You Will Practise Not Noticing
Further to recent rumblings in the comments, the Globe and Mail’s Phoebe Maltz Bovy offers what I believe is called a hot take:
Most will be familiar with the following scenario: a young girl, a teen or tween, gets in trouble with her school’s administration for a dress-code violation. Her supposed crime against decency: looking provocative. It will turn out that the girl was wearing some normal teenager outfit, jeans and a T-shirt or something equally boring, but had the audacity to attend school in a body with breasts, hips and a post-pubescent-looking behind… She is not choosing to draw attention to herself simply by existing. It’s the fault of the adults around her for sexualising her.
Given what follows, do keep that last line in mind.
But in a twist to the typical narrative, this time around, a high-school teacher in Oakville, Ont., made headlines for her curvaceous classroom presence.
That would be this chap’s curvaceous classroom presence.
“The conservative press and right-wing social media” are then mentioned, complete with implied hissing, on grounds that those irredeemable right-wingers have noticed something untoward:
Conflating LGBT identity with inappropriateness or, as in conservative parlance, “grooming,” is bigoted and cruel, as well as simply a category error… Is it fair to say that a transgender teacher really chose to have large breasts, any more than that a young cisgender girl chose her own physique? Are those who balk at the Oakville teacher engaged in body shaming?
At which point, one might suppose that a male teacher arriving for work in a fire-sale wig, Lycra cycling shorts, and enormous rubber fetish breasts, complete with prominent rubber nipples, and doing it every day, is just like a pubescent girl wearing “jeans and a T-shirt.” Perhaps we’re supposed to pretend that a middle-aged man’s farcical transvestism and autogynephile fetish – and his decision to impose these things on the children in his class, day after day – is in no way sexual or deliberately distracting. Presumably, any sexual connotations or air of inaptness are entirely the fault of the children and their body-shaming tendencies.
Perhaps sensing that this might be straining credulity a little too much, Ms Bovy suddenly alters her rhetorical trajectory:
Gender identity is not a choice. However, showing up to teach in cartoonish fake breasts is one. It’s a choice to wear what is effectively a fetish outfit while teaching, in a way that is visible to all.
This flickering of realism is, however, unfashionable, and therefore short-lived.
Now, is it traumatising to high school students to have a teacher who looks the way she does? I suspect not.
Two thoughts occur. Firstly, he is not a she. The teacher in question is a forty-something man with a mental health problem, and children should not be coerced to pretend otherwise. Secondly, using the word traumatising to mock or dismiss the children’s feelings on the subject is a sly evasion, a deflection by hyperbole. It seems more likely that some pupils will find the educator’s behaviour distracting, uncomfortable or obnoxiously gratuitous. A piss-take or shit-test at their expense.
Female students, for instance, may not feel entirely affirmed by a grotesque parody of their sex being enacted daily by a supposedly grown man, to whom they are expected to defer. Some may see such behaviour as an imposition, a provocation, a wilful overstepping of boundaries. Which of course it is. Whether the motive is lawsuit-trolling – “I’m an oppressed sexual minority, I dare you to fire me” – or just an unhinged narcissistic compulsion. Neither of which bode well for any involuntary participants.
But it turns out that the schoolchildren – the minors on whom this sexual pantomime is being inflicted – aren’t the ones deserving of our concern:
No, the people this story will harm most – as it already has, after being picked up by the right and used to attack communities more broadly – are the many LGBT teachers who are trying to go about their lives
You see, by daring to register this man’s absurd self-indulgence and pondering his motives, by questioning his fitness to teach children, you’re actually “bigoted” and “cruel,” and “attacking… LGBT teachers.” What, you didn’t know? How unsophisticated you must be. And hey, no conflating there. Oddly, Ms Bovy has nothing to say regarding the numerous gay people who have also questioned the liberties being extended to our cosplay educator.
But it seems that no lines must ever be drawn, no judgements made.
It feels like the progressive thing to do is to support this teacher’s right to self-present in the classroom as she does, or at least to honour her side in the matter
The progressive thing to do.
And so, children who aren’t overjoyed about their forced proximity to a mentally ill man in a position of authority over them will just have to learn their place in the new, progressive pecking order. And ditto any parents who aren’t thrilled by their child having to participate in a bedlamite’s psychodrama, and who find themselves faced with the school district’s my-fetish-in-your-face policy. But as we’ve noted before, if you mouth the first lie – that he is somehow she – then other lies and mental tangles will rapidly accumulate. Best, I think, not to give away the store in the first place.
