Dave Winer:

So, ironically, all these people who tell us to shut up have one thing in common, they’re fighting for freedom, but don’t see the contradiction that freedom has to be inclusive. If you fight for your freedom by supressing someone else’s, well, the math just doesn’t work. Freedom isn’t exclusive, it has to be inclusive.

I don’t read any messages to shut up in the various posts surrounding Dave’s post-BlogHer commentary (though I’m sure I haven’t read all of it). Nor do I see any indication that Liz’s or Chris’s posts are jokes as Dave mentions. Full of humor, perhaps, but not joking.

What I do read is Liz (and others) simply taking advantage of the freedoms that blogging affords. Dave is completely free to comment as he sees fit about his experience at BlogHer, and others are free to call him out for what he writes. As it should be.

For what it’s worth (not much, perhaps, since i wasn’t there), I agree with Liz; much of what Dave’s written about BlogHer seems like it was written in mid-last century. That’s not to say Dave himself is sexist, I don’t know him to say, but much of what he’s blogged about the conference has read that way to me.