[Noisebridge-discuss] On a more serious note: a personal statement to NB Discuss

[t l]

Hi Justin,

I haven't read many of these notorious posts of yours, but let me
thank you for this one. It shows a willingness to examine oneself in
relation to the NB common good. This is a helpful example for us as we
seek unity instead of division.

I've searched for the Feb. discussion on hostile behavior for what I
wanted to say, but this is the most recent post on NB conflict. So
I'll post here:

Recently, I overheard a man make virulently homophobic statements at
NB. He made many anti-gay comments, and he expressed frustration and
rage. I was under a table fixing a connection, as he finished his
rant, and he never saw me. He left after a while.

I hadn't seen him around before. The next day, I saw him again. He was
keeping a low profile and nobody seemed to notice him. I might not
have either, if I hadn't heard what I heard.

Is he a spy planning some kind of hate crime? Hiding his best sheets
and hood for when he's ready to spring his trap on some unsuspecting
church, clinic, or innocent group of people? Was he drunk and just
mouthing off nonsense? Who's to say?

This is sad but not surprising. The climate of intolerance has
skyrocketed at NB ever since we began "coming down" on Occupiers,
stereotyping them as homeless (rather than cooperating with them as
activists), insulting them, and threatening them. Maybe word's gotten
out to some places that we don't like Occupy, because intolerance
attracts hate, and people who hate are coming here to check us out. To
see how we can help them spread it around.

Intolerance against the less fortunate, pushing Occupiers around,
bullying on our forums, and increased denial of access, all make for a
crummy social and work environment for your average NBer. Indeed, if
someone wanted to help NB rip itself apart, these are just the kind of
tactics they'd employ: spreading fear and denying access. anti-Occupy
crusaders turn people off at least as much as the homeless do, if not
more.

It isn't easy to tolerate diversity, or those whose understanding
doesn't seem to match our own. But we must tolerate it and projects
like Occupy. The real Occupiers aren't lazy or just out for a handout.
They're working to make things better for themselves and everyone else
by demanding change from the system that keeps so many down.

They want to stop the hate and increase access for the people -
exactly what NB believes in. Some people want to hate on Occupy,
others are hating on gays, and that's "doing their thing."

We believe in tolerance, welcoming diversity, and increased access.
Let us do our thing too.

In solidarity,

Tom L.


2/27/12, Justin Doerr <justinsfca at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've recently received an email from an individual who was kind enough to
> provide me proactive suggestions in the way I go about communicating with
> people on the discuss list. I want to formally apologize if anything I've
> said has personally offended or upset anyone over the discuss list. Minor
> trolling is OK here and there; being an asshole is not. I aspire to be a
> noble person, and I can only say on my behalf is that like everybody else,
> I have really bad days and asshole tendencies, and more than half the time
> I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt that I'm not really
> serious and to take what I say with a grain of salt. But after reading what
> people have been saying about myself and people who I consider to be my
> friends on the "85" page, in addition to my perception of destructive and
> harsh criticism towards me in person, I'm openly admitting that it's sort
> of starting to take its toll on me and I'm also publicly admitting that I
> feel kind of hurt and offended by all of the cruel things people have to
> say about me, my friends, or hell why stop there, people I don't even know,
> better yet people I do know and actually don't like. It's so easy for
> people to be irrational and fulfill their needs for temporary self
> satisfaction, yet it's a lot more difficult for people to be rational and
> fulfill their needs for a lifelong experience of success in whatever it is
> that they do. I feel that all of this public defamation might have a lot to
> do with why I have been acting so strange and distant lately, or why I've
> been randomly lashing out over the internet or in person. I do however
> value this space quite a lot, and by no means do I want to say I'm
> "emo-quitting" Noisebridge because a handful of people want to go ahead and
> be jerks; the amazing and awesome people significantly outnumber them. It's
> important for me to express that I don't want to give into what these
> assholes (they're not "oogles", they're assholes) have to say about me,
> because all that will lead to is me starting to behave and act just like
> one of them, and reallllllly, is that who I really want to become? A
> miserable troll queen? Didn't think so... Besides, I have a great abundance
> of information along with ideas that I would like to share and add to the
> Human Resources binder that I'm pretty confident will positively benefit
> this already profound hackerspace and how I factor into it. Everyone here
> is really good at doing something, or really enjoys doing certain things,
> and HR and all of its field-related topics are things I was sort of born to
> do, and Noisebridge is entirely in need of it. I'm actually really excited
> about this because I'm going to make it happen, and people who come here
> all the time will be totally grateful for it, that I can promise you. It's
> a marvelous phenomena when perspicacious individuals like myself finally
> stop wallowing in that great void of vulnerable uncertainty and realize a
> purpose/opportunity within their life and actually go for it. With that, I
> conclude by saying I really do need to take Miloh up on his suggestion in
> getting a blog, and thank all of you for listening to/reading my
> meaningless rants. I'm actually quite surprised how many people have
> already said to me that they do.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Justin Patrick Doer-r
>