Their Happiness Hurt My Feelings
Attention, woke citizens. During the current lockdown, do you feel a need to “challenge microaggressions” – those “verbal, behavioural or environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights”? Specifically, those committed during video conferencing?
According to Michigan State University’s Amy Bonomi, director of the university’s Children and Youth Institute, and Neila Viveiros, associate vice chancellor for academic operations at the University of Colorado Denver, the expanded use of virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom and Skype has created “a ripe setting for unconscious bias.”
But of course. The frontier of indignation must forever expand.
“Unconscious bias includes using language, symbolism and nonverbal cues that reinforce normative social identities with respect to gender, race, sexual preference and socioeconomic status,” Bonomi said. “For example, when the virtual background of a Zoom meeting attendee has pictures of his or her wedding, it unintentionally reinforces the idea that marriage is most fitting between opposite sexes.”
It turns out that the reckless visibility of a wedding photo may be crushing the self-esteem out of the touchily unwed. You see, the mere sight of a photo of someone’s happy day can “crowd out the experiences of people with minoritized social identities,” albeit in ways never quite explained. Other taboos include references to “simple activities like family dance parties,” which are apparently a thing, and “gardening with a spouse.”
Curiously, given the stated importance of “sensitivity” and being mindful of what things might mean, we aren’t invited to ponder the kind of person who would resent someone else’s wedding photo. And then complain about it. Or whether such neurotic affectations, these unhappy mental habits, are something to be actively encouraged. In the name of progress. At a university.
Update, via the comments:
Regarding microaggressions, readers may be inclined to wonder if there’s an equally modish word for the low-level hostility of inflicting one’s own competitively hypersensitive psychodrama on others, like some prodnose nightmare, and all while expecting applause. It seems to me the above is a strange and self-destructive attitude to cultivate, a kind of psychological poison – as so many things are in the world of the woke.
As a stroppy gay teenager, which would presumably have counted as one of those “minoritized social identities,” I don’t recall seething at the sight of other people’s wedding photos, or being in any way hurt by them, or expecting the owners of such photos to hide them in my presence, as if they weren’t actually married. That would have been… weird.
But it seems we must make ever greater efforts to avoid giving the impression that “normative social identities” are, well, normative. That simply wouldn’t do.
Please update your files and lifestyles accordingly.
Update 2:
In the comments, Naz endorses the need for a term for the recreational hostility of the implausibly aggrieved. To help us in this quest, it may be worth pondering the dynamic favoured by people who stress the gravity of ‘microaggressions’ and the importance of their correction. It goes something like this:
“You’ve done or said X, some trivial thing – say, displaying a wedding photo – which I have chosen to construe as offensive and wounding, most likely in some unobvious or convoluted way. Whether you intended offence is immaterial and your protestations of innocence are irrelevant. I am the sole arbiter of what is offensive. I shall decide whether you are guilty, a bad person, an oppressor, and what penance should be extracted. Ideally, in the form of your humbling and humiliation, while I, the supposedly injured party, as decided by me, savour the attention and opportunist leverage.”
Clearly, this is a license for petty malice and elaborate psychological abuse. Which is to say, exactly the kind of thing that advocates of ‘microaggression’ policing claim to oppose.
even something as simple as an icebreaker asking people what the “most fun thing you’ve done with your family during quarantine” could be a microaggression.
Why yes, anything can be a microaggression and that seems to be the point. Asking “How are you?” can be a microaggression, since that marginalizes people who aren’t doing at all well, which is ableism.
I’m inclined to wonder if there’s an equally modish word for the low-level hostility of inflicting one’s own competitively neurotic affectations on others, like some prodnose nightmare, and all while expecting applause.
From the original article: https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2020/theres-an-unconscious-bias-in-virtual-meetings-heres-how-you-can-avoid-it/
“[S]ome organizations are guiding participants to consider background choices to reflect the organization’s values, as opposed to personal choice”.
Everything within the organization, nothing outside the organization, nothing against the organization
minoritized people
Minoritized? that’s a new one on me.
and “gardening with a spouse.”
Er what?
Er what?
