Discussion on All-Girl events

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by The Swaggy P

I am not a troll, and I am not against women's events in FIRST. I was originally ONLY against the gender labeling of lectures at a lunchtime meeting. It seems that I cannot express this intention enough, as I still see users accusing me of trying to bring down these events.

I have received private hate messages, both directly & indirectly insulting me. I've been called names, I've received veiled threats. For these reasons I choose to remain anonymous, since I don't want to be yet another victim of discriminatory violence in a country that supposedly allows freedom of speech.

I am only a high school student, and you have shown me the worst of what the future has to offer here. I will no longer be posting or responding to users in this thread, as I will clearly only receive hate in return.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been turned off by the community.

While I do think your initial post was very poorly worded (if the intention was to promote civil discussion), I think this latest post clearly shows how you've developed in your posting during the course of this discussion.

An increasingly evident (to me) development in our internet culture is the polarization of discussion. It is OK to be in the minority, it is OK to be in the majority, and it is OK for both sides to disagree and throw facts/figures/opinions out to prove/disprove their respective points.

We cross lines in productive discussions when we insult, demean, and slander others. Anyone and everyone can be tempted to cross those lines. Personally, I have crossed those lines many times.

I hope we all take some time to consider the person sitting at the keyboard on the other side of the internet. And I hope we can especially consider the words we say in PM/Rep that the rest of the community wont see.

Thanks everyone,

-Mike