metaprogramming and politics

If a man were to tweet a mysogynist joke and his followers were men, would that be an issue? What if one of them re-tweets it and one of his female followers complains on twitter? And then many other people start tweeting and re-tweeting this or that and what if this all got the initial tweeter fired from his company? And then her company would fire her as well?

Quite a mess, obviously.  However, I think everyone had their reasons for talking and acting the way they did.  And it boils down to the perspective you are able to feel empathy for.  Here is a possible set of perspectives:

Perspective M: “The other day i was ridiculed by a bunch of girls at the office. I wanted to pay back with a little joke in an environment where i felt safe to do so.”

Perspective F: “Again a tweet with bad mysogynist jokes. I’ve had enough. This time i won’t sit quietly but call it out.”

Perspective C1: “Damn, look what this guy caused. His twitter profile is directly associated with our company. And now he tells bad mysogynist jokes and it’s now all over the internet. We cannot let go this time.”

Perspective C2: “Damn it, look what she caused. She is working in public relations and doesn’t know better than to cause a shitstorm which directly comes back to us a company? We cannot let go.”

I could understand each of these perspectives though i’d have a suspicision that the companies choose a bit of an easy way out. Had they rather put the issue of misogyny at the center of their positioning and communication, rather than focusing just on keeping some damage from the company, everybody would have learned a lesson and the incident could have contributed to a more enjoyable environment, i am sure.