Like so much else, it’s something of a mystery. Presumably, we mustn’t risk upsetting resentful, hypersensitive wankers who don’t yet have a spouse, or indeed a garden.
Lest we give the impression that “normative social identities” are, well, you know, normative.
It’s a strange and self-destructive attitude to cultivate. A kind of psychological poison. As many things are in the world of the woke. I mean, I remember being a stroppy gay teenager, which would presumably have counted as one of those “minoritized social identities,” but I don’t recall seething at the sight of other people’s wedding photos, or being in any way hurt by it, or expecting the owners of such photos to hide them in my presence, as if they weren’t actually married.
That would have been… weird.
“Asking “How are you?” can be a microaggression, since that marginalizes people who aren’t doing at all well, which is ableism.“
Saying “Hello” is a microaggression against the deaf.
Lockdown is woke nirvana: everyone stays at home and never talks to anyone else, with all communication (eventually) mediated through Google, Twitter, and Facebook, who can “disappear” anyone who transgresses the unwritten rules.
associate vice chancellor for academic operations
There in lies the root of the problem. Oh so much to do to run a university, there needs to be a chancellor for academic operations, specifically. God knows how many other chancellors there are and wtf they do. But as there is too much work even to run the academic operations, a (‘a’?….hahahahaha, I’m so naive) ‘vice’ chancellor position is needed. But of course, the vice chancellor’s time gets filled and thus the vice chancellor needs, I’m pretty sure, several ‘associates’ to help out. Who knows what more layers the onion might have? Special Deputy Assistant to the Associate Vice Chancellor? The mind boggles.
“minoritized social identities.”
The first I’ve seen this. Their jargon continues to metastasize.
On the other hand, this could finally be the “in” for clowns, bagpipers, mimes, Elvis impersonators, battle reenactors, etc., to claim their piece of the grievance pie. These folks have been minoritized for years.
Try to imagine how little I care about people who are offended by pretty much anything. Those are defective people who are beyond help.
It is best to completely ignore them and let them chew their knuckles in a closet until they either feel better or suicide.
We are out of time and have bigger issues than the feelings of people whose profs and teachers and their own weak psyche, have convinces them that they are second class losers … which they are …
Thankyou for posting this.
I will now ensure to prominently display all the symbolism in my background during video conferencing that is guaranteed to trigger to permanently oppresssed.
I’m sure I could even photoshop a personal photo to create a group portrait of myself, Trump, Regan and Rush Limbaugh.
Unconscious bias includes using language, symbolism and nonverbal cues that reinforce normative social identities with respect to gender, race, sexual preference and socioeconomic status
My home office space is also my sewing/craft room. I’ve done Zoom facetime with grandkids and friends with my sewing machine in full view behind me.
Oh, the heteronormative, gendered-role, ageist symbolism that must send!!
[note to self – find more opportunities to Zoom]
… the virtual background of a Zoom meeting attendee has pictures of his or her wedding, it unintentionally reinforces the idea that marriage is most fitting between opposite sexes.
What? How? And isn’t she microaggressing the T’s in her alphabet soup by assuming there are only two sexes?????
That’s stretching it pretty far to say an opposite sex wedding photo reinforces some ideology about the subject. It is what it is – the offense is in her mind. A majority of humans are heterosexual – that’s biology. It’s how most animal species continue to exist. Where does she think new humans who desire same sex humans come from? Nothing is stopping her from marrying a same sex partner, if she can find one willing. Or putting up her own wedding photo. Or celebrating Pride month, or having corporations, governments, police forces go all rainbow crazy in celebration. All that public celebration and she still takes offense at a danged photo. Does she really want heterosexuals to pretend they don’t exist?
“[S]ome organizations are guiding participants to consider background choices to reflect the organization’s values, as opposed to personal choice”.
My only wish is to be a tiny cog in a giant soulless machine.
So I should take down the picture of me with my buddies in my study? Oh come on, you can’t even see who we are under those white robes.
What? How?
Well, indeed.
It is what it is – the offense is in her mind.
And they wish to seed it in yours. Again, psychological poison.
It’s a strange and self-destructive attitude to cultivate. A kind of psychological poison.
Did I hear someone mention Vice?