The teacher in question is a forty-something man with a mental health problem
Or, he is a deliberate agent provocateur advancing the Left’s ongoing “pretend with us, or else” campaign.
Firstly, he is not a she. The teacher in question is a forty-something man with a mental health problem, and children should not be coerced to pretend otherwise.
That.
Using ‘she’ and ‘her’ = gaslighting the kids who have to put up with this crap.
Female students, for instance, may not feel entirely affirmed by a grotesque parody of their sex being enacted daily by a supposedly grown man, to whom they are expected to defer.
So. Much. That.
As a photographer who has created images of a sensual nature, I have had to and still have to place small black bars over a woman’s bare nipples in order to post them on Instagram to conform to its policy. Only bare nipples, mind you – the “peek-a-boo” look through fabric is quite kosher, as are bare buttocks.
Seems almost . . . quaint.
That.
So. Much. That.
We seem to have entered a phase of cultural decline in which almost anything is excusable, given sufficient squinting and contrivance, and nothing can be admitted as being pathological.
Alice: ’Using ‘she’ and ‘her’ = gaslighting the kids who have to put up with this crap.’
Just doing what the MSM has been doing for some while now. When will it no longer raise eyebrows to read the phrase ‘she exposed her penis to..’ I wonder?
I found the article rather interesting. It’s clear that the writer is extremely uncomfortable with Big Boobs Betty, or whatever name the teacher goes by, but can’t bring herself to admit that, because that wouldn’t be Progressive. So she deflects: BBB is unwise because her* behaviour could harm the LBGT+++ ‘community’. It shows the contortions that left-wingers have to go through to avoid making judgements that might arouse the ire of their confrères, consoeurs and connonbinaries.
*I’m channelling Phoebe Maltz Bovy here.
Everything is so dumb that I can’t even feel outraged about it. I think you have to feel some kind of shared humanity to have a deep emotional reaction, but at this point I might as well be watching a documentary about chimpanzees. I feel no commonality with these people at all.
So she deflects
Given the number of gay people who’ve also voiced their reservations about such displays – with some being purged from ‘progressive’ social media as a result – it’s not an entirely convincing deflection. The objections those gay people have voiced, or tried to voice, aren’t just regarding the somewhat surreal individual teachers, but also the institutional deference to their fantasies. The expectation of complicity.
And were I a parent, I doubt I’d appreciate my child coming home from school thinking that a pantomime outfit and a personality disorder actually transforms a man into a woman. I don’t think I’d appreciate my child being pressured, by teachers, to lie.
Conflating LGBT identity with inappropriateness or, as in conservative parlance, “grooming,” is bigoted and cruel,
SHE’S the one conflating them.
The Greeks were right. The difference between tragedy and comedy is just a choice of masks.
SHE’S the one conflating them.
Well, yes. Presumably, we aren’t supposed to notice a difference – any difference at all – between teachers who just happen to be gay and get on with the job, and the strange and needy creatures who’ve been featured here over the years.
As I said, mental tangles.
Given the number of gay people who’ve also voiced their reservations about such displays…
Which should remind us that “queer” is not a synonym for “gay” and “lesbian”. When activists talk about “queering the culture” (including the schools) they are talking about making normal every kink and perversion you can think of–not to mention the ones you cannot think of because you are not deranged. Not just making “normal” but making criticism or even mere dislike a crime.
Seems almost . . . quaint.
Speaking of contortions, there’s a scene in the Melissa McCarthy movie “Spy” in which the agents are going through a dead enemy spy’s camera and come across a selfie of his dick pic. For a second you see on the big screen an erect penis and the reaction of the (mostly) women agents.
Despite it intending to be a real honest-to-god (if large) penis, they convinced the censorship board to let it through because they used a dildo in a cameo role.
Indeed no lines may be drawn or standards enforced in our brave new world. It brings to mind when Trump was railing about mexican gangs and called them “animals” in reference to them killing witnesses etc. Pelosi defended the gangs as not being animals. FFS. One may not defend children or female privacy or modesty or or or anything. As soon as you decide that criminals are caused by racism (ie are victims), you may not judge criminal behavior either. It is all mush.
Very well said, Mr. Thompson. And thank you for sharing that Reduxx.info website. It’s an eye-opener.
The left’s insistence that the trans movement is perfectly normal and as warm and cuddly as a basketful of puppies just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny of any kind.
