Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

I expect this will be voted off too, it already seems to be lower-placed than it ought to be given the number of upvotes. I posted (what I though to be) a very interesting article on Popehat about free speech and the costs contained within a few days ago:

http://www.popehat.com/2013/09/10/speech-and-consequences/

Unfortunately it talked about the Business Insider issue, so was immediately flagged off the front page.

We had a word for this in the 90s, and it was called political correctness. These are things, if you discuss or participate in, ruin your ability to hold elected office.

Social media rewards controversy. If you want to make a name for yourself, get new twitter followers, or more links to your blog, there is no other way that is easier and delivers more volume. Techcrunch has benefited from creating their own controversies for years.

I'm disturbed that kids are growing up believing jokes about boobs or masturbation are wrong. That is not a future society that will think the First Amendment is one worth keeping.

If someone had come to the conference and broadcast music that was far, far too loud and which obviously impeded people's experience of the conference, nobody would be defending them. What these guys are doing isn't a lot different.

The kids angle is fairly important - I got a lot of value from hanging out at os2 and linux user groups when I was young. Professional orgs and conferences can be an escape from the heavily stratified world kids are stuck in for most of their lives, and help people develop interests early.