Absolutely this. I never cease to feel depressed about the number of scientists willing to speak out *against* kindness, as if they believe I am less careful or less methodologically rigorous than they are because I value kindness 
-
-
In fact the reason I find it heartbreaking/disgusting is that they can be kind, as evidenced by seeing them do just that, but they chose not to be to certain people.
-
Yeah - that kind of thing both saddens and angers me, and you're right that it happens a lot. I guess I'm just more optimistic that things can change, but then I say that from a position of huge privilege on pretty much every dimension...
-
(except perhaps my weird surname and tendency to tan quickly...)
-
I think things can change, but I don't think it's easy. It seems to be to be a typical case of "you can say you offer training/help to those who need it but if none of them think they need it, it's impossible to train/help anybody".
-
It's painful to watch those who are the most responsible/poster people for bad behaviour be the same as those who seem to (superficially) decry it. Like the classic case of the male ally to feminism being an abuser.
-
We're dealing with highly intelligent people (academics) who purposefully or just adaptively and without conscious realisation will find ways to continue as they are – being unkind in this case, or being outright abusive in others, it's a spectrum.
-
But also a system that enables it - we promote people on the basis of their scientific credentials, not their management / leadership credentials, and the two often reflect skills / dispositions that are in direct opposition (e.g., individual vs team focus).
-
In a world of hawks and doves, if you start to advantage doves even by a tiny bit... hawks will just kill a dove and wear its feathers. I see it happen even with the people who seem to be the least into playing games. The Ponzi scheme of science either ejects you or recruits you.
- 2 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.