[hackerspaces] Please explain this to me

[Chris Weiss]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 9:38 AM, . . <whipboi at hotmail.com> wrote:
> So a couple things become obvious the more I come across shit like this
> article.
>
> First and foremost, some bitches need to get over the fact that hackerspaces
> attract mostly male/white/IT careered/capitalist types. Why? Because those
> of us in that category who lacked social skills growing up were geeks and
> outcasts long before it was cool to be a geek or outcast. I'll accept my
> hipster cred now. Anyway, we spent our youths avoiding being picked on and
> beat up as much as possible. We are geeks and outcasts by virtue of the fact
> that society rejected us at a young age. So the list of activities one can
> become grossly engaged in by oneself in your parents basement isn't that
> long, and computers/hacking/electronics/science have limitless potential in
> this area including social interaction with people who can't judge you by
> your looks or your stutter. Females generally have social interaction pushed
> upon them from an early age by all the cooler boys which means women
> generally have better social skills than men. There, I said it. This is a
> generalization of course, but it's probably 90% true. This leads women to
> many interests and careers away from hacking/making/science/etc. So, once us
> male/white/IT careered/capitalist types grow up and gain some social skills
> we naturally want to socialize with people of similar interests. Guess what?
> A decade ago there weren't many places on this planet where one could share
> a beer with a random group of people during a weekday and discuss the latest
> encryption breakthrough, that awesome sat tracking system that Goodspeed
> blogged about, etc. So hackerspaces have taken off like wildfire over the
> past decade probably tracking equally well with IT careers being more
> available.
>
> This leads me to my second point. It's hilarious to see outsiders attaching
> themselves to the hackerspace scene. "Oh jeeze, he's going to start
> splitting hairs on what is and isn't a hackerspace". Bare with me. What we
> have with this article is someone who sees the movement and energy the scene
> has right now and wants to use it for their own ends. They are jealous.
> First, by kicking the legs out of the movement by saying "well you know,
> we've been doing this long before you guys got here, there's nothing special
> about what you are doing".  Next, by saying the current movement is dead.
> Sure, your typical makerspace is quite different from the L0pht, but we all
> can't be infosec rock stars ahead of our time. But seriously, fuck off. Each
> space has it's own identity and it's own culture and community. Some spaces
> swerve hard to the knitting/crafting edge, others only care about teaching
> infosec skills. Most fall somewhere in between. The main thing is that a
> community is built. And it's being built in a sustainable way. This counter
> revolution/political nonsense spouted about is bullshit. The point is that
> some outsiders see everything we have accomplished and are really sad that
> they cant subvert our energy. So they write passive-agressive articles like
> this one hoping to start a hackerspace-spring from which they can elect
> their muslim brotherhood leader to the top.
>
> Anyway, to answer your question Phil, everyone has an opinion and some
> should be taken with more grains of salt than others.
>
> -boi
>

at the start i was readying the popcorn for the flame war... but then
it all rang true and equal.  well said.