CMV:While I Can't deny that Ellen Pao is a terrible CEO, the way Reddit has been treating her is not okay

The only changes that we can see from her is that she got rid of FPH and other incredibly toxic harassment subreddits before the media picked up the story.

None of the other subs were accused of harassing. This has been discussed at length, people talked about FPH and forgot about the other 3 subs who didn't really do anything wrong. And saying "toxic" means less than nothing, in the context of things people say online you might as well just say "yucky."

Also, this isn't really about FPH. The FPH thing was another nail in the coffin. For weeks prior, people were complaining about her frivolous Gender Discrimination lawsuit and wondering why this person is put in charge, they were reacting to her nebulous claim to promote "safe spaces" while not being in favor of free speech, they were reacting to a lot of shit going on. People who think this is all about making fun of fat people haven't been paying attention.

The firing of Victoria showed a total failure of Reddit infrastructure - something that relates to Pao - and it also verified many peoples' fears that Reddit is trying to commercialize itself. Nobody knows Victoria, nobody has met her, nobody really cares about her. This isn't about some poor talent agent who got laid off. This is about a larger picture people were predicting for months and every step of the way it gets worse and worse. Pao is the face of this, that is her job. And the fact that she went to Buzzfeed before making an announcement to Reddit probably didn't help much either. The fact that you are pulling the sexism card is completely unfounded yet predictable. But sure, everyone can walk around pretending like this is the first time ever a controversial, publicity-seeking CEO has attracted negative attention in the online space if they want. Pretend like this is such an aberration. Prove to everyone that women in leadership need to be treated with kid gloves.

/r/changemyview Thread Parent