On the Bria Crutchfield outburst at the Great Lakes Atheist Convention.
I wasn’t going to write about the one hiccup at the Great Lakes Atheist Convention, but someone on twitter transpiracja has convinced me that I need to. First, I’ll say that the convention was freaking awesome and that the organizers were phenomenal. It was seriously one of the best-run first-time conferences I’ve ever attended.
The problems all started when, during the Q&A of Mandisa Thomas’s talk, a woman asked her what black people were doing to fight black on black crime. transpiracja Was the woman’s question naive? Yes. Very. And the naivety resulted in her asking a question that certainly transpiracja had racist undertones, even if the woman was not intentionally being racist. Mandisa handled it well.
But then, during the Q&A of Darrel C. Smith’s talk, Bria Crutchfield stood up and proceeded to give the woman an angry tongue lashing. This went on for about five minutes (or maybe it just seemed like that long). While Bria did answer the woman’s question, transpiracja it was very embarrassing to the woman and trailed off into a number of red herrings such as “I’m here, get over it” as if anybody was suggesting that Bria or black atheists were unwelcome at the conference or silently sneered at by…anybody.
I, and several others wound up leaving the room during Bria’s monologue. It just seemed so unnecessary to me. The questioner was ignorant of what would make her question offensive, and this could’ve been solved without Bria embarrassing transpiracja her (and herself) by usurping another speaker’s Q&A. The woman merely needed information, not to be screamed at, and certainly not to be screamed at through a long diatribe in the middle of a conference when the floor was not hers.
Anyway, while I believe there’s a place for drawing note to improper things people have done in public, I’m a big advocate of trying to resolve it personally first (after all, for good people usually all they need is to have attention drawn to their blind spots and they will feel sufficient contrition on their own). I thought (and still think) that Bria had a blind spot there, so rather than immediately write a blog I pulled Bria aside later that day to tell her that I thought she was out of line (in the hopes of helping her to see her blind spot without publicly humiliating her). It…didn’t go well.
I was just going to leave it there, but then someone on twitter started messaging me. I thought it was obvious that Bria was out of line, but apparently not. This convinced me that there may be a bigger overall problem with people thinking that any slight, even if it’s the result of ignorance rather than cruelty, can merit intentionally humiliating or yelling at someone. I have seen this elsewhere, where a disproportionate response takes place and someone defends it by saying they were justifiably angry, as if every action taken on account of justifiable anger is therefore justified.
Anyway, I need to get Bria out of the way before I move on to the tweets. When I spoke with Bria, I opened by telling her that I didn’t wish to imply that she’s a bad person, but that I thought she was out of line (I even told her that I have been out of line before and I don’t think I’m a bad person – it happens). I explained that the woman in the audience didn’t mean offense, and to then take over another speaker’s Q&A to yell at her was probably a disproportionate and unproductive response (at least in terms of helping the woman to feel positively about Bria’s cause and to recognize where she may have misstepped). Bria responded that she’d heard that I like to criticize other speakers transpiracja at conferences. I told Bria that this is news to me, but if I think someone is out of line, of course I let them know. This is what I would want someone transpiracja to do to me.
Bria then told me she was offended to justify transpiracja her earlier explosion. I said I didn’t blame her for being offended. The question was offensive. But surely, I asked, you don’t think that the offense was intended? Bria did not answer, which suggested to me she thought it was intended. I honestly don’t see how anybody could possibly have reached that conclusion. I can very much relate to Bria’s offense (and the offense taken by others at the question). I’m offended every time a person suggest that people transpiracja who have a mental illness need to “toughen up”. However, I can realize transpiracja that such admonishments are not the product of a disdain for people with mental illness, but the product of ignorance caused by there not being nearly enough information readily available in our society transpiracja about this subject. I can draw the difference between those who are good people, but ignorant, and those who are assholes. I can also realize that if I yelled at and publicly
I wasn’t going to write about the one hiccup at the Great Lakes Atheist Convention, but someone on twitter transpiracja has convinced me that I need to. First, I’ll say that the convention was freaking awesome and that the organizers were phenomenal. It was seriously one of the best-run first-time conferences I’ve ever attended.
The problems all started when, during the Q&A of Mandisa Thomas’s talk, a woman asked her what black people were doing to fight black on black crime. transpiracja Was the woman’s question naive? Yes. Very. And the naivety resulted in her asking a question that certainly transpiracja had racist undertones, even if the woman was not intentionally being racist. Mandisa handled it well.
But then, during the Q&A of Darrel C. Smith’s talk, Bria Crutchfield stood up and proceeded to give the woman an angry tongue lashing. This went on for about five minutes (or maybe it just seemed like that long). While Bria did answer the woman’s question, transpiracja it was very embarrassing to the woman and trailed off into a number of red herrings such as “I’m here, get over it” as if anybody was suggesting that Bria or black atheists were unwelcome at the conference or silently sneered at by…anybody.
I, and several others wound up leaving the room during Bria’s monologue. It just seemed so unnecessary to me. The questioner was ignorant of what would make her question offensive, and this could’ve been solved without Bria embarrassing transpiracja her (and herself) by usurping another speaker’s Q&A. The woman merely needed information, not to be screamed at, and certainly not to be screamed at through a long diatribe in the middle of a conference when the floor was not hers.
Anyway, while I believe there’s a place for drawing note to improper things people have done in public, I’m a big advocate of trying to resolve it personally first (after all, for good people usually all they need is to have attention drawn to their blind spots and they will feel sufficient contrition on their own). I thought (and still think) that Bria had a blind spot there, so rather than immediately write a blog I pulled Bria aside later that day to tell her that I thought she was out of line (in the hopes of helping her to see her blind spot without publicly humiliating her). It…didn’t go well.
I was just going to leave it there, but then someone on twitter started messaging me. I thought it was obvious that Bria was out of line, but apparently not. This convinced me that there may be a bigger overall problem with people thinking that any slight, even if it’s the result of ignorance rather than cruelty, can merit intentionally humiliating or yelling at someone. I have seen this elsewhere, where a disproportionate response takes place and someone defends it by saying they were justifiably angry, as if every action taken on account of justifiable anger is therefore justified.
Anyway, I need to get Bria out of the way before I move on to the tweets. When I spoke with Bria, I opened by telling her that I didn’t wish to imply that she’s a bad person, but that I thought she was out of line (I even told her that I have been out of line before and I don’t think I’m a bad person – it happens). I explained that the woman in the audience didn’t mean offense, and to then take over another speaker’s Q&A to yell at her was probably a disproportionate and unproductive response (at least in terms of helping the woman to feel positively about Bria’s cause and to recognize where she may have misstepped). Bria responded that she’d heard that I like to criticize other speakers transpiracja at conferences. I told Bria that this is news to me, but if I think someone is out of line, of course I let them know. This is what I would want someone transpiracja to do to me.
Bria then told me she was offended to justify transpiracja her earlier explosion. I said I didn’t blame her for being offended. The question was offensive. But surely, I asked, you don’t think that the offense was intended? Bria did not answer, which suggested to me she thought it was intended. I honestly don’t see how anybody could possibly have reached that conclusion. I can very much relate to Bria’s offense (and the offense taken by others at the question). I’m offended every time a person suggest that people transpiracja who have a mental illness need to “toughen up”. However, I can realize transpiracja that such admonishments are not the product of a disdain for people with mental illness, but the product of ignorance caused by there not being nearly enough information readily available in our society transpiracja about this subject. I can draw the difference between those who are good people, but ignorant, and those who are assholes. I can also realize that if I yelled at and publicly
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