To the bros in my master’s course who argued in favour of profit, pleasure and “intent”

Bonnie J. Stinson
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

As a femme-coded person in a digital media graduate program, I expect to be faced with casual (okay, and blatant) misogyny. I expect to meet people who go goo-goo for capitalism, and who model their success on reality TV shows about entrepreneurship, like Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den.

So it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this — cis straight white males excluded — that in 2018, digital media is still infested by tech bros.

Let me lay out the scene for you, tech bro. I will lay out the reasons why I hope you don’t succeed, why you’re wrong, why your mindset is the single worst thing to happen to our industry, and, on a personal note, why your behaviour is diminishing the collective wellness and intelligence of our cohort.

Dear tech bro,

It was our first day. I didn’t like the look of you. People always tell me I shouldn’t say that, but I can always pick you out of a crowd.

We were asked to open our minds to the role of ethics in digital media.

You, without hesitation, planted your flag on the side of pleasure. Playing video games is pleasurable, and it’s a free country. Facebook is admirable for putting profit above people, and succeeding for it. Facebook was created with the honourable intent to build community. How could it be Facebook’s fault that the platform enables advertisers to stereotype, and Russians to use dark posts to sway the US election?

I’m going to stop you there. Actually, in that moment, I didn’t stop you there because I heard several other men chuckle as I saw several women clench their jaws.

Dear tech bro — I hope you never lose a loved one to gun violence, the killer trained by a first-person shooter video game. I hope you don’t reincarnate as an Amazon worker, underpaid and overheating all in the name of quick shipping and slightly higher profit margin. I hope you don’t end up as a Facebook contractor whose job it is to censor violent and grotesque photos, so you end up with PTSD, all in the name of profit in the pockets of the people who advertise on Facebook. I hope you learn about impact versus intent, and how it relates to the experiences of Black people in white supremacist countries. I hope you are never subjected to a million micro-aggressions and institutional discrimination, and everyone tells you “but they meant well.”

But really, bro.

I hope you open your mind to the possibility that capitalism is not our future. Capitalism is only a temporary reward for you and your family. It will do nothing to uplift the majority of humanity. And that is incredibly selfish.

I hope you open your mind, so I don’t have to verbally lash you in front of people you imagined (wrongly) actually respected you. Actually, I wouldn’t mind that.

Dear tech bro — change, or I’ll change you. That’s a promise.

Bonnie J. Stinson

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