According to Michigan State University’s Amy Bonomi, director of the university’s Children and Youth Institute, and Neila Viveiros, associate vice chancellor for academic operations at the University of Colorado Denver . . .
In short, due to the current prevailing circumstances, they’re not just bored, they are Really Bored.
“[S]ome organizations are guiding participants to consider background choices to reflect the organization’s values, as opposed to personal choice”.
Everything within the organization, nothing outside the organization, nothing against the organization
In Robert Frezza’s Cain’s Land, the local planetary government regime is opposed to the concept of an organized, mandated faith, on the grounds that to have such a concept thus allows the realization that, of course, one can have an absence of faith.
My only wish is to be a tiny cog in a giant soulless machine.
My Zoom backgrounds are generally high-res renders of levels from Assassin’s Creed games. No one’s noticed yet.
Oh so much to do to run a university, there needs to be a chancellor for academic operations, . . . a . . . ‘vice’ chancellor position is needed.
Some number of years back there was an SCA Abbey with an organizational leadership problem. They noted that while they did have someone holding the job of Abbot, just in case, they needed someone declared as a backup position for the Abbot, to step in quickly when needed without actually going to the entire process of selecting an entire new Abbot.
The one little problem they encountered was how to refer to the . . . . . Vice Abbot, Second Abbot, the Not Quite The Abbot?????
Happily, they did finally discover the most obvious title, the one that was right in front of them all the time, and the new position was thus known as The Costello.
On the other hand, this could finally be the “in” for clowns, bagpipers, mimes, Elvis impersonators, battle reenactors . . . . .
Ohhhhh, somehow I just don’t really think bagpipers are the least bit concerned about getting an in . . . .
I’m sure I could even photoshop a personal photo to create a group portrait of myself, Trump, Regan and Rush Limbaugh.
Ehn, you could do photoshop . . . or you could drop a line to this fellow.
What? How?
As so often, one gets the impression that these “minoritized social identities” can only exist in opposition to “normative social identities.” At least as conceived by the people mouthing the kind of bollocks quoted above.
I can’t afford to lose clients, so I caved. I’ve done a number of video conferences without my Trump/Pence 2020 coffee mug. It would trigger too many people.
…reinforces the idea that marriage is most fitting between opposite sexes.
It is. Establishing a formal and binding union between members of the opposite sex is the what marriage was invented for, whether one is discussing the Western Ozzy and Harriet ideal or some shithead Arab and his deranged wife selling their most eligible twelve year old to a highly respected cretin in order to improve their own social status.
Minoritized? that’s a new one on me.
Curiously, monetized would also work in this context.
Their jargon continues to metastasize.
Metastasized, too, for that matter.
Hal, lol.
I didn’t remember what SCA was until the very last word in your post.
Reminds me a bit of the 90s at Apple, when the business card of my counterpart there was “Font Weinie”, and the conference rooms were named after locations from “Rocky and Bullwinkle”. Frostbite Falls was the best, of course.
We see you, David! Knock off that gardening with your spouse!
Brits, what you call a “garden” is what we call a “yard.” Here the “garden” is that portion of the “yard” in which we grow veggies or flowers. What do you call that area?
Here the “garden” is that portion of the “yard” in which we grow veggies or flowers. What do you call that area?
We have a garden. It has a lawn, and shrubs, and flower beds. There are no vegetables. We buy those from a supermarket.
What you mean “we,” Kimosabe? Stop doing—uh—um—stop doing completely normal things with your spouse!
Fred, when Bullwinkle aired, I was too little to get most of the jokes. Now when I read about it, I’m sorry I missed it. My brother, 10 years older than me, never missed Bullwinkle if he could help it.
We have a garden. It has a lawn, and shrubs, and flower beds. There are no vegetables.
I too am curious: do you Brits have a word for that part of the garden that excludes the lawn?
“crowd out the experiences of people with minoritized social identities,”. Whoever wrote that should be taken out and summarily shot. Minoritized is not a word.
do you Brits have a word for that part of the garden that excludes the lawn?
Um, if paved, a patio?
We have three donkeys and my Zoom background is the two ginnies, stern to stern, so my head appears right between them.
