3 ms·

That's a BS comment. Of course it isn't. It did counter the "I didn't realize he was black until halfway through" however. I think most reasonable readers assu

by ssmoot 11y ago

That's a BS comment. Of course it isn't. It did counter the "I didn't realize he was black until halfway through" however. I think most reasonable readers assumed he was black pretty early on.

untog 11y ago
> It did counter the "I didn't realize he was black until halfway through" however. I don't know about that. I saw a picture of a tattooed wrist. I'm not claiming that I'm Mr. Color-Blind Progressive 2016, but that photo didn't lodge a note in my mind that said "the author is black". I saw a photo of a wrist and didn't think twice about it. That was kind of my original point, the implication that a black person posting a photo of themselves is signaling "I am black" in a way that a white person is never seen to be signaling "I am white".
- ssmoot 11y ago
  I think your original point was way off base. "Signalling" certainly sounds a lot more loaded than seems reasonable. I'm not even sure what exactly you're trying to say with that, but it certainly doesn't seem very charitable. I took the photo to signal the dude really digs Austin (not my fave city; but whatever). I assumed he was black because he took a picture of his arm, with the tattoo that he talked about having. I dunno. I live in a predominately black area and it's just not that unusual for me I guess. If you live in SV maybe it's worth talking about. In the less affluent parts of Dallas it just isn't. Talking about his father being an unfortunate statistic just reinforced it. I guess that didn't click the same for most. I'm just not sure what it has to do with what the VCs were telling him about his business in the rest of the article. There were two articles for me I guess. A short story up front I found pretty compelling. And a frustrated (for lack of a better word) diatribe about financing I found tedious, unfocused, and not all that compelling for the latter half-ish. But if it was a white or asian dude that posted a picture of his wrist with an Austin tattoo, then yeah, I would have been surprised to read later on that the tattoo he described having, and put up a picture of, didn't actually belong to him. Not sure if that falls under "signaling" or not.

by ssmoot 11y ago

That's a BS comment. Of course it isn't. It did counter the "I didn't realize he was black until halfway through" however. I think most reasonable readers assumed he was black pretty early on.

untog 11y ago

> It did counter the "I didn't realize he was black until halfway through" however. I don't know about that. I saw a picture of a tattooed wrist. I'm not claiming that I'm Mr. Color-Blind Progressive 2016, but that photo didn't lodge a note in my mind that said "the author is black". I saw a photo of a wrist and didn't think twice about it. That was kind of my original point, the implication that a black person posting a photo of themselves is signaling "I am black" in a way that a white person is never seen to be signaling "I am white".

ssmoot 11y ago
I think your original point was way off base. "Signalling" certainly sounds a lot more loaded than seems reasonable. I'm not even sure what exactly you're trying to say with that, but it certainly doesn't seem very charitable. I took the photo to signal the dude really digs Austin (not my fave city; but whatever). I assumed he was black because he took a picture of his arm, with the tattoo that he talked about having. I dunno. I live in a predominately black area and it's just not that unusual for me I guess. If you live in SV maybe it's worth talking about. In the less affluent parts of Dallas it just isn't. Talking about his father being an unfortunate statistic just reinforced it. I guess that didn't click the same for most. I'm just not sure what it has to do with what the VCs were telling him about his business in the rest of the article. There were two articles for me I guess. A short story up front I found pretty compelling. And a frustrated (for lack of a better word) diatribe about financing I found tedious, unfocused, and not all that compelling for the latter half-ish. But if it was a white or asian dude that posted a picture of his wrist with an Austin tattoo, then yeah, I would have been surprised to read later on that the tattoo he described having, and put up a picture of, didn't actually belong to him. Not sure if that falls under "signaling" or not.