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Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

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Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#51

Post by mkr-hn »

jmcgough wrote: post #41
AJRF wrote: post #25

I just watched it. I don’t feel like I live in a real world anymore. This whole outrage is manufactured and there are so many resellers. Dave spends the last 15 minutes of the show telling a heartbreaking story of how he made friends with a transgender woman, and invited her to open his show for him, she sucked but then when she was being herself during the show and afterwards backstage she had everyone howling with…

He said that he's on "team TERF" and compared being trans to wearing black face. It's not "manufactured", there are a lot of people upset that he's punching down against a vulnerable community.

This is, I think, the key detail. Everything else is subjective enough that it's easy for people inclined to dismiss the whole thing to make a reason up. There's really no way to misunderstand those things. He's declared an allegiance with people who spend all their time on Twitter and forums dehumanizing trans people, often using the same insinuation that being a woman is the same as doing blackface. Maybe he's ignorant of what he's really saying, but that's not an excuse.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#52

Post by simondotau »

jayd16 wrote: post #16
ALittleLight wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why some people think it's okay to offend some groups and not others. Religious people may be deeply and sincerely offended by bad language, jokes about promiscuity, or jokes about religion. Should comedians be banned from discussing those topics because they might offend the religious? Trump supporters might be offended by jokes about Trump, Biden supporters, Biden. Are those beyond the pale? It s…

I agree with the sentiment but you're conflating what someone believes with who they are, ie, something someone can change vs something they can't. I don't really think anything should be off limits and off color jokes are an important art form to feel out emotions but I also think there's a clear difference in your examples.

Many jokes about people are grounded in aspects of a person which they can’t change. And even things they can in theory—can they really? Being obese isn’t just a choice.

And of course nobody can change the past.

Making jokes about aspects of transgenderism should be seen as a sign of cultural acceptance, not rejection.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#53

Post by jmcgough »

khalilravanna wrote: post #26

It feels disingenuous to use this as the headline as it implies they were fired for organizing the walkout instead of for leaking internal data: A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the employees’ dismissal. “We have let go of an employee for sharing confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company,” they said.

At the same time, if they wanted to get rid of this person they would come up with an alternative justification like this. It's similar to how Terra Field (Netflix engineer) was suspended after her viral tweet about the Chapelle special, on the justification that she joined (without disrupting at all) a QBR zoom meeting, despite being invited to it by a higher up.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#55

Post by zdragnar »

torben-friis wrote: post #29

As a non American, I must say that I found Chappelle's special to be way too much in the defensive, as if he was preparing for a cancellation that was sure as hell not going to happen. Why would trans people be mad, when he was basically dealing with his duel process on stage about the loss of a trans friend? Then I saw Twitter. Wow. I just don't understand how people can be that mad about something that _they've cle…

It goes something like this:

- someone gets offended from clips, or watches the whole thing but dislikes bits they feel can taken out of context

- they say it is hateful

- everyone who listens to them takes the judgement and runs with it. No need to subject yourself to hateful content when you already know it is

- the judgement spreads, and people wanting to feel important add their own (uninformed) thoughts, which are just exaggerations of the original

- enough people say it that it becomes a foregone conclusion, and anyone who speaks up in opposition obviously only does so because they are anti-X, bigoted and hateful themselves, and so their opinions dont matter

It is basically how all stereotypes spread, with an added hint of malice thrown on top to be extra divisive. In a world of things like "anti-racism" where you must parrot the orthodoxy loudly and often, this is the natural course of things.

Culturally, I think "celebrification" is to blame for the intensity. We have spent so long worshipping celebrities, and celebrity status, that social media gave us the added shot of each of us being our own mini-celebrities. Being liked and mentioned has become a form of self fulfillment for some people, and the easiest way to do that is parrot every bandwagon you can find.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#56

Post by mkr-hn »

undoware wrote: post #48

I'm not going to explain this to you all, but yeah, the language used by Chappelle has specific and very serious consequences for people like me. Yes, it's transphobic. That you cannot smell this out -- or do, but pretend you don't -- says a heartbreaking amount about HN culture. We're here, right beside you , in your workplaces, in your forums, hearing what you say. And then we have to do our damn jobs. Do you know…

I seem to be in net positive point territory being critical of Netflix in numerous comments. I used to get flag killed and rate limited for that kind of thing! A too small improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#57

Post by simondotau »

hadlock wrote: post #47
elgernon wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These “marginalized” groups seem to be running the country though, and cancel anyone who disagrees with their agenda

To quote MLK, 'A riot is the language of the unheard,', short of a riot, this 'cancel culture' seems to be an effective tool to effect change by directly pulling on economic levers. The fact that people are complaining about how effective it is, seems to reinforce how effective it is.

It’s certainly effective, but so is a thermonuclear bomb. The question is whether the outcome, fully accounted, is the desired one. It’s accelerating cultural polarisation, perhaps one of the most caustic and dangerous forces in modern society.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#58

Post by micromacrofoot »

AJRF wrote: post #25

I just watched it. I don’t feel like I live in a real world anymore. This whole outrage is manufactured and there are so many resellers. Dave spends the last 15 minutes of the show telling a heartbreaking story of how he made friends with a transgender woman, and invited her to open his show for him, she sucked but then when she was being herself during the show and afterwards backstage she had everyone howling with…

ehhh, I watched it and having a trans friend doesn’t give him a free pass just like the old “I have a black friend” doesn’t

I’ve already seen posts from anti-trans folks praising him, and “i’m team terf” memes. I don’t think the material was funny or provocative enough to warrant the validation it’s creating amongst bigots (even if they’re missing the point).

He seemingly saw this coming and seemed to be preemptively playing defense the entire special.

I’m not going to “cancel” him or whatever, but the whole thing seems lazy on multiple fronts. He intentionally stirred a very divisive pot so people would talk about him, and he tried to set himself up as the smart guy for “seeing” obvious backlash coming.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#59

Post by undoware »

AJRF wrote: post #25

I just watched it. I don’t feel like I live in a real world anymore. This whole outrage is manufactured and there are so many resellers. Dave spends the last 15 minutes of the show telling a heartbreaking story of how he made friends with a transgender woman, and invited her to open his show for him, she sucked but then when she was being herself during the show and afterwards backstage she had everyone howling with…

Not knowing where to begin, I'll simply say that I was political before I was a person, because your culture made me this way.

There is no part of my personhood that is not political. Chapelle rounded out his bit by embracing trans exclusionism, thereby denying that trans women -- including the woman he had backstage to, as you so delicately put it, suck him off -- are doing anything other than lying about who they --- we --- really are.

As though we all cared enough about you all to lie to you. Lying takes effort; you're not worth it. Which is why we transition in the first place.

The only people denying humanity are Chapelle and his supporters.

Re: Netflix fires organizer of trans employee walkout

#60

Post by simondotau »

bentlegen wrote: post #14
InitialLastName wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, punching up is more acceptable (and funnier!) than punching down. Making fun of the groups that are traditionally dominant in our society (certain religions, political leaders etc) is more compelling comedy than mocking those that have been traditionally victimized and oppressed.

I don’t disagree with this, but is mocking Trump supporters punching up or punching down? Honest question.

Mockery isn’t inherently comedy, so the question of punch direction isn’t necessarily relevant.

It’s also important to distinguish between mocking of Trump versus Trump supporters, as these are often conflated.

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