You simply can not wish away the consequences of indulging serious mental illness like this, as Reduxx documents over and over again. Progressives like Maltz Bovy have their heads up their asses.
Heavens, a button. I wonder what it does.
I found out what it does. For your trouble, barkeep. 🙂
I found out what it does. For your trouble, barkeep. 🙂
Bless you, sir. May your enemies have two domestic appliance failures on the same day.
I’m old enough to remember when a teacher who had a mental illness would be placed on disability and the reason kept from the students so as not to unduly disturb them.
Speaking of contortions
Japan: Hold my sake. You can buy pr0n of women f*cking a dog at street vendors, but they’ll pixelate the genitalia.
japan: they’ll pixelate the genitalia–hahaha this was put into japanese law by occupying US after the war. Still on the books (sort of).
thinking that a pantomime outfit and a personality disorder actually transforms a man into a woman.
That’s good. I’m stealing that.
Caligula is laughing in Hell.
And were I a parent, I doubt I’d appreciate my child coming home from school thinking that a pantomime outfit and a personality disorder actually transforms a man into a woman. I don’t think I’d appreciate my child being pressured, by teachers, to lie.
That.
Unfortunately, in Canada, it’s the law (Bill C-16*, which added “disparaging a person based on their gender identity” to the Criminal Code). The school board can do nothing to restrain this bedlamite without exposing themselves to huge fines and criminal charges. And so, it falls to the parents to “do something”. If they can afford it, they’ll move their kids to a private school, possibly religious. If they can’t, maybe homeschool. If neither alternative works for them, tough luck, because in the current zeitgeist they will be hounded into bankruptcy and reputational destruction by the state if they complain or sue, so they have to have a strong stomach and deep pockets to fight the man.
* Jordan Peterson first came to public notoriety in 2017 warning about the follow-on effects of this legislation. He was mocked for his concerns with the usual “slippery slope fallacy” counterarguments. If anything, he didn’t go far enough: the slope was lubed with 1000 barrels of K-Y Jelly, by our own government.
May your enemies have two domestic appliance failures on the same day.
David, given that your blessings tend to draw on your household’s varied afflictions – which two failed?
given that your blessings tend to draw on your household’s varied afflictions – which two failed?
There is, occasionally, some embellishment. Though maybe not as much as I’d like.
In a thread about the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance yesterday, I had occasion to quote the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in the 1943 case overturning state requirements for students to recite the pledge. I think it’s relevant here.
Justice Jackson: “no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. ”
(Also, be amused because that 1943 ruling overturned a 1940 ruling stating the opposite. Yeah, SCOTUS!)
https://pjmedia.com/columns/athena-thorne/2022/09/20/stop-degrading-women-with-transgender-caricatures-of-who-we-are-n1630768
Not to be confused with the homonym “pixilated” which means “led by pixies”, aka eccentric or loony.
The gaslighting will continue until people, lots of people, the kind who prefer not to speak up, begin speaking up loudly and forcefully. It cannot fall on the usual parties alone. People need to stop being pussies in the face of clear, obvious bullshit. Then maybe, just maaaaybe it will stop and the tide will turn. But nothing will happen until the majority, or even especially a brow-beaten rational minority begins to fight back. Much like the videos seen recently coming out of Iran where people are standing up physically and often violently against brutal oppression. This situation doesn’t even require that level of commitment. Just a firm resolve to not take their shit anymore.
Right, I’m heading out for a couple of hours. Play nicely. Use coasters.
PA GOT TITS CAUGHT IN T’MANGLE!
Sorry, had to.
” This situation doesn’t even require that level of commitment”
Not to belittle the fact that commitment is required but as the Gibson’s bakery saga shows, it can take a very steep toll – even with a lot of vocal and financial support. 5 plus years of hell, harassments, and diminished survival – and still no acknowledgement from Oberlin College that they ever did anything wrong. Completely unrepentant and willing to engage in more of the same at some later date.
For the Iranian example, you’re right in the sense that we won’t get beaten by the Morality Police but like WTP pointed out, Bill-C16 is the law. Imprisonment is a real possibility with the personal economic ruin that it entails.
Play nicely. Use coasters.
Y’know, these coasters are almost large enough for Mr Hanna to use them as pasties on his enormous rubber boobs.
“Is it fair to say that a transgender teacher really chose to have large breasts”
Not just fair, but objectively, demonstrably, factual. Hell, give a couple of coppers a warrant and they could probably show you the receipt.
