Can someone explain to someone who has not been following this (me) what happened in a short way, all I find are huge posts and I can't spare the time unfortunately.
Douglas Crockford is a grumpy old man who has a history of making politically incorrect jokes. There are a handful of inclusivity activists who campaign against him because of that.
The main Nodevember organiser recently dropped Douglas Crockford as a speaker. No one knows why because they haven't properly explained themselves. But presumably it's because they're sympathetic to (or scared of) the inclusivity activists.
This is part of a wider battle between inclusivity activists and their critics, hence the controversy.
Thank you so much, I am getting tired of these inclusivity activists that want to force the list of speakers to be representative of every religion, ethnicity, etc.
No I have no problems with the speakers being of any specific ethicity or whatever. The speakers at conferences should be invited by merit or because they can give a good talk about a subject relevant, not just the sake of diversity, I will not care if the speaker is a woman, man, straight or gay, if I go to a conference it is because of the theme not because it has representation of every ethnicity etc.
I'm going to differ on this. I 100% support inclusivity.
I really, really like my job and I know activists have the power to destroy my career. Therefore I'm doing like Scott Adams[1] and supporting inclusivity, because it's safer for my career if I do.
The main Nodevember organiser recently dropped Douglas Crockford as a speaker. No one knows why because they haven't properly explained themselves. But presumably it's because they're sympathetic to (or scared of) the inclusivity activists.
This is part of a wider battle between inclusivity activists and their critics, hence the controversy.