I don't have a problem with the joke being made. I don't have a problem Richards being offended and reporting it to the convention staff, and, as a matter of fact, I applaud her decision to do something about it. And PyCon's staff, from all reports, handled themselves very well in this situation. Could the two guys in the photo been a little more sensitive to those around them? Sure. Could Richards have followed the advice she wrote in her own blog post and talked to the two men or alerted the staff privately? Absolutely. Would this entire clusterfuck have been avoided if one of those two things happened? Yes.
But both of those things happened, and it spiraled out of control. Because of one somewhat insensitive joke, and a really bad twitter post. Everything that's happened after: the twitter posts, the blog posts, the firings, the harrasment, the DDOS', it all leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, and I don't see anything funny about this at all.
Because nobody involved here came out looking sympathetic. Richards used her soapbox to publicly shame two men who really didn't deserve much more than maybe a simple talking to. The two men who made the joke could have shown some restraint, but did not. Both of the companies probably made the wrong decision to fire the two, though in Play Haven's case, there could be other things we don't know about, and Richards dragged in her company into the conversation probably without their approval.
Because it's been twisted into everyone's pet racism/sexism/ism trigger topic. Bigots are using Adria's behavior as an example of why women can't be trusted. People sensitive to issues of gender, sex, and race are using it as an example for why the entire industry's a cesspool of bigotry and sexism. For those of us who know that the truth is neither of those, it's incredibly disheartening, because you can choose your belief, and there's something here that will validate it.
So yes, this just feels meanspirited.
Sorry, but I'm skeptical.
Really, it's just a bit of fun and the best outcome would be to raise some money for women in tech.
I am sure women will be out in droves dying to buy this shirt.
Regardless, humor is an important technique for bringing perspective to situations, and helps us come back to realizing life is about being happy, not settling scores.
Manners, charm, and good listening are all things that are orthogonal to that whole good and evil thing. They are powerful tools, and often make ones life easier. They can even be a tremendous force for good. These are all orthogonal to good/evil, though.
Musical talent is another thing people get mixed up about. Someone can be a musically talented jerkwad. The same goes for beauty, obviously. The same even goes for programming talent.
> Regardless, humor is an important technique for bringing perspective to situations, and helps us come back to realizing life is about being happy, not settling scores.
It can also be used as a bitter condiment while settling scores. Once again my point: Humor is orthogonal!
- Mark Twain
Those who can not laugh at themselves will justly be laughed at by others.
You assume human beings always do a good job of treating other human beings. Ask a seasoned police investigator -- not always true. And sometimes, they'll even be laughing about it.