“Hey guys…”

That escalated quickly

A day like any other day

I subscribe to several Slack and Discord channels, primarily focusing on design and technology. I enjoy seeing different viewpoints on problems and sharing my experiences. One of my go-to channels is #design-systems on Slack. My morning routine included reviewing new posts or questions/answers I posted on the channel.

Many members would often start a post on a channel on #design-systems with a sentence such as

“Hey guys, I have a question…”.

One of the most harmless phrases in the English language, “Hey guys,…”.

It is informal, friendly, and familiar. It broadcasts that everybody in the audience is “One of the guys.”, a part of the group, a member of the tribe. Males and females included. What rom-com would be complete without one of the characters exclaiming to their male/female friends, “I LOVE YOU GUYS!”?

The moderator of #design-systems created a SlackBot that scanned posts to suggest better ways of saying the same thing. To write “Hey guys,…” would automatically elicit this response.

SlackBot — “May I suggest ‘folks’? We use gender-inclusive language in this Slack. ;-)”

I’ve seen this message for years and largely ignored it as noise, but something was different this day.

Maybe I got out on the wrong side of the bed. Ate something that disagreed with me. Possibly spring allergies. No matter the reason, this message by a bot mightily irked me. First mistake, I replied to the bot message in a thread.

“May I suggest you stop suggesting?”

A few minutes later, there were three emojis representing downvotes and a message from the moderator.

Jina — “Kevin, this is an inclusive slack. If you have a problem with it, I’d be happy to deactivate your account.”

What!?

I saw a ‘suggestion,’. I suggested stopping these suggestions. Happy to remove me from the channel? Happy?! I’m seeing red. My second mistake, I reply again.

“Guys, you’re being ridiculous.”

And, less than a minute later, my account is canceled.

Why, oh, why did I do that?

When I encounter a problem, as a Product Designer, I have a workable and reliable system to find the core issue. After thorough analysis, deep research, a SWOT chart, and several Ven diagrams, I found the root cause of the problem!

I am an idiot!

Yes, I am an idiot! Did I have to reply to the bot? No. Did I have to escalate the situation reply to the moderator with ‘Guys’.? Absolutely not.

I could have kept my mouth shut and ignored the reply. I could have apologized and promised I’d never do such a thing again. Thrown myself to the ground and begged for mercy. I could have done any number of things. Perhaps a few more. I didn’t think that far.

But I didn’t do any of that. The immediate threat of canceling my account because I disagreed with noisy and unhelpful suggestions from a bot (and ‘happily’ canceling at that), was more than I could swallow.

Jina — Cool. Account deactivated.

OMG! That hurt!

Have to be honest. Being canceled really hurt! Really! Being instantly disappeared from a community I enjoyed and actively participated in hurt a lot!

I am a Progressive. I feel the Bern. Elizabeth Warren is awesome, and AOC is alright by me. The more progressive, the better, and we need more Progressives to bring the United States into a better and more just world. You will know I’ve always voted for the best candidate possible because I’ve never voted for a Republican in my life. ;-)

So, as a died-in-the-wool-pinko-commie-lefty-liberal, you might think I 100% support Social Justice, Gender-Inclusivity, Woke-ness, Political Correctness, and Cancel Culture.

Though I support the intention of these ideologies, the core motivations and implementation leave much to be desired. Rather than creating a more fair, just, and inclusive society, many of these doctrines only succeed in doing the opposite. It all has to do with the use of language.

Inclusive vs. Exclusive Language

Language, when used appropriately, is the tool that builds connections and understanding between different people.

Design Systems, by their very nature, leverages language to create meaning, connection, and understanding for a wide variety of users. No matter if you are a designer or an engineer, we need to speak the same language to communicate effectively. It is the most challenging and most satisfying part of creating a system that is usable for everybody.

However, when language is misused, it becomes a weapon that divides people into “us vs. them”. Most often taking the form of an invented lexicology.

Invented lexicology can be seen in corporate-speak and political spin. It is a sub-language, specifically designed to decrease understanding of people outside of the tribe while creating an opportunity for members to declare themselves as part of the tribe by simply adhering to lexicology.

