Is there a solution, though? How do we work around this?
I think most of us would like to reach a point where none of this is a concern, and we can just get on with working—yet the prospect of a future without sexism almost seems hopelessly optimistic.
Is this just one of those problems that cannot be solved in a single lifetime? Humanity seems perfectly capable of acknowledging its faults, yet it seems entirely incapable of fixing them. Our status page is always set to “Under Maintenance.”
When we encounter technical barriers, we’re good at overcoming them. Recent events have shown that we’re able to overcome medical hurdles in a manner that our ancestors would have deemed impossible. When will we be able to do the same for social issues?
Furthermore, beyond the media (whether social media or traditional media - print, TV, etc) industry profiting off it, some people's careers are entirely based on this problem persisting. Dedicated "diversity & inclusion" roles have appeared, even though addressing any issues should be the job of any competent HR department - but now these specific roles would obviously become irrelevant if this problem is solved.
Racism, sexism and general "being an asshole" were always a problem (though the latter is now often - maliciously or otherwise - mistaken as the former) but back in the day humans successfully dealt with that in private, and the police and the law dealt with anything serious enough to warrant its efforts. Nowadays however, it's commonplace to turn it into dirty laundry and air it on social media and wait for the mob to jump in, which also allows false accusations and witch hunts to emerge.
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I think this problem is mostly specific to the tech/media industry. There are plenty of other industries where racism & sexism are no doubt present, but overall people in these industries seem to be busy working and making money (which is the end-game of work at the end of the day) instead of constantly being offended.
What are those industries where they have software engineering positions open but w/o the SJW types in them? I'm interested...