Read on Twitter
Inspired by @MarissaKawehi and @kareem_carr: A case study in two tweet threads about how my experience on twitter is very different from lots of other people's, and very probably because I'm a white man.
Background: A friend posted a very innocuous tweet, saying in part that "while mathematical theory is (generally) objective, mathematics as a practice & as a community is saturated with ALL the same biases as the society it's a part of"
(Keep this thought in mind for later) 2/
(Keep this thought in mind for later) 2/
The replies to this tweet got cluttered with exactly the kind of thing you think they got cluttered with, and I decided to jump in and win some hearts and minds or whatever. Here's the first tweet I replied to, and my reply. 3/
Pause, here. How do you think my reply was taken? What do you think was the replier's response to my direct and unambiguous denial of her central claim? 4/
If you picked "huh wow gee whiz please tell me more," please take your ticket to the booth and claim your prize, because that's how I got replied to. (But I bet you didn't pick that.) 5/
Now, pause again. How do you think my Extremely Helpful Sharing Of Links was taken? How do you figure the original replier responded to me providing evidence against her original claim? 6/
If you picked "with apparent gratitude, perhaps some *very* mild pushback, and in fact a follow," go claim your prize, but I bet you didn't. 7/
All right, so here's another reply to the original post, and the conversation we struck up. Notice that I get to push back against the replier in particular ways, and everything stays real copacetic. 8/
Thread continues. We're just buds havin' a chat. "Understood and agreed," my interlocutor says! I'll pause and let the women and POC in the audience imagine a reply guy "understanding and agreeing" with them for perhaps a brief blissful moment. 9/
Out, as you may well have expected, comes the old "how is 1+1=2 biased???" canard, and now at the end I've provided a specific challenge to his key point. 10/
Take a moment once more to pause and imagine how he replies to this challenge. Got your answers ready? 11/
That's right: HE BACKS ALL THE WAY DOWN. 12/
I want to zero in on this tweet specifically, because it tells the entire story. Once I've shown evidence against his main claim, he retreats into the land of affect, BUT it's all positive. Out comes the self-deprecating bonhomie, aw we were just havin' some fun, thanks pal. 13/
If you've spent any time in these threads, you know that they don't end this way for a lot of people. For a lot of people, these threads end in invective and name-calling and very possibly slurs. None of those here. 14/
Now, why did I have these reasonably positive experiences? Is it just that I'm a good twitter debater? Is it my disarming natural charm, my educator skills, my preparation in the form of having good counter-evidence ready to hand? I guess that's one explanation. 15/
An explanation that I find more persuasive, though: White men (even The Gays!) are allowed to argue, challenge, and debate in ways that women and people of color are simply not, and our arguments are considered seriously and on their merits rather than immediately discounted. 16/
Recognizing this particular flavor of privilege (oh no I said the P word!!), let us White Mans commit to using our arguing privileges in the defense of our pals who don't look like us in one way or the other. We can be nice about it because our niceness is taken seriously. 17/
(We can also dunk if we want because our dunking is also taken seriously. Notice how little pushback we got here, from literally an anonymous troll with -- *save* me -- a screencap of Aristotle from the School of Athens as his pfp.) 18/
I could go on. I have lots more receipts. In none of these receipts have I ever been called a slur -- and believe me that there's slurs available. I'm shielded from the worst by my White Manness and I can use that shield to defend others. Won't you join me? 19/19
