Spamming PyPI with stupid packages

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:57:59 +1100, Ben Finney wrote:

> Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> writes:
> 
>> The joke cuts both ways.
> 
> This is the Just World fallacy: you're implying that, because the same
> joke can be applied equally well to women or men, that therefore it is
> equally harmful. The fallacy is to ignore the fact that the playing
> field is not level.

I'm not ignoring the fact of an unequal playing field. (The playing field 
is uneven in different directions in different places.)


> Yes, that same joke can semantically be applied equally to men. But it
> is disproportionately harmful to women, 

You're making an assumption there that I don't accept. There is no 
evidence that it is harmful to *anyone*, men or women.

And not just because "it's only a joke" -- jokes are a wonderfully 
powerful weapon, and like all weapons, they can be used for good or evil. 
E.g. the Klu Klux Klan lost a lot of influence when the US media (and in 
particular the Superman television series) made them into a laughing 
stock. On the flip-side, Irish jokes have been both a reaction to Irish 
terrorism and a way of depowering the Irish.

But if jokes are weapons, this particular joke is not only a water 
pistol, but it's a *broken* water pistol.

There are barriers to women becoming programmers. Some of those barriers 
come from men, others come from other women, and some are internal to the 
specific woman in question. One might even be able to list some of those 
barriers. But if you think that it is self-evident that childish jokes 
about working hard in order to attract a girlfriend is one of those 
barriers, then I have to disagree strongly.

[...]
> Apologetics defending sexist jokes against women

In what way is this a sexist joke against women?

Normally, one can point out the victim of sexist or racist jokes: it 
makes a class of people out to be a laughing stock, incompetent or stupid 
or wicked. That is not the case here, unless we think that preferring a 
hard-worker and good provider over a lazy deadbeat is a sign of moral 
degeneracy (that is, "gold-digger" versus "wants the best for herself and 
her children").


-- 
Steven