The most excellent thing has happened. Bahar Mustafa, the Welfare and Diversity Officer that tweeted the #KillAllWhiteMen hashtag and told white men to stay away from her events has been charged with hate-speech.
There is a Swedish proverb, “Den som gräver en grop åt andra, faller ofta själv däri“, roughly translated to English as “The one digging a pit for others, tend to end up in it.” – this is a grand example. As feminists want to censor the web from the big bad men tweeting awful messages, a feminist tweeting awful messages at men gets arrested for the stuff they want to censor. So I must admit, I can’t help but to smirk a little. The irony.
I stand with Bahar Mustafa not because I agree with what she says, because I seriously do not. After all, I am a white man, which on her list ranks near the bottom, probably somewhere between a broken nail and navel lint. Honestly I find her statements and actions stupid, and not fitting for a “welfare and diversity officer”, but it’s nothing she should be facing criminal charges for. Disciplinary actions definitely, but not criminal.
I support free speech, and the right to say what people don’t want to hear, no matter how stupid it is. Society tends to deal with stupidity, and it works. Bahar faced an impressive backlash from bloggers and youtubers alike, and she will forever be remembered as “the crazy feminist that tweeted #killallmen”. Rallying the masses to incite violence is one thing, but in this case I think more people facepalmed than went running down the street swinging kitchen knifes.
I hope Bahar has learned her lesson. Don’t bring your fanaticism to work, and hypocrisy never wins.