Letter to the Editor of The Toronto Star re: RadFemRiseUp

I am posting this on my blog. I will be writing more about this conference in the next wee while. Watch this space. It is officially out of dormancy :)

------ Dear Toronto Star,

Re: Toronto activists protest "transphobic" conference (Saturday July 6, 2013)

The organizers of the Radical Feminists gathering, RadFemRiseUp, held last weekend in Toronto, received threats of violence on the Friday night from transactivists who had managed to find out our secret location. These threats led to police presence at our newly disclosed location as well as at the park where transactivists held their own protest. This park was merely 200 meters from the new location. When police questioned the transactivists on their choice of location, they stated they lived near there. More details about this are available here:  http://bit.ly/RadFemInfiltrated. RadFemRiseUp attendees would like to thank the Metro Toronto Police for their support during what was a very disturbing time.

However, despite the severe disruption and fear experienced by all conference attendees, the event proceeded with only minor changes to the scheduling.

Labelling anybody with the term "transphobic" without providing concrete evidence clearly reveals your papers bias and sympathies. To the best of my knowledge there has been no violence or hatred directed, ever, towards trans by Radical Feminists. Maya Shlayen has never said that Rachel Ivey has damaged our reputation, and by misrepresenting Shlayen's words, you are unfairly diminishing the public perception of Radical Feminism.

In addition: by reporting, falsely, that Radical Feminism is under the auspices of Deep Green Resistance, you again reveal your papers bias and your reporters utter lack of knowledge about Feminism. If anything, the fledgling Deep Green Resistance organization arose out of Radical Feminist principles: not the other way around.

Radical Feminists are 'stuck' in second wave Feminism because we recognize that the work there is not finished. In 2013, women are quite far from being liberated. The fact that Senator Nancy Ruth spoke this week about how Toby’s law forbids females from gathering in female only spaces  is indicative of exactly how far we are from being liberated.

Gender stereotypes have worsened in my lifetime (I'm 46) and that is quite damaging to both males and females. The 'furor' surrounding baby Storm a couple of years ago is just one example of this sad reality. Claiming 'scientific validity' for genderism has been debunked by the work of scientists like Dr. Cordelia Fine.

Post-modern feminists continue to push terms like 'empowerment' when women still have precious little power despite 100+ years of Feminism. Radical Feminists continue the important and liberating work started by previous generations of feminists. We are actively seeking methods to liberate women, girls and boys from male violence, torture, and oppressive reproductive regimes around the world. True liberation for women occurs only when there is legislative and reproductive justice for women everywhere on this planet.

Sincerely,

Orla Hegarty B. Math.,  M.A.Sc.

RadFemRiseUp Attendee

Social Media and Reputation Economics

Social media.  It's an oxymoron.  The only thing that distinguishes today's media from the past, and therefore deeming it 'social', is that we can respond immediately.  Letters posted in the 19th century (and earlier) were also social media.  As were the cave drawings in Europe from 32,000 years ago.

I believe that today's social media has allowed us to bypass the knowledge economy and move directly into a more transparent reputation economy.  It is not what you know, it is who you know.  The promise of an economy growing according to [knowledge generated] patents does not get very far without the money to build, test, market and improve said patented item.  And where does the money come from?  According to the Occupy Wall Street movement, the money belongs to only 1% of the population.  So if you've got a great idea you are going to have to gain access to some of that wealth in order to generate wealth with that idea.  And that, my friends, is where reputation is key.

I spent many years pursuing a doctoral degree.  The brick wall I came up against while researching my topic (Investment Decision Making in New Technologies) was the fact that time and time again the venture capitalists and the angel investors were not modelling anything when making these decisions.  It was the handshake and the reputation that sealed the deals.  To be sure, a thorough examination of the knowledge aspects were part of the due diligence process.   But the final decision came down to the handshake and the reputation of the development team.  This reality, as well as the chaos of my personal life, forced the ending of this academic route since handshakes are not only difficult to measure but a dissertation on the 'soft' aspects of investment decision making was not likely to be easily defended in an engineering faculty.

I learned a lot about communication networks in this field of study.  I've even published on the matter.  The idea of lead users is quite compelling and feeds nicely into the foundation of a reputation economy.  With social media you no longer have to rely on face to face connections or peruse trade magazines and conferences.  If you have an idea, you can actively search online for people looking for solutions that fit your idea.  Or conversely, if you have a problem you can look for ideas that solve it.

And how does the 'wheat get separated from the chaff'?  Reputation.  And this is greatly eased by the immediacy of social media.  Letters of introduction are no longer needed (my father brought a few with him when he emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1967).  Answers to questions like:  How many twitter followers does the person have?;  LinkedIn connections?;  Blog traffic?;  Youtube videos?; Conference presentations?;  TED talks?; will allow a potential investor to ascertain quickly whether there is enough 'klout' to warrant further investigation or a seed investment.

The sad thing about bypassing the knowledge economy is that there might be some truly great ideas out there that will go nowhere in the reputation economy.  The world transformed itself in the space of a mere decade, leaving knowledge junkies like myself hankering a bit for a bygone era and resigned to blogging for a better world.  A 3.0 world where reputation is based on quality rather than merely quantity.