don't just be a firefighter, be a fire marshal

introduction

part 1

This past week Bluesky got...interesting. That's not a good interesting to be clear. The CEO was challenged about why they weren't blocking people causing harm and things just went downhill from there. Because the world is what it is right now, today things stand with the CEO of Bluesky having turned a beloved breakfast food (I love waffles at least) into a nazi dog whistle over the course of just a few days. That's not a good look (unless you are trying to cozy up to that crowd of people I guess).

part 2

After that all ramped up, the founder of a microblogging community posted a shout out to the CEO amidst the drama that he admitted he didn't understand or fully dig into. This led the founder of another odd little tech community to call it out as a particularly bad take considering the (very) easy to find details of what was going on. His thread starts here. Much drama and back and forth ensued which you can kind of find on mastodon if you really want to but some posts have been deleted and it might be tricky to follow.

part 3

The initial guy in part two posted later posted this:

let’s pay attention to who are the firefighters and who are the arsonists. (from here).

I responded with this:

arsonists like tech ceos that point and laugh at transphobic users lighting on fire the trans users of a service? I agree it'd be a good idea to point them out and hold them accountable for the harm they are causing, particularly in the current climate that is normalizing dehumanizing trans, immigrants and more broadly anyone not MAGA. It's a good idea to be fire fighters ready to point those arsonists out in order to protect those being harmed. (from here)

It's been removed from his site (it's his site so fair is fair - no problem there) but followed it up today with this bit:

An interesting side effect of the Mastodon model is that someone who runs their own community has fewer checks on their influence. They can spread misinformation, but they can’t be reported, because they are also the judge for moderation decisions.

You could say the same thing about my influence on Micro.blog. This is why I’m extremely careful never to attack other people or stoke any fires of outrage. I want our team to be firefighters not arsonists. And of course it’s easy to export your data and move.

I think someone should explore this in more detail. But for now, back to my decision to have a quieter timeline, with fewer people monopolizing my attention. (from here)

I did explore it in some detail on Mastodon but that apparently wasn't sufficient so I'll write more here.

firefighters not arsonists?

First I think it's helpful to consider definitions. What's a fire fighter? What's an arsonist? If we look between the lines what are we even talking about?

arsonists

Wikipedia has arsonists pegged as people who "willfully and deliberately" set property ablaze. While recklessness can be a part of it (accidentally starting a fire somewhere), arsonists are typically malicious in their motives (see wikipedia again).

firefighters

Firefighters are the people who bravely rush to the fires as quickly as possible to put them out. I'm not citing anything here other than myself because I think all of us raised in the states visited one (or multiple) fire stations and spent time with firefighters in school. It's a celebrated vocation known for it's courage and bravery to step into a very dangerous situations on behalf of other people in great danger.

the victims

I mentioned other people in that last section. Typically, other people are involved in fires. Their might be victims trapped in burning building. Or maybe property owners losing everything to the flames. Or innocent people at risk of flames jumping to new areas. It's rare to have fires without victims of some type.

where do we fit into this metaphor?

If I look at Manton's original post rushing to the defense of the Bluesky CEO and then the follow up posts mentioned above, it's hard not to see the narrative he's pushing like this:

• The Arsonist: Any of the people trying to hold Bluesky accountable for harm being caused to actual people (specifically the trans community).
• The Victims: Uber wealthy Tech CEOs or C level leaders being called out and held accountable for harm.
• The Firefighters: The people standing by cheering on the victimized Tech CEO and crew and calling all those seeking accountability to pipe down and create some space for the victims.

I think it plays out more generally like this, especially having seen more of the conversations:

• The Arsonist: Any person publicly trying to hold some accountable for something they said or did in public.
• The Victims: The person/people (typically holding positions of power/influence/privilege) being held accountable.
• The Firefighters: Those rushing to the defense of the perceived victims.

Is this actually the way things should work? Does this actually describe the way things should be? Stay with me here for a second. I want to talk briefly about a similar (real) situation:

I once saw a developer make an intentionally negative post about pronouns. A trans user left their platform because of it and the developer proceeded to call the individual out, publicly disparaging the former user. That shouldn't have ever happened - the user should have been allowed to leave without the developer saying anything. So, someone came to the defense of that former user publicly where others double downed calling the former user names like "an asshole". They then proceeded to have all sorts of nasty things said about them as well. So here we are:

• Who is/are the arsonists? Is it the person that sought accountability? The person that called out their user publicly? The people that jumped in to call the former user "an asshole"?
• Who is/are the victims? The person being called out for their bad behavior? The person that was repeatedly called names because they chose to leave a platform?
• Who is/are the firefighters? The person seeking accountability? The people rushing to the developers side in defense of his behavior?

the world we find ourselves in

We have a choice to make. We can rush to the defense of power. We can gloss over the ways that people are being dehumanized and threatened in public spaces. We can settle into our nice, pristine, genteel spaces that at best hide and at worst sideline important conversations and community discussions. Or we can face it head on.

Firefighting in defense of Bluesky leadership dismissing transphobia or more locally a developer acting transphobically might keep our spaces nice and tidy but does it meet the moment? Why can't we firefight in defense of those being dehumanized and threatened? Yes it might mean confronting power. Yes it might mean challenging friends. Yes it might mean alienating those with dehumanizing ideas. But why is any of that bad?

• The Arsonist: People actively causing or propagating dehumanizing harm.
• The Victims: People being dehumanized, marginalized, oppressed and/or attacked.
• The Firefighters: Anyone actively making the choice to protect victims and call out arsonists.

I'm not sure why any of that is controversial but it apparently is. I'll say it more succinctly and directly though:

accountability is not harm or causing fires. it's actively seeking to prevent fires from spreading and protecting victims of their harm. and -accountability happens in the venue of the transgression. if a fire is public the firefighting is public.

be a fire marshal

There are different types of firefighters. One type is a fire marshal and they are proactive. In many places, they are considered full fledged law enforcement officers with extensive fire fighting experience. They enforce code. They make sure buildings, communities and people stay safe. They know not just how to respond but how to proactively protect so that victims aren't created.

Be a fire marshal. Protect those being dehumanized even if you don't understand or like them. Immigrants, the trans community, the wider LGB community, even democrats and people that say they are anti-fascist are being actively dehumanized. Don't let it stand. Call it out loud and proud even if it comes from your friends or people you "respect".