I showed a former manager a picture of the jack and his reply was, “This is something you never want to hear at work but, that is a fine ass you have there.”
So if a Zoom attendee has a virtual background of their wedding day with their same-sex spouse does it unintentionally reinforce the idea that marriage is most fitting between the same sex? Have these brilliant professors stopped to think that perhaps, married people, whether married to the opposite sex or the same sex, simply love their spouse and want to share that joy with others?
I’d like to report Prof. Bonomi for microagressing against me. In her picture on the press release she is wearing a string of pearls. I have family members who have died in the exploitative pearl-diving and pearl-harvesting trade. In our house, we call them blood pearls. She must remove them. Same for the fine silver or white gold her jewelry uses to strong together the blood pearls for display on her open bosom. That silver didn’t harvest itself and she is responsible for the brutality to the earth and to the slaves who harvested it for her.
Further, she VERY clearly has dyed blonde hair. As I don’t have hair on my head, this is VERY triggering. She should be forced to account for her follicular privilege. Plus, you can see her roots, which clearly shows she is trying to disparage the older, wiser members of our community by demonstrating that she doesn’t want to look her age. She is flagrantly violating the sensitivities of the septuagenarian set.
Additionally, I am multiple-chemical-sensitive and the peroxide and dyes required to maintain her vanity are VERY toxic for the world around us. The mere thought of someone using such chemicals for the pursuit of her status-reinforcing blonde-bob, speaks to her sickening loyalty to her reinforcing her unearned privileged social and economic caste.
Finally, that she dare presume that she has something to teach me (or anyone else for that matter) indicates that she has no qualms about committing violence to the psyches of non-white, non-upper class, peoples of the world. Those of us who are non-white, are righteously tired of being told what we must consider by blonde-bob-wearing, pearly displaying crusty white bitties masquerading as
Of course, if you resent someone else’s wedding photo, that’s pretty good insight into why you might not have one of your own. Just saying.
Let’s see. I have a pretty good sized pic of my friends and i looking pretty roughed up at Ft. Benning, and as if we were loving it. I’ve got my father’s commissioning sword I could put above it. Got some other cutlery which could, with some thinking, balance the whole thing. Then a couple of pix from my lacrosse days. Got several wedding pix. Somewhere, i have a coffee mug with a US flag on it. Tee shirt with religious themes. And for not much money, I could have a banner made up for my desk saying, “Get Over Yourself Chump” Or a dozen other items of like meaning.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any vid conferencing coming up. Lucky for somebody.
“Get Over Yourself Chump”
That. In skywriting.
Can’t help but notice that, as always, women are leading these nonsensical complaints. Infact they always sound like a catty coffee clatch gone global.
As Sheldon Cooper would put it, “When I’m in charge, those people will be put to death.”
The Chinese word is Baizuo
. . . the expanded use of virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom and Skype has created “a ripe setting for unconscious bias.”
Come to think of it, I did take part in a video conference the other day.
I have a testbed laptop called Venamis which I use for such occasions, where the best results are achieved by parking it on a nearby stool and peering down towards it as the meeting progresses.
Thus, as I took part in the meeting, everyone in the meeting had a perfectly lovely view of my rather more blank than not ceiling.
Infact they always sound like a catty coffee clatch gone global.
So, Really, Really Bored.
Ot, but anyway,
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/16/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-moving-leaving.html
nyt story about where new Yorkers fled at the start of the lockdown period. Ok, but their map was generated from 56000 mail forwarding requests.
Wth? Mail forwarding requests are public? Talk about a security risk!
But of course. The frontier of indignation must forever expand.
I’ll quite grant being entirely fictional, but there is still my current favorite for pulling an entire project development out of barely assembled notes . . .
Did I hear someone mention Vice?
In wholy unrelated news, Vice Media Group has announced the layoff of 150 employees.
I have heard of shame-based cultures. I have never heard of an offense-based culture. Is there anyone on here with an anthropological background, who can identify any other period in the history of any people group, in which taking offense is the highest form of social status?
Some commentators have been speculating that one of the few benefits of the recent emergency is going to be the death of modern academia.
David will have to find new pastures to graze.