“… at this point I might as well be watching a documentary about chimpanzees. I feel no commonality with these people at all.”
It ain’t easy, is it?
“Unfortunately, in Canada, it’s the law (Bill C-16*, which added “disparaging a person based on their gender identity” to the Criminal Code). The school board can do nothing to restrain this bedlamite without exposing themselves to huge fines and criminal charges.”
I said it about the swimmer bloke: I genuinely wonder if some of these people are deliberately exposing the absurdity of this bullshit.
but as the Gibson’s bakery saga shows, it can take a very steep toll – even with a lot of vocal and financial support. 5 plus years of hell, harassments, and diminished survival – and still no acknowledgement from Oberlin College that they ever did anything wrong
I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that New York has filed yet another lawsuit against Trump, his kids, and his companies.
You know how we always ask something like “what’s it going to take?” when things like this occur, and we all view the proceedings with shaking heads? Some loony is showing up in giant rubber tits to -teach- shop class, and the school board all sitting there “Sorry, it isn’t up to us.”
They couldn’t come up with some kind of fire-safety BS to hustle him off to the doctor for some much needed medical intervention? I’m deadly sure if a non-teacher had shown up looking like that they’d have found a way.
Apparently, when you get right down to it, there is no line. They can do ANYTHING.
It seems more likely that some pupils will find the educator’s behaviour distracting, uncomfortable or obnoxiously gratuitous. A piss-take or shit-test at their expense.
The students aren’t stupid – they know the score:
The boys have had it drilled in to them by teachers if not also by parents to not “objectify” women, and then this guy comes in with his gigantic rubber boobs and nipples and dares them to notice. As LadyTheo I think it was said in the Ephemera comments – a real woman with breasts and nipples that big would not be allowed to dress like that in a professional setting.
As LadyTheo I think it was said in the Ephemera comments – a real woman with breasts and nipples that big would not be allowed to dress like that in a professional setting.
Unless that profession happened to be stripping. Although, the teacher is too young to be channeling Chesty Morgan–a legend amongst us teenage boys during the 70s.
they will be hounded into bankruptcy and reputational destruction by the state
Some years ago an economist ran through the publicly available data and determined that slightly over 50% of the voters in the province of Ontario received some or all of their income from some level of government.
That’s the Tytler tipping point. That’s endgame. No rational actor will ever vote for less money.
the teacher is too young to be channeling Chesty Morgan
Not to be confused with the other 1970’s ever popular (with baseball players anyway) Morganna, the Kissing Bandit.
—
To further my point above, though not exactly directly, and to my comment on the last thread on the next episode of F*** You Traitor Bastards, I just finished a 45 minute phone interview with the contracting company’s VP. I was exceptionally clear that I do not, will not, even can not participate in any wokeisms in the work place. Within the decorum of professionalism, I spoke of pretty much everything that a interview “advice” would be advise not to mention at all. All in the context, of course, that I would not be bringing such things up except that past experience has had employers force political and similar subjects onto me without justification. I asked explicitly if either company supported Black Lives Matter or any other anti-American type organization. I even indicated that as I have been out of the workforce since Covid, I have been quite picky in these regards. I also indicted that I would not be put through the current fad of being asked finely detailed technical questions. Yes, I know the difference between an inner and an outer join. One is a union, the other an intersection. Which is which is BS I can easily look up when appropriate. The VP sounded very satisfied, copasetic, and somewhat sympathetic with every thing I said and gave every, even enthusiastic indication that he would be forwarding my resume to XYZ Big Defense Contractor That Everyone Has Heard Of.
—
That said…low and behold, after fighting for about two years now with a previous employer regarding Covid/COBRA money that I was owed, after said company gave every indication they would help me recover those funds from one of their subcontractors/agencies/whatever, who then ghosted me for about a year now, big check come in mail. Some of which I share with Big Chief of Evil Guild to purchase cheap firewater with which to quiet uppity henchlesbians. Ping coming shortly. Watch for smoke signal…
—
BTW, post preview buttons fall off bottom of browser again. Will now chance posting without preview. Pray Sky Spirit this work without spilling whatever native Americans call italics.
…
Sigh…I had a link to wonderful vintage video of Morganna that got lost when I had to copy/paste due to earlier Preview failure. Well, supplied here as well…chancing again without the benefit of preview. This clip being from the 1980’s which was long after the 1970s … and long after Skylab and its solar panels fell from the…uh…sky.
Ping coming shortly. Watch for smoke signal…
Bless you, sir. May your savings not be invested in funeral confetti.
