Nobel laureate forced out of studies after making joke about women

[The Lunatic]

Sir Tim Hunt, a noble prize winning scientist has been forced to leave his posts in University College London and The Royal Society after making a comment about women he described as were meant to be "ironic" and "jocular".

The statement in question is as followed:

"Let me tell you about my trouble with girls ? three things happen when they are in the lab ? You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry."

Tim Hunt made the statement at an event titled: "Creative Science?Only a Game?" which was a lunch for female journalists and scientists.

After making this statement, he was accused of being sexist, and following a series of events described as "Hounding" despite issuing an apology, and expressing regret over the joke, he claims he was told that he should "Resign or be sacked" by the college.

Various female scientists have come out in defence of the Nobel Laureate, in particular Dame Athene Donald has been running a blog on the issue and supporting a petition to bring the 72 year old biochemist back to his positions.

Source: Here! [http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/tim-hunt-hung-out-to-dry-interview-mary-collins]

 

[Dalek Caan]

Sometimes the filter between peoples brain and their mouths can completely fail.

I feel bad for the guy, sure he made a dumbass joke, but I think don't think he deserves to lose he job just like that. If he was actually a Sexist I wouldn't care but from the photo and his wife's comment it just seems he made a mistake.

I worry now that the Female Scientists coming out to defend him are going to get hounded just as bad now.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Jesus, if that's all it takes to lose one's job then I hope no Tumblr-ites hear some of the off-color jokes my co-workers crack. They would be howling for their heads on a silver platter.

Should Mr. Hunt have made that particular joke during that particular event? Probably not, but it doesn't justify such an extreme response, especially after he went out of his way to apologize. We all say stupid things sometimes, no need to crucify someone for making what was ultimately a trivial faux pas.

 

[Silvanus]

Ah, I'd been reading about this yesterday. Particularly notable that the European Research Council actually forced him to step down, rather than it being a genuine voluntary resignation.

Colossal overreaction.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Seems excessive.

The actual problem, of course, isn't any particular -ism, but rather the modern era of social media and internet lynch mobs. I actually feel for people whose passions/career path require them to be in the public eye and communicating with thousands of people on a daily basis. It's all a bit terrifying. Get on the wrong side of "public opinion" and there's no stopping that snowball once it starts rolling downhill.

Everybody seems to like these online lynchings so long as they approve of the target. They'll characterize it as karmic comeuppance, or a commendable "revolt", or throw some kind of brightly colored blanket over it and pretend its anything but a bunch of panicky village idiots with torches and pitchforks come to burn yet another witch, no questions asked.

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

I always hate it when the victim of this type of pseudo religious persecution apologizes and admits fault in an attempt to save himself right before having his methaporical head chopped off. It reminds me of that scene in the first season of Games of Thrones, you know the one. It seems like technology marches on, society marches, science marches on but people themselves don't change. Two hundred years ago he would have been shown the door after having made a joke about religion and now he gets shown the door for having offended a more secular version of the same thing.

It's funny that these people probably think themselves progressive when all they are doing is enforcing their own view of morality on everybody else. The real progressives were the ones who fought so there could be women in the lab, so women could vote and who fought and continue to fight for women having an equal part in society as men not the cowards who come in decades later and think themselves brave because they fight for a cause that has already been won. They are like a soldier storming an empty battlefield after everybody have else have gone home. A soldier who then proclaims himself a hero because he alone led the charge.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It's funny that these people...

The issue with "these people" is that the overwhelming majority of "these people" are just piling on to something they barely understand. It's been tweeted and re-tweeted and taken out of context and purple monkey dishwatered to the point where it's just a sound bite that can mean just about anything you want it to. Pretty easy to stoke the fires of outrage when you're not dealing with a person anymore, but just a snippet of text that stands in for a person. A person makes jokes, even bad ones. A person has a lot of complex feelings and beliefs. A sound bite is hermetic. It has no personality, no complexity, no values. So "these people" tear down the offensive sound byte and never stop to realize there was a person behind it.

 

[Dizchu]

I'm not entirely sure of the context of the "problematic" things he said, and I'm not very interested either. However, I must point out that just because someone claimed something was a joke later doesn't necessarily mean it was a joke all along. Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" is apparently a "dark comedy", but it's fairly obvious that it was meant to be a drama and Wiseau is just a terrible writer/director/actor. It's not unusual for people to claim that past statements were jokes or satirical when they get called out on them.

