I've been moving all week and missed the Chelsea Manning wars here.

[enlightenment]

104. As has been said many times, Will,

The bigotry displayed on DU has come in two forms - the overt and the sly. If you had watched this unfold, you would have seen that initially, people DID try to educate.

There were those that were truly ignorant and they learned, at least something - because admittedly this is not a subject that lends itself to simple explanations - and realized that their statements were inappropriate. And they stopped doing it. Many learned by reading responses to other posters and admitted that they might have made hurtful comments except for the "lessons" they read before they posted.

There were those that were overtly hostile; theirs was not ignorance as much as it was hatred. Some expressed the view that because they despised what Manning did, they were justified in attacking her decision to openly transition. Some simply despised the idea that transgendered individuals exist.
Even with the overt, some early attempts to educate took place - but those posters had no desire to learn or grow. They were - and are, apparently - comfortable in their hatred . . . and they were easy to spot. But they fed the frustration and anger of those trying to educate.

That said, the problem really grew not because of the ignorant or the overtly hateful but because of the sly - and the failure of the jury system to address what was happening (and I'm not blaming the jury system; just making the comment of what happened).
The sly were as hateful as the overt - but they couched their comments in "honest" dialogue. An initial post might include repeated references to Manning as a male; when reminded that simple courtesy demanded she be addressed in the feminine, the response would shift slightly - but the reference would still be male. When reminded again, the response would shift . . . and so on and so on. Or there would be drawn out posts relating that Manning was not male until surgery was complete - or that Manning must be referred to as male because the military doesn't recognize transgendered individuals - or that all the court documents refer to Manning as male.
These sly posters were not one-offs. They repeated their comments over and over again; sometimes in the same thread, sometimes in different threads - but they never shifted their position or acknowledged those that tried to educate them.
Their posts were never overt, but they were filled with pure malice - and as juries allowed them to stand because they couldn't put a finger on what they had done and they couldn't see the pattern of abuse, those who had started the day teaching lost patience - and that's when accusations and anger began to grow. Attempts at education continued though - and still do.

Part of the problem was that it happened so fast, Will. It wasn't a drawn out process of days - it happened in hours because it seemed that every other OP referred to Chelsea's decision. So what might appear to be a lack of tolerance for ignorance was really the rapid, cumulative effect of a pile on by the ignorant, the overt, and the sly. Especially the sly.

My personal perspective is that you only need to know one thing - that it is simple courtesy to the trans* community to respect the preference of name and pronoun. If someone wants to understand more, there is a whole Internet full of information and they can find it - or even ask for links.

Will, I know you're not saying that those who are educating should patiently repeat their lessons over and over again - but you are certainly implying it. Suggesting that the only appropriate response to every new poster is to offer lessons that were probably related higher in the thread isn't really fair, is it?

I teach college, and every class day I have students who consistently wander in 10 or 15 minutes late (regardless of penalty). Should I repeat what I've been saying before they came in? Should I suggest they stay a few minutes after class so I can repeat what I said? How much of it is my responsibility and how much is theirs?

I'll tell you - unless they have told me in advance that they are going to be late, I don't believe I have any responsibility to catch them up.

In the first few hours of this mess, a lot of leeway was given - but after awhile, it was apparent that what looked like nastiness WAS nastiness and not honest ignorance. I've seen your caution a number of times in the last two days, too - but built into that caution is something of a belief that those who are defending trans* people are deliberately ignoring the difference between ignorance and malice and reflexively reacting to every comment.

We're not - but what we are saying is that it's simple and it's easy, especially on a message board. If you know - or have been told - that it is not appropriate to refer to Chelsea Manning as "he" or "Bradley", then you don't do it. DU allows ample time to write, it allows edit. There is no excuse to "slip" on a message board and those who repeatedly make that "mistake" are proving malice, not ignorance.