I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that New York has filed yet another lawsuit against Trump, his kids, and his companies.
“Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.”
–Lavrenty Beria
BTW, post preview buttons fall off bottom of browser again.
Dang. Me, too.
Apologies for the tit-illating image David. I thought those babies were covered with the negligee.
I mean, REALLY, Steve? I’m literally fainting over here…
101 Syndrome: http://assistantvillageidiot.blogspot.com/2022/09/101-syndrome.html?m=1
I’m literally fainting over here…
Luckily you’re seated in the right section near the fainting couches.
Enjoy a “tonic” to help recover and put it on my tab. Don’t accept anything fuzzy.
Today’s my birthday ?.
Thank you, bartender, for the free…hm. What is this stuff? Water? I’ve never seen water glow like that. Well, anyway, thanks for observing the occasion.
Today’s my birthday
[ Passes paper hat, novelty boobs. ]
“The kids here most definitely don’t think it’s normal… but realistically we can’t say anything,” one student said on Twitter, “Last year, the teacher was a man. I don’t think the school can fire him.”
A perverse power game, then, in which the captive audience – of other people’s children – aren’t entirely happy, but find their options limited, indeed seemingly non-existent. At which point, you have to wonder what kind of person might enjoy such a thing and search it out.
Oddly, Ms Bovy has nothing to say regarding the numerous gay people who have also questioned the liberties being extended to our cosplay educator.
*Those* gay people don’t count. 🙂
*Those* gay people don’t count.
Well, it’s a common pattern. Self-styled ‘progressives’ tend to be equate their pet victim groups with the more deranged outliers, the psychologically marginal, to whom they generally give priority. Their interest in, say, gay people who aren’t enthusiastic about peddling strap-on fantasies to middle-school children, or pitching the awesomeness of whoring to eleven-year-olds, and who may actually find such behaviour creepy and obnoxious, seems somewhat limited.
“*Those* gay people don’t count.”
The shunning of heretics proceeds apace.
paypal: there are still many who claim that this censorship stuff is all right wing whining and isn’t real.
Well, it’s a common pattern.
That. Everything at that link.
That. Everything at that link.
Once you’ve noticed the dynamic, the basic moral contrivance, it does seem to crop up an awful lot.
You wrote that in 2014, but it strikes me that with a change of players, it could have been from any time in the last 150 years or so. Orwell wrote about the same phenomenon, as did Chesterton. W.S. Gilbert lampooned it in verse.
They call themselves “progressive”.
You wrote that in 2014,
[ Applies moisturiser. ]
Browsing that link back to the dangerous silliness of George Monbiot, I ran across this from David:
“it’s rather like Laurie’s [Penny, of course] ostentatious fretting over how to mention a rude lesbian waitress without leading us to believe that all lesbian waitresses are surly and obnoxious.”
and I was reminded of the current teapot-tempest in San Francisco regarding the SF Bike Coalition’s admonition to NOT report bicycle thefts to the PoPo. They explicitly say this advice is because the PoPo might be mean to some POC. Which would be bad.
The Coalition probably believes that they are being clever by omitting the middle of their argument, namely: Since most such thefts are committed by POC, then …
Oh, who am I kidding. I’m positive their self-indoctrination is so thorough that they can skip over that line, come to their preferred conclusion, and NEVER REALIZE what they are implying.
Fred: like the person who compared sending illegals to Martha’s Vineyard to dumping your trash in someone else’s yard. And then offended when people noticed the analogy.
“Fake tranny privilege.”
that link back to the dangerous silliness of George Monbiot
The theory that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged has been tested and found not to be true. Being mugged isn’t a a wake-up call, it’s a woke-up call. The Amy Biehl Medal of Honor – many are called, and quite a few are chosen.
The script is familiar by now: a shocking reminder that we have a long way to go to create a safe and just society for everyone … both the mugger and I enmeshed in a system of oppression … as a privileged white my losses are easier to recover from … had to confront my own feelings of vulnerability, my gut reaction to flinch when a minoritized man passes me on the street … the real danger is that such fear turns into Fear, which then turns into Hate.
They preach utopian delusions but they also believe they have the copyright on complexity. So when their simple-minded delusion is inevitably broken, they accuse conservatives of simple-mindedness, of seizing and exploiting a complex issue.
The theory that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged has been tested and found not to be true
One of the biggest problems modern society has is the inability of everyday people to understand basic reasoning.