I believe strict adherence to principles of gender-inclusive language does not serve inclusivity in any way. Just the opposite. It is unhelpful. Worse, awkward. By removing the natural ability for people to speak freely and conversationally, we constantly need to check ourselves to adhere to new normal.

As such, gender-inclusive can only serve only as a framework for group-think inclusivity into a tribe. Much like corporate-speak or political spin, those who abide by the language are allowed to be a part of the tribe. Those that don’t, are ‘not us’ but ‘them’.

Who, exactly, is offended by “Hey guys…”

Difficult to know for certain, but I highly suspect practically nobody. I’m tempted to spend a few hundred to know the answer myself with a survey or two. If I decide to pull that trigger, I’ll certainly share my research. But there is a bigger issue than who is ‘offended’ by such language. Instead, it is authority.

When I was canceled, I immediately began writing about the experience of being canceled. I felt (and still feel) very badly about that event. When I was writing, I wasn’t planning to out anyone or even mention the name of the Slack channel.

Many years ago, my therapist said I should start writing a journal as a part of my process. Over 30 years later, that discipline is still a part of my daily routine. I’ve learned I can’t understand anything about myself unless I put pen to paper and actually write about it. So, I started writing the moment I was removed from the community.

Two days later, a well-respected member of the Design System community reached out to me on Twitter asking a very important question.

Is this you?

In the tweet, the OP attached the following twitter thread.

My head on a spike, in the public square.

“Don’t test me Kevin.”

I’d never have put Jina Anne into the public forum in such a way as she did with me.

Obviously, we disagreed. Certainly, we still disagree. In fact, we may always disagree. But she is a well-respected member of the community and has a voice that carries a lot of weight in the field of Design Systems. She has a lot to offer in experience and expertise in the field. This wild and crazy thing we call ‘Design Systems’.

If there is one thing I’ve discovered from the #design-systems Slack channel is that we’re all still trying to figure it all out! A universal consensus, after all these years, has not been reached! Crazy, if you think about it.

Well, that’s all done. Or is it?

Jina Anne posted a screenshot of the Slack conversation that banned me from #design-systems on Twitter. It says a lot about what I will always fight against in the field of human interaction, design, and corporations. I won’t stand for it, and frankly you shouldn’t either.

Putting my head on a spike in a public forum such as Twitter only serves to reinforce authority on the tone of the conversation and to the agency of authority over basic common sense.

Threats of retribution should always be fought against. Submitting to authority creates a culture of submissiveness, ineffectualness, and removes any individual agency to improve the world in any fashion. It is the opposite of what I stand for. I believe nobody should stand for that.

In this thread, I’ve been called a ‘wanker’, a ‘Karen’, and one reply explicitly said “Fuck Kevin Muldoon!”. Yet, Jina didn’t delete any of those replies.

It doesn’t take much of a leap to understand my defense of “Hey guys…” probably didn’t deserve being called such names. However, Jina didn’t come off scot free either.

Honestly, fascist is going way too far. I come to Jina’s defense on that wholeheartedly. However, the replies of ‘some men’ were apparently selectively pruned from the thread by Jina herself to create an appearance of uniformity of opinion.

IMHO, that is the worst form of revisionist history and anyone who values truth should feel bad about that practice.

In conclusion…

In the future, I hope Jina Anne and myself would become allies. Those options must be kept open if we have any hope of growth and learning. From personal experience, some of my most challenging colleagues have been my greatest teachers.

Perhaps I could learn a thing or two from Jina. Perhaps she could learn a thing or two from me. The future has infinite possibilities provided we allow those possibilities to be possible. Personally, I operate on principles and values, and I value truth, discovery, and learning above all else.

Lastly…

If you are a right-wing SOB, I don’t want to hear your replies. Sorry, I cancel you. I know that feels bad, but it is what it is.

I’m more concerned with my left-wing allies and creating a space where right/left can communicate safely and effectively. We’ve got to clean up our own house before we can be the people we need to be to create effective change.