Today Adobe announced its annual MAX conference would take place in Florida. A US state the NAACP has declared unsafe for Black travelers. 500 employees signed an internal letter, condemning the decision. Some PR lady responded, with a blurb saying they're "(giving money to) local LGBTQIA groups" in recognition of Florida's "challenges." One of the most explicity anti-Black actions I've seen an unrepentant tech industry do, in recent years.
@ninavizz month by month adobe finds new ways for me to hate them more
@ninavizz and what about queer and trans folks? That’s insane
@yuletide What about pregnant women not desiring pregnancy? What about refugees international law insists the US accept? What about queer youth desiring simple answers their parents refuse to support their journeys to resolve? Florida is bad for too many humans, but the corporate gesture of philanthropy to ONE non-profit that ONLY addresses ONE subset of those humans, said more than anything else.
Yet one more reason to #BoycottAdobe.
@ninavizz I'm still pissed about IBM/THINK being there.
@ninavizz Damn, I would have expected so much better from one of the largest surveillance capitalists in the world.
@ninavizz at least the black people can pee in florida. Trans folk will get thrown in jail if they try to pee in a public restroom in florida.
So yeah... not really a very inclusive decision for many reasons.
@masukomi In order to say "at least the black people can pee in florida," you have to believe that there are no Black trans people.
And that no Black cis people have had their gender policed (incorrectly or not makes no difference), which is common because our society's gender norms are heavily bound up in whiteness and white supremacy.
We don't need to make everything about us. Love, a white trans person from the U.S.
@bright_helpings yes, well, i only have 500 characters and documenting all the myriad crossovers of the Venn diagram of impacted people's isn't really practical here. I, like the OP, also didn't cover any brown people who aren't considered black, or immigrants, or or or.
I wasn't "making it about us". I was pointing out that the problem is WAY bigger than just anti-black racism, and while many groups are in danger MOST of them can at least pee safely.
@masukomi You don't need to document all the affected people.
You did set up a dichotomy between Black people and trans people, which again we white people are really prone to and which is really hazardous. You can save some of your 500 characters by not doing that "at least the black people are better off than the trans people" thing in future! :)
@bright_helpings my apologies, I wasn't trying to set up an us vs them. I was, as i said, pointing out that this situation isn't just bad / dangerous it's absolutely fucked to a ridiculous level.
I didn't think i needed to point out that there are black trans people effected by this and explicitly join the groups because it seemed kinda obvious.
I take your point though. Some people may mistakenly assume I'm trying to create divisions.
@ninavizz An excellent alternative for Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign is provided by Serif's Affinity suite of apps: Publisher, Photo, Designer. A one time purchase. Buy the universal license and use all three apps on 3 platforms: Windows, Mac and iPad.
#BoycottAdobe
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/
@dennyhenke I'm a professional designer. We need to use what our peers and clients use, not what we choose to use. Adobe also owns all the patents, to integrate with pre-publishing devices/workflows. So, yes, for print designers, it's a monopoly.
@dennyhenke ...also, if I had a choice, I'd only go with a tool that had a Linux client, too. It's distastefully favoring the global North, to exclude folks dependent on the Linux ecosystem.
@ninavizz GEE? Maybe it' time to use a Potatoshop Clone like Photopea?
@ninavizz I took graphic arts classes here at the college w/ Adobe and was fully prepared to Pay For Product Because It Works.
They were so awful that I took the work to go open source. THANKS ADOBE!!
"Amy White, Adobe’s head of corporate responsibility, told staff the company was partnering with LGBTQ communities in the area."
Um, Amy? You do know you can partner with those communities WITHOUT moving your conference there, right?
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/adobe-florida-conference-petition-protest-18677788.php
@ninavizz Gophercon changed their whole plan because of legislation issues (They were supposed to do it in Florida).
I'm sure it was Hell to change. I'm sure a corporation like Adobe could do something about it.
What a shame.
