Re: What do you think?

[Chris Hamilton <chamilton -at- GR -dot- COM>]

> Snipet Two -- Question:  What do you think of the word "forbidding"?
>
> "Computers and networks are, as Dale Spender (1995) notes, an
> environment of privilege-created by privileged white men and used
> mostly by them-and those environments are quite often forbidding to
> women and people from disadvantaged groups."

Regardless whether you can agree or disagree with this quote, my
question is, is it relevant to teaching technical communication? If
you're a woman or a minority, I would suspect you know by the time you
get to college that racism, sexism, able-ism, and all that other stuff
exists. How is restating it here relevant? What does it add? In every
industry, there are idiots who are more concerned with the color of your
skin, your sex, or who you sleep with than they are about your ability
to do the job. I'm not saying that's as it should be, but it's a given,
why restate it in a class that's supposed to be teaching you how to be a
good technical communicator? Is the purpose of the class to teach
technical communications or to rehash how evil white men are?

<ducking, covering, and obliterating whatever credibility I probably had
with some list members>
Chris
--
Chris Hamilton, Technical Writer
Greenbrier & Russel
847.330.4146
chamilton -at- gr -dot- com

"Please do not try to confuse the issues with facts!"
                          -- George Banks, "Mary Poppins"

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