But let's say he is sexist, I don't think that's a reason to sack him. Many brilliant minds over the millennia have had some messed up views. Igor Stravinsky was a musical genius, but he also supported Mussolini. Some have more acceptable views, but have tripped over themselves when expressing them. Richard Dawkins is a good example of this. Brilliant man, but he has said some painfully awkward things about Muslims and disabled people.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

The idea that the kind of people who pull these stunts off (ie. taking part in group bitching and Twitter slacktivism) call themselves feminists or say they're fighting the "patriarchy" almost makes my blood boil. I bet you'll never see them taking on Iran's ayatollah, dalit rapes in India or other, you know, ACTUAL patriarchal, sexist, oppressive institutions rather than this made-up entity that they use to play the victim card and feel better about themselves. Nope, bullying single people in the first world is enough to satisfy your daily dose of outrage, o wise and mighty ones. Just keep on harassing people, lambasting them on the Internet and forcing them out of jobs using your perfected Buzzfeed/Cracked rhetoric because they said something that didn't align with your worldview perfectly.

If there's one thing I've learned about things like these it's never to apologize to these people. Never. Never back down. Never let an inch. Because if you do, you'll only add fuel to their fire, and their sense of achieving something important, instead of just being a bunch of whiny assholes who force people out of jobs via harassment.

I've recently been forming a philosophy of judging people by three things: their skills, their deeds, and their knowledge. Not by what they say, own or look like. What did this guy do? Say a dumb, out of place joke. What did the people who came after him do? Lambast and bully him on Twitter until he was forced to resign, and now has had his career shattered. In this comparison I'm way more inclined to root for the guy rather than the shrieking crowd, even when what he said was dumb and he should have known better.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

So political correctness is now more important than your qualifications to do the job and humor is banned. Long live totalitarianism of humorless people. Good to know that this is the world we now live in. Nice one UK.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

He shouldn't get sacked. The man's science cred should be more valuable than his lack of tact.

 

[AgedGrunt]

Cannot think of a better way to support his point than squeezing an apology out of him and threatening his career.

If a woman made unpleasant career remarks about her experiences with men, she'd never have to take them back, because that would invalidate her personal experiences. But apparently a man, who may have gone through difficulties with sexual tension and sensitive women, isn't allowed to talk about his own experiences.

Oh, but, of course he could have said it nicer. He didn't lay on the sugar praising women and their eternal beauty while mentioning tiny negatives, like you have to do with sensitive people.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Jesus, if that's all it takes to lose one's job then I hope no Tumblr-ites hear some of the off-color jokes my co-workers crack. They would be howling for their heads on a silver platter.

Should Mr. Hunt have made that particular joke during that particular event? Probably not, but it doesn't justify such an extreme response, especially after he went out of his way to apologize. We all say stupid things sometimes, no need to crucify someone for making what was ultimately a trivial faux pas.

pretty much this, I work with hundreds of different people from MANY companies weekly (I go to about 15-20 construction jobsites a week, so I deal with alot of people.) and the amount of jokes like this I hear (not necessarily sexist towards women, just off color jokes in general) daily would cause entire work forces to vanish in an instant if tumblerites were to catch wind of them.

that said, choosing your words wisely on a staged event should be cautioned regardless, but this certainly wasn't job losing worthy.

 

[anthony87]

You know, I really love free speech, remember those times?

But muh feelings though.....

 

[Something Amyss]

Jesus, if that's all it takes to lose one's job

Seems excessive.

Keep in mind that...

I read about this a few days ago - initially it was not declared as a joke, he said 'I'm just trying to be honest.'

He was also actually pressed on followup. While people with an axe to grind against women/feminism/bogeywomen have been framing this as "a joke," it really is a retcon.

People are sounding off on party lines without interest in what was actually said.

Also, were the the only example, or were there not more from him, or were it something that might not be affecting both the experience of colleagues and impacting the quality of lab work and papers (and we've seen that proclamation recently, too--also probably "just a joke!"), it might be one thing.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Also, were the the only example, or were there not more from him, or were it something that might not be affecting both the experience of colleagues and impacting the quality of lab work and papers (and we've seen that proclamation recently, too--also probably "just a joke!"), it might be one thing.

I'm aware.

I'm not making an argument that every single person that ever says or does a stupid thing is as pure as the driven snow. I'm making the argument that this increasing verve for turning social media into a kangaroo court is absolutely terrifying, and more than a little morally bankrupt.

 

[HardkorSB]

First, the Rosetta Spacecraft team member is forced apologize for making history and pushing humanity forward and now, a renowned biologist loses his job over this nonsense.

I wanted to write an angry comment but nothing I can think of is angry enough.