(A => B) =/> (B => A)
The real absurdity of the SF Bike coalition’s stance is that they seem to think the SFPD is going to respond in a substantive way to a bike theft report. That they will Saddle Up, Roll Out, and Take Down some hapless POC. Over a Missing Bike. Uh-huh. Pull the other one.
This is the same PD that, when confronted by reports like this:
[paraphrasing from memory] “Yeah, sure, I commute from Oakland to SF to break into cars. Been doing it for years. I been arrested. Twelve times. But I’m still doing it.”
responded, in print: “Yup. We want those bad guys to know, if they come to SF, we know how to handle them.”
And that was before, YEARS before, Chesa Boudin got into office there.
Heh. What Fred said. Don’t you get tired of the incessant LARPing that these lefty douche bags and even main stream and even some conservative…”conservative” douche bags are playing as if we live in some fascist society, all the while that they engage in shutting down free speech and turning a blind eye to the abuse and even murder of those who even passively oppose them? And yet it rolls on and on and on and on. Clown world. Except when I was a kid, the clowns were at least trying to be funny.
Do not click this link: A “prosthetic” to enable trans women to “experience and celebrate the miracle of childbirth”.
Play Star Wars Bingo.
Perhaps the theory should have been A liberal who has been mugged and survived will probably become conservative. to have more women to join the company as engineers, I asked when the similar push to do to have more males join the company as engineers would happen. I wasn’t surprised at the, as it so happens, female VP’s response. I doubt any of you would be surprised as well.
Recently, when one of our VPs pushed how much we need to do
I was disappointed at the chickenshit males who emailed me with their words of support. None of those assholes had done any push back whatsoever, but were willing to be behind a meatshield (like me).
I hope those idiots were in sales or HR. They were too stupid to realize that using the company email server to send me their support would be painting themselves with whatever mark of death I got from my comment. Or they thought that I wouldn’t think they were similar to FBI informants in the local KKK group that consisted of other FBI informants that try to rope in idiots.
This post might provide @WTP some amusement. Or validation.
I ask our gracious host to remove my previous post that looks suspiciously very similar to this one. Alas, I am used to using meta-variables delineated by < and > and missed the fact that such things would not render in the preview. I assume I will get several marks of shame for this.
Perhaps the theory should have been A liberal who has been mugged and survived will probably become conservative.
Recently, when one of our VPs pushed how much we need to do X to have more women to join the company as engineers, I asked when the similar push to do X to have more males join the company as engineers would happen. I wasn’t surprised at the, as it so happens, female VP’s response. I doubt any of you would be surprised as well.
I was disappointed at the chickenshit males who emailed me with their words of support. None of those assholes had done any push back whatsoever, but were willing to be behind a meatshield (like me).
I hope those idiots were in sales or HR. They were too stupid to realize that using the company email server to send me their support would be painting themselves with whatever mark of death I got from my comment. Or they thought that I wouldn’t think they were similar to FBI informants in the local KKK group that consisted of other FBI informants that try to rope in idiots.
This post might provide @WTP some amusement. Or validation.
I was disappointed at the chickenshit males who emailed me with their words of support.
Bless you for speaking up. The time I got “kept after” my almost-Jane Elliott level diversity training class my boss, my conservative…”conservative” naive boss with whom I still do lunch about once a year or so, sent out an email to a group of somewhat sympathetic coworkers asking what I could have possibly done to warrant such a response. The were a couple of people who indicated nothing that they noticed. What had prompted it was partly my being one of the taller people in the room along with one of the few people willing to raise my hand when asked the direct question as to whether we felt we were being held hostage. That and my eye rolling at the absurdities of being scholled on things that never happened. I had this crazy idea that this might prompt him to raise the issue with higher ups. Perhaps he did. Either way, nothing came of it. I continued to push back both there and at other companies whenever it was bloody obvious things were whacked.
On a non-diversity but similar situation, at one time….well for a couple years ongoing actually, we were being pushed 50-60 hour weeks on end, and some people were even doing more. At a big team meeting (probably 150 people total from both locations) management addressed several issues yet danced around the bloody obvious semi-technical one that was most concerning for a significant subset of the development team. Afterward a couple of the women developers thanked me for speaking up. I sensed the men agreed as we continue to bitch about the same and similar problems at lunch and in subteam meetings. It, and the project in general, improved considerably when they replaced our milquetoast project manager with a retired army colonel a few months later.
I’ve known a few liberals who have been mugged. They did not become conservatives.