On 24 January 2016 at 00:06, David E. Wheeler <david@justatheory.com> wrote:
> On Jan 23, 2016, at 3:43 PM, Joshua D. Drake <jd@commandprompt.com> wrote:
>
>> I have been accused of being a fat hater. My crime? I suggested that generally speaking, obesity is a matter of diet
andexercise. Worse? The individual started the conversation and I am also classified as obese (barely, I won't be in a
month).
>>
>> I have been accused of being sexist because I asked if there was chalk (for bouldering) that was better for women
becausetheir skin is generally softer and the chalk wasn't staying on the respective persons hand. A scientific sexist
fact.
>>
>> I have been accused of being sexist because I said it wasn't sexist that Samsung doesn't make full
feature/performancephones that are smaller for a woman's hands.
>
> So are you able to recognize the ways in which those statements can come across as prejudiced?
No. None of the statements Josh describes exhibits any prejudice.
It absolutely isn't prejudiced to make factual statements. It may be
that the facts are uncomfortable, but it's not prejudiced to reiterate
them.
It _would_ be prejudiced to make an assumption about a specific female
climber based on the scientific fact that most women have softer skin.
It _would_ be prejudiced to make an assumption that a fat person is
lazy and eats too much.
It's a factual statement that the proportion of African Americans in
prison is proportionally high. It would prejudiced to a) assume that
because of this an African American you meet is a criminal, b) suggest
that the reason African Americans are in prison is because they're
inherently more likely to commit criminal acts.
Are we a bit clearer about what constitutes prejudice now?
> We *all* make mistakes. Ideally what one does is to try to recognize them
> and take responsibility for them. An *abuser* will do neither.
There you go with these pejorative terms again. Someone who disagrees
with your lifestyle and makes generalised statements about that
lifestyle which offend you is not abusing you, and yet as far as I can
see that is what the Covenant has been used to combat (and it appears
designed specifically so to do).
Geoff
