Nobel Laurette's Academic Career Ended by a Single Joke

[ThePhantasm]

No he said it at a world conference for science journalist.

I guess that takes slightly longer to spread than saying it on a live twitter feed.

Except that what he said at the conference was a joke deploring sexism, not supporting it. He admitted the joke was poorly executed, but this is only a big deal because two idiots who couldn't even get their story straight got on Twitter and blew it out of proportion.

The claim that he is sexist or that he said anything sexist has now been discounted numerous times, and its worth noting that aside from the original two Twitter users NO ONE ELSE who was present at the conference interpreted the joke as sexist.

But thanks for jumping onto the "let's condemn him before we know the facts" bandwagon. Your "he went and trashed women on twitter" comment shows you're ill-informed about this story, and jumped to conclusions without knowing the facts.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Except that what he said at the conference was a joke deploring sexism, not supporting it. He admitted the joke was poorly executed, but this is only a big deal because two idiots who couldn't even get their story straight got on Twitter and blew it out of proportion.

The claim that he is sexist or that he said anything sexist has now been discounted numerous times, and its worth noting that aside from the original two Twitter users NO ONE ELSE who was present at the conference interpreted the joke as sexist.

But thanks for jumping onto the "let's condemn him before we know the facts" bandwagon. Your "he went and trashed women on twitter" comment shows you're ill-informed about this story, and jumped to conclusions without knowing the facts.

I read his comments and I'm still not surprised they were interpreted as sexist or repeated on twitter.

You're at a conference for science journalist, not a cookout with your buddies.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I read his comments and I'm still not surprised they were interpreted as sexist or repeated on twitter.

Really? Which version? There's five or six conflicting versions out there, and no audio recording of the speech.

Since the majority of the people present at the conference did not interpret the remarks as sexist, and since the majority of the people working with him who know him don't view him as sexist, and since the majority of people who don't know him but have looked into his past have found that he's not sexist, I'm inclined to agree with them instead of the Twitter mob squad who b**** without knowing the facts.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

If he was being sarcastic then I agree, he should be able to point that out and keep his job.

Stephen Colbert made an Asian joke that outraged a handful of people and many quickly came to his defense because it was clearly satirical.

 

[DeadPresident]

The funny thing about this story is a guy like Trump can make disparaging comments about people based on gender, race or any other demographic category and he's somehow still applicable to become the president, this guy makes a meta-joke about sexism clearly not meant to be sexist and from the here say of two people his entire career gets flushed down the toilet...how does that work?

According to the twitter warriors something is only offensive if it's said behind closed doors or in a candid moment. Overt discrimination and prejudice is just blasé.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

The so-called Social Justice Warriors are a bunch of losers with no lives on Twitter who co-opt the actual struggles of people with real problems and take them over and trivialize them in their own pursuit of something to make them feel important.

They don't actually give a flying **** about racism, or sexism, or whatever they're ranting about this week.

The way they hijack other people's real struggles and legitimate problems and genuine cases of social injustice in the service of their own self-importance is nauseating.

Spot on.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Really? Which version? There's five or six conflicting versions out there, and no audio recording of the speech.

From OP's article:

“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab. You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them, they cry,” he told delegates.

I stood up and went mad,” he admits. “I was very nervous and a bit confused but, yes, I made those remarks – which were inexcusable – but I made them in a totally jocular, ironic way.

 

[ThePhantasm]

The funny thing about this story is a guy like Trump can make disparaging comments about people based on gender, race or any other demographic category and he's somehow still applicable to become the president, this guy makes a meta-joke about sexism clearly not meant to be sexist and from the here say of two people his entire career gets flushed down the toilet...how does that work?

According to the twitter warriors something is only offensive if it's said behind closed doors or in a candid moment. Overt discrimination and prejudice is just blasé.

And this guy has no history of acts of sexism or remarks of that kind. Zero complaints against him ever until this point. Its not like someone like Trump who has a track record of *****ebaggery. This guy has literally gone through his whole career without any charges against him or documented troubles working with women. And now one misinterpreted remark gets him fired. Unbelievable.

He's still jobless, by the way.

 

[ThePhantasm]

From OP's article:

Right, "the jocular / ironic way" explanation has been corroborated by later witness accounts that the joke was anti-sexist, not sexist. In other words he was mocking scientists who are sexist and who talk that way. Again, context is key.

 

[DeadPresident]

And this guy has no history of acts of sexism or remarks of that kind. Zero complaints against him ever until this point. Its not like someone like Trump who has a track record of *****ebaggery. This guy has literally gone through his whole career without any charges against him or documented troubles working with women. And now one misinterpreted remark gets him fired. Unbelievable.

He's still jobless, by the way.

It seems like people have pent up frustration and rage, and seem to indiscriminately choose targets to vent that frustration at. Everyone on earth has said something that can be decontextualized to make them seem like absolute sociopaths. This guy tried to poke fun at (and in so doing, delegitimize) the sexist trends in his field, and his joke didn't quite come off. So people hear snippets of it and then decide he obviously meant to be sexist and they ruin his life.

