Long post warning.

So some background for you guys : A university "Diversity Officer" had barred white men from a university event which was aimed at BME (Black Minority Ethic?) students. Among other things, she had been photographed posing in front of a poster which said "No white cis men" while wiping a fake tear from her eye etc. After the news got a hold of this, she kept a low profile, as people were calling for her blood (figuratively). A friend of hers told the Daily Mail and other newspapers that she didn't want to be interviewed.

About a month later, she resurfaced. And she dug herself a bigger hole. She had been linked to many subreddits on the site and was on the front page of the site over the last two days after in a speech defending herself she claimed that she couldn't be racist because she was an "Ethnic Minority". Of course, this drew the ire of the site, and comments criticizing her hypocrisy and poor logic rose to the top, among comments which flat out insulted her. I myself am guilty of making posts in the past which were aimed at flaming other people, whether they deserved it or not.

Now, the thing that stood out to me wasn't her comments - it was what happened when she was making her speech. She was surrounded by her peers, all people who thought the same as she did. When she finished making her speech, they all came in and patted her on the back and hugged her, as if to say "good job, we are proud of you". This spoke volumes to be, and its a sad fact of reality. In her eyes, she had said or done nothing wrong. And this is a consequence of her environment.

Now, we all know colleges are very liberal places, and are filled with young impressionable kids. As a result, campaigns for social justice are not a shock to see or otherwise surprising - because when you're a kid you want to do good in the world and the consequences do not seem as large. In her eyes, her barring men from this event was a good thing, and her saying she can't be racist is true. The thing is, this girl is 27 and couldn't be called a youth anymore. She's an adult, and you'd expect an adult of her age to be more sensible, no? Why would she fall victim to a clearly illogical way of thinking. it is illogical, right?

Here's the sad reality, we are all a little like her. It's due to who we are around, and what we are exposed to that we form the views we do. Common sense, yes? But, not as obvious as we'd think. I often see posts on this sub, other parts of reddit, the internet etc. that are made to call out SJW's/Far-left/etc. groups or insult them. Now, I generally don't see them as bad people. I think very few people on this earth are truly evil. Most people are simply misguided. The people on gamerghazi, SRS etc. are not evil people. They've simply been exposed to a particular environment which has shaped their views - the same as us on this subreddit or any other subreddit.

I wonder to myself as to what would have happened if this girl had had a simple sit down and conversation with someone who had differing political views - a white male maybe? Just her alone, no peers, a quiet conversation, no insults. Where each person is coming from would be taken into account and respected. Would that have changed her views? Even if it didn't make a major change, it would be enough to give her food for thought, and possibly given her a different perspective. Maybe that is a much better way of changing or influencing another persons's view in a positive way than insulting her or making comments about her personality.

A major issue with the internet is that it is almost completely impersonal. We can't see a persons face, emotions, body language etc. As a result, conversation and its benefits are broken down. We can't judge someone on their own merits, because we are only seeing a small part of them and their viewpoints. This is an unfortunate consequence of the internet, and reddit itself. It is too easy for some to visit a person's twitter profile and see words like "feminist", "SJW" etc. and write them off as crazy people - while knowing very little about them personally. People are complicated, a few words can't describe a human being.

So, my point is that I think if you want to make a change and this change comes through influencing people to come to your point of view (or even to give them a different perspective) the best way to do it is to do it personally and empathetically. Posts and topic titles aimed at inciting flaming behavior (on this subreddit and anywhere else) will not help your cause on the long scale of things. Often, it will only insult people personally and make them more sure of their beliefs, etc. Remember that people identify personally with their beliefs, so attacking their beliefs is like attacking their very being.

I do want to say that although I've followed gamergate form the first day, I'm not trying to say here that it has a monopoly on morality or that it is all good. It has its flaws, like anything else. Only that I think it has the potential to be something positive if it can shed some of its more negative aspects.

Anyway, this is a bit of a rant and I know my logic is not 100% but I hope what I've said here is kept in mind. I hope you have a good day.