring and I’m glad that many of those inspired shared their gratitude with you. I guess that, being th…

>I never felt discriminated against or thwarted in my calling This just goes to prove my stance whenever the whole women in STEM fields debate is brought up. You have two kinds of women, those who are out there doing science, building things and being badasses (The likes of Veronika and Julia Evans, ones I consider as role-models) and then you have women that have questionable technical skills who keep whining about…

Veronika stated quite clearly that sexism in STEM is an issue. Julia Evans has wrote in bulk regarding issues she has experienced and ways she is trying to get more women in STEM.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#149

Post by dekhn »

andai wrote: post #86

> You may be amazed to hear it, but during this panel session I genuinely did not feel affronted or discriminated by the moderator’s behavior. It seemed more amusing to see him try posing a question in a way that at the same time tried answering it. It’s true that this made the question a bit of a moving target for me (and therefore harder to address coherently), but I don’t a-priori assume that the incident was root…

I think it was really valuable to surface the feelings of the person who was the target of this discussion. It changes the perspective of the incident.

Re: “Let her speak please”

#150

Post by forgotpw1123 »

The hell does this get on the front page? Serious HN, I expected to see something at least somewhat scientific. This is pure, 100%, facebook chain letter clickbait. I watched the video and everyone is talking over each other. Also what the hell is she wearing? She looks straight out of little house on the prairie.

that last part was pure trolling

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