Twitter, and social media in general, has reduced people to 21st century versions of the peasants with pitchforks and torches that went after Frankenstein's monster. I'm sure everyone in this thread has said something that taken out of context sounds horrible and abhorrent, but when looked at carefully wasn't meant with any harmful intent or belief.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Why are people hypersensitive about casual racism, sexism, and homophobia?

Because when you're not, people don't know where to stop. They really don't.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

It seems like people have pent up frustration and rage, and seem to indiscriminately choose targets to vent that frustration at.

We call these people "bullies" and it's one of many reasons why SJW's are a miserable, hypocritical joke.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Right, "the jocular / ironic way" explanation has been corroborated by later witness accounts that the joke was anti-sexist, not sexist. In other words he was mocking scientists who are sexist and who talk that way. Again, context is key.

Well, I'm sure he wasn't the first or last person to lose their position over poorly executed sarcasm.

It has nothing to do with "social justice warriors". People have been fired for non-obvious sarcasm since sarcasm was invented.

If your boss is female and you sarcastically say. "you slept your way to the top" but she doesn't pick up on the sarcasm, you'll be handed a pink slip, with or without twitter "social justic warriors".

Do I think people should be fired for not being good at sarcasm? No but it has always been that way.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

RE: "social justice warriors"

I think people forget that long before there were "social justice warriors" casual racism, sexism, and homophobia were widely accepted and the only people comfortable in that environment were straight white males.

So, not everyone wants to go back to the "casual bigotry is cool" days.

 

[ThePhantasm]

So, not everyone wants to go back to the "casual bigotry is cool" days.

No one has suggested that yet.

I think your attempts to justify these kind of witch hunts are pretty ridiculous.

 

[Schlosser85]

There is a big middle ground between "casual bigotry is cool", and "this guy said something that could possibly be construed as sexist, let's ruin his career and his entire life".

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

No one has suggested that yet.

I think your attempts to justify these kind of witch hunts are pretty ridiculous.

I aleady said a couple times that people shouldn't be fired for sarcasm.

I was referring to a separate issue. The current backlash against so-called social justice warriors.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

There is a big middle ground between "casual bigotry is cool", and "this guy said something that could possibly be construed as sexist, let's ruin his career and his entire life".

People didn't know he was being sarcastic.

His defenders should've made that their main argument instead of taking the whole "sexist jokes aren't a big deal" stance.

 

[ThePhantasm]

People didn't know he was being sarcastic.

His defenders should've made that their main argument instead of taking the whole "sexist jokes aren't a big deal" stance.

His defenders said the joke was sarcastic and therefore on that basis not a big deal from the get go. They didn't say "sexist jokes aren't a big deal." They referred to his sarcastic joke specifically and noted it was meant to be ironic and disparaging toward sexism.

His very first defender was his wife, a leading feminist, who said if he had really said the joke as reported she would have chewed him out, but in fact that the joke had been misinterpreted.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I was referring to a separate issue. The current backlash against so-called social justice warriors.

Sorry, how is this not an attempt at justification for this witch hunt?

Why are people hypersensitive about casual racism, sexism, and homophobia?

Because when you're not, people don't know where to stop. They really don't.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

His defenders said the joke was sarcastic and therefore on that basis not a big deal from the get go. They didn't say "sexist jokes aren't a big deal." They referred to his sarcastic joke specifically and noted it was meant to be ironic and disparaging toward sexism.

His very first defender was his wife, a leading feminist, who said if he had really said the joke as reported she would have chewed him out, but in fact that the joke had been misinterpreted.

His wife also said it was a very stupid thing for him to say and the only reason she wasn't offended is because she knows him well.

 

[ThePhantasm]

His wife also said it was a very stupid thing for him to say and the only reason she wasn't offended is because she knows him well.

He himself said it was stupid to say. It was a joke, not meant to be sexist, but poorly executed because he was nervous. The problem is it has been blown way out of proportion by uncharitable and hostile people.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Sorry, how is this not an attempt at justification for this witch hunt?

And people do have good reason to be hypersensitive about bigotry.

I stand by that. Casual bigotry can be a slippery slope.

That's a defense of social justice in general because people are attacking social justice in general.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

He himself said it was stupid to say. It was a joke, not meant to be sexist, but poorly executed because he was nervous. The problem is it has been blown way out of proportion by uncharitable and hostile people.

These people either don't know or don't believe it was sarcasm.

His wife even admits she would also be offended if she didn't know him.

Any famous person will get in trouble for poorly executed sarcasm. Any employee, student, or spouse would get in trouble.

That's life. It doesn't mean social justice shouldn't exist.

 

[ThePhantasm]

The majority of the people there interpreted him correctly. Only two people misinterpreted him.

No one said social justice shouldn't exist. However this is an injustice.