Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee
Excellent! Thanks for providing such a thoughtful critique + contextualisation. Literally the other day I went to look up the meaning of her quote and decided against using it in a specific context... -
Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee this is a really interesting point and something I'd like to approach more thoughtfully when we talk about the Fediverse.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee shorthand is always tempting. But I have to say I do agree that it would feel utterly wrong to me to collaborate on Gdocs for a text about floss strategy. It would be like discussing zero carbon while sitting around a coalfire. And any and all big commercial tech platforms are by now surveillance platforms - using them in any way to plan for countermovement feels self-defeating indeed, like announcing to the powers you want to dismantle exactly what you're up to. And I don't think antitrust law or whatever is going to change anything about that. The best thing anyone and everyone can do is to not use any of their crap, whenever and whereever possible.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee That is very well written. I could follow the argument and it makes a lot of sense to me, without knowing much of the background. Thanks!
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@tarakiyee shorthand is always tempting. But I have to say I do agree that it would feel utterly wrong to me to collaborate on Gdocs for a text about floss strategy. It would be like discussing zero carbon while sitting around a coalfire. And any and all big commercial tech platforms are by now surveillance platforms - using them in any way to plan for countermovement feels self-defeating indeed, like announcing to the powers you want to dismantle exactly what you're up to. And I don't think antitrust law or whatever is going to change anything about that. The best thing anyone and everyone can do is to not use any of their crap, whenever and whereever possible.
@endolexi I don't totally disagree with you, I'm actively trying to move away from big tech for all the reasons. However we both have technical capital, we can make choices other people can't. When the tool choice becomes the politics then we can't see that anymore. We need to understand the conditions behind tool choice or lack thereof, make those visible and political, and then change those conditions. Its hard and some of that work can happen on Google docs, they can't do shit about it.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee outstanding post!
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@endolexi I don't totally disagree with you, I'm actively trying to move away from big tech for all the reasons. However we both have technical capital, we can make choices other people can't. When the tool choice becomes the politics then we can't see that anymore. We need to understand the conditions behind tool choice or lack thereof, make those visible and political, and then change those conditions. Its hard and some of that work can happen on Google docs, they can't do shit about it.
@tarakiyee I understand, of course. It's just this perception of the machine eating up anything you serve it like that. And I sometimes think the barriers of the mind and the convenience of the conventional are the hardest to overcome. Like, the alternatives are there, and I happily support anyone who's interested. For me the tools just can't be separated from the politics, not when the toolmaker you want to oppose sees everything you do with their tools. Unless of course I'm on some 'poison the algorithm' kind of track, it's just never a good idea to me.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee I love how the text doesn't aim to tear down an imperfect argument, but add to and improve it!
A discursive world with more principledness, but less tearing down would be nice
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee
thanks for this post i saw already boosted here, it tells bare and perfectly what's about.
when i first read the quote of Cory i was feeling exactly this, and was "woa"..
thanks again. -
Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
great piece! cc @jeremiah if you've not seen
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee fuck, imagine having a take so bad about such a beloved figure, that the word you are most famous for is used to deride that very take.
I would simply delete everything and move to the woods if that were me. -
Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tante might be interested in this as well.
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great piece! cc @jeremiah if you've not seen
This is excellent! Thank you @inquiline for sharing.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee
Sometimes I think Doctorow is leading the enshitification by example. -
Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee outstanding piece.
I've always felt that Doctorow's 'enshittification' concept merely acts in service of bad actors in the tech sphere. He really is living proof of Lorde's statement.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee extremely good post that articulates something i've had trouble formulating throughout like a decade of hearing this quote "rebutted" in probably half a dozen completely distinct institutional/theoretical contexts
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@tarakiyee extremely good post that articulates something i've had trouble formulating throughout like a decade of hearing this quote "rebutted" in probably half a dozen completely distinct institutional/theoretical contexts
@theodoraward I was surprised by how much I found on this phenomenom in my research for the article! Not only other cases, but good analsyis and discussion dissecting it. Helped a lot in formulating this to the tech example.
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@tarakiyee outstanding piece.
I've always felt that Doctorow's 'enshittification' concept merely acts in service of bad actors in the tech sphere. He really is living proof of Lorde's statement.
@dgold I disagree on both counts. I think the entshitification analysis does something important and needed. I also wouldn't single him out, I'm afraid this an issue within the wider mainstream tech discourse.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee This is great analysis. Thank you. Also, I had no idea tech bros were doing that with Lorde and that is so very irritating...
Reading your essay reminded me of this article: "The Fungibility of Intersectionality: An Afropessimist Reading" by Silma Burge. It takes up a different term, but it highlights, similar to you, how a Black feminist theorist's term is flattened, stripped of context, and retooled.
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Audre Lorde's "master's tools" speech was not about tech platforms. So why does tech discourse keep citing it as if it were? I write about what happens when a Black feminist theorist's words get borrowed, stripped of context, and made to do work they were never meant to do.
https://tarakiyee.com/on-the-enshittification-of-audre-lorde-the-masters-tools-in-tech-discourse/ #enshittification #AudreLorde #techpolicy
@tarakiyee I am not well equipped to make a definitive judgment of it but I learned a lot and I'm thankful
