I’ve followed Naomi Wu on twitter for a few years. Her youtube channel tech videos are legend. When you first see Naomi in pictures or video, it’s surprising, for some I can see it could be challenging.
I could care less, having watched her debate “tech bro’s” on twitter; explain tech on youtube, I soon started to envy her English language skills, her precise use of terms to explain things and her masterful analytic skills. Naomi knows that her appearance impacts her ability to get major US sponsors, it shouldn’t, but it does. She’s brilliant and deserves a better deal.
Yet, time and time again she’s attacked for being a Chinese government shill; people question her appearance and loyalty. Her biggest problem though is getting past the constant battle that Youtube heaps on her as she tries to make a living from monetization of her youtube videos.
It’s all nonsense. That’s easy for me to say. I’ve been lead architect for software at labs in China, I’ve given lectures at Sun Yat-Sen University and worked through numerous HR related issues to encourage, grow and develop staff. In the end, I’d always fly back to the UK or later, the US, to the safety of my home and my salary.
Naomi has finally snapped, she’s had enough of the questions, the allegations. She made the following video. It’s heart breaking to listen to someone have to explain who they are to anonymous people on the Internet. The video covers a lot of Chinese social and political history that gives context and ultimately, like her tech videos it’s a great introduction to gender extensions and life beyond boys and girls.
If you are new to Naomi, don’t think for a minute this is about attention. Don’t judge. Watch the video, listen to what she says. How many people do you know that could explain who they are and why they are in their own language, let alone a second language?
Watch Naomi’s tech videos on youtube, she gets a token amount of money from youtube for them, but they are some of the best “new tech” explainer videos available.
As Texas does its best to implement bathroom bans, outlaw abortion, restrict access to books that discuss race in any context, it’s worth remembering that we are all a result of our circumstances.
I’m lucky that I’m a boomer, not financially, but because my parents were young adults in a Britain in boom after the Second World War. A Britain where we had the opportunity to really make a go of things. My parents were not perfect, but they gave me the courage and opportunity to succeed. Certainly, until the mid-90’s the UK was the place to achieve them.