Someone wrote in [personal profile] mjg59 2017-03-01 11:53 pm (UTC)

> If reanimated zombie Hitler wants to talk about interesting Haskell code, I will listen to him as long as he keeps his (unrelated to conference theme) beliefs to himself.

Well said.

Had we thrown away all the research done in Nazi Germany because it was tainted by association with (or -in some cases- produced directly from) Nazi Atrocities, we'd have been worse off. Had we locked up and refused to speak with people like Von Braun because Nazi Atrocities, we'd have been much worse off.

Very Useful People who are Working On Useful Things and have Important Things To Say sometimes also have other parts of themself that are deeply offensive, or even actively harmful. I see absolutely no problem with inviting someone to speak about these Useful Things, while both promising to throw them out on their ass if they speak a word about their offensive/harmful positions, and publicly condemning their offensive/harmful positions.

I'm not asserting that people should be forced to be in the same room with others who hold offensive/harmful positions. I do claim that well-adjusted adults are capable of speaking and interacting with Domain Experts about their areas of expertise without talking about or addressing their offensive/harmful positions.

Post a comment in response:

If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

If you are unable to use this captcha for any reason, please contact us by email at support@dreamwidth.org