[Noisebridge-discuss] Sunlight may disinfect.

[Sean Purser-Haskell]

I left because, as a conservative, I did not feel physically safe getting
deeply into my projects in the space, and thus leaving my guard down to
physical attack. I have two small children, and I can’t afford to risk my
health.

On the day of the bike lock attack in Berkeley, I saw several black clad
people come in and take off masks. I recognized one as a regular who was
often around when I was. This individual had previously asked me if I could
help them with access to firearms in a way that made me uncomfortable. So I
went on Slack and asked if they would affirm that they would not use
political violence in the space. They refused, implied I might be a Nazi,
and banned me from Slack.

I took the hint, grabbed my project materials from the space, and have not
been back since.

Noisebridge is a cool space and I wish I was welcome.

That’s the simple truth, Sean


On Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 4:22 PM Naomi Most <pnaomi at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi world,
>
> Over the course of several mailing list posts, I'm going to expose some
> topics here to the mailing list which is read by 1000s of people worldwide,
> which is considered the environmental gauge for Noisebridge at large.
>
> It's my hope others will join in -- especially to disagree with what I
> have to say, if they feel the need to do so.
>
> Slack has been our catch-all shade structure (in every possible form of
> the word "shade") since 2014.  We set up the Slack back in 2014 in an
> effort to take our "dirty laundry" off the public internet.
>
> Unfortunately, I see now that we've lost public accountability and a sense
> of our own history.  We overprivilege people with short reaction times and
> itchy trigger fingers, and underprivilege people who spend longer to
> consider what they say.  We've done honest conversation a disservice.
>
> James pointed this out to me a few months ago, and it took me a few months
> to really understand.  Sorry for being slow on the uptake, James.
>
> Noisebridge just went through an extremely dark period, during which time
> Mitch Altman decided to leave due to repeated bullying.
>
> I just met with Mitch last night.  There is no possible way he will come
> back to the space.  The emotional wounds run too deep.  The bullies in
> question were able to key into weaknesses and make sure he felt bad about
> himself every time he entered the space.  As a result, even if we somehow
> *guaranteed* that those people wouldn't come back, he couldn't trust that a
> new crop of bullies wouldn't arise and do the same things.
>
> The problem is that Noisebridge's problems aren't unique to Noisebridge.
> The Bay Area plays host to a particularly nasty form of social policing in
> which an artificial form of social harmony is prized well above Truth and
> Authenticity.  This problem runs across the United States and probably
> beyond -- and is the source of the alt-right's caricature of the Left as
> "snowflakes".
>
> More people than Mitch have left.  Only Mitch has given me permission to
> speak his name, but at least one of those people have announced their
> leaving here on the nb-discuss Mailing List.
>
> I want to talk about all this in a way that sticks, in a format where
> people consider their words and expose them readily to the rest of the
> world.  Where people feel they can criticize me and anyone else quite
> openly, because they have no stake in the game.
>
> Noisebridge is festering, merely coasting on the hard creative work of
> more than a decade past.
>
> Perhaps sunlight will disinfect.
>
> I still believe there is a future for Noisebridge.  I believe Noisebridge
> is an important institution in the Bay, and I want to see if there's a way
> to learn from our hardships and grow stronger for it -- the way we always
> have.
>
> I think that's enough for #1.
>
> Come at me,
> Naomi
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://lists.noisebridge.net/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
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