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by daveloyall 3997 days ago
Nobody is blaming you. They are asking you to take responsibility for your professional community. Will you?
2 comments

You really need to rephrase, because the way I read this statement is contradictory:

Responsibility: the state of being the person who caused something to happen.

Blame: to say or think that a person or thing is responsible for something bad that has happened.

I think what you want to say is that we're asking people to stand against this sort of abuse, which seems to be happening to the extent possible. If you have suggestions for further steps to stop this sort of thing I think everyone is all ears, but the language you're using suggests random programmers and sysadmins should write long blog posts taking responsibility for negative acts of which they had no part and are against. That seems both pointless and somewhat insulting.

One meaning of "responsible" is basically synonymous with blame, but that's not the only meaning, or even the primary one.

If some random litters on my lawn and then walks away, they are to blame for the mess, but I am responsible for cleaning it up because it's my lawn.

As another example, there are plenty of American citizens who argued fervently against the Iraq war, so they aren't to blame for it, but they are responsible for paying the debts that result from it.

You and I are not necessarily to blame for the sexism and misogyny in the tech industry. But personally, I want the industry to be a welcoming place for everybody with technical skill, not just dude with thick skins. So I am taking my share of responsibility for my professional community. Would you like to help?

Here's the thing: accountability/responsibility must match control.

Can I stop all this? No. I'd like to, but I can't. Then there is no realistic way that I can take responsibility for it.

Can I call out whatever I see? Sure can. That I'm responsible for.

It is optimal when responsibility and control match, but they rarely do. E.g., parents have much more responsibility for children than they have control. Citizens and city governments have a responsibility to keep garbage off the streets, but they don't have perfect control of who can put garbage on the streets.

If you are doing what you can to solve the problem, then you have already taken your share responsibility for the state of the industry.