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On the other hand, this article is on HN because it fits an other narrative. There is never just one "the narrative". There are always two or more competing nar
by TorKlingberg 10y ago
On the other hand, this article is on HN because it fits an other narrative. There is never just one "the narrative". There are always two or more competing narratives and people publish, share and upvote stories that fit the one they prefer.
- BadassFractal 10y agoConflicting narratives is pretty much how news work, that's just a fact of life, no denying that. Don't know if I would claim that HN has a particular interest in suppressing a certain narrative though, can you explain? Who is to gain here?
- tomlock 10y agoIf discrimination is a real barrier to entrepreneurship - that contradicts the narrative that entrepreneurship is an objective meritocracy.
- BadassFractal 10y agoI'd be surprised if people here actually believed that to be a successful entrepreneur your starting conditions do not matter. Your race, your country, your culture, your health, your finances, your dependents, your family all have a massive impact on whether you can stop doing whatever you're doing and focus fully on turning an idea into a high growth business. Maybe it's just me, but I personally believe that it is a huge privilege to have the ability to pursue entrepreneurship. I could be a coal miner in war-torn sub-Saharan Africa trying to make ends meet to pay for my sick child's care, instead I'm sitting in a comfortable air conditioned office in the Bay, able to complain that the snack selection is not sufficiently locally sourced.
- walrus01 10y agoIf I had to make an overly broad generalization of the HN readership, people reading links here are more willing than the average person to read an article that disagrees with their preconceived stereotypes and worldview. Whereas mass market media (the magazine Inc, etc) is going in the opposite direction from that.
- chickenfries 10y ago> If I had to make an overly broad generalization of the HN readership, people reading links here are more willing than the average person to read an article that disagrees with their preconceived stereotypes and worldview. You're right, that was an overly broad generalization about the readership of a public internet forum.
- kagamine 10y agoYeah, let's have a 2-sided conversation about EVs on HN and see. Tesla is God, Tesla is King, Musk will save our souls.
- therpe1 10y agoThis is the sort of self-serving belief that I always find so striking. It's not like HN is a diverse, dynamic community with a wide range of opinions. See all knew what sort of comments would be made the moment see saw the title, it wasn't even really necessary to read the story. Childish diatribes against the "media" based off a very one-sided description of the actions of a single magazine? Check. Invectives against the "liberal narrative" for minorites and Hillary Clinton? Check. At some point see just need the usual suspect to chime in and say something about feminism. Anyways I bring this up because it's very funny, at least to me, to hear all this talk of narratives and bubbles and how everybody claims its not them it's those other guys. Meanwhile the story itself is crap and wholly uninteresting in itself. It's pure gossip and speculation and unfounded assertions. I can think of a hundred reasons why a magazine might've decided not to run a story on this guy. And while I admire his ability to make lemonade -- after all this blog post is almost exactly what many people on the internet would want to hear and it will go viral getting him the publicity he so craves -- it's literally a non-event.
- imron 10y agoThat's why it'd be great for a publication to publish a diverse range of narratives, exposing people to both (or multiple) sides of a story and allow people to make up their own minds.
- rdtsc 10y ago> this article is on HN because it fits an other narrative. Which narrative do you think that is?
- tomlock 10y agoOne potential narrative might be that silicon valley is a meritocracy.
- rdtsc 10y agoI think people are having an issue with the story at face value - binning people into groups and then taking advantage of that. It is demeaning and patronizing to hear that you're victim and your race should be what defines you. The author is trying to say "Here look at the cool business I built with a lot of work and talent. Check out the algorithm I am using etc." and journalist wants to instead write about "Poor black person somehow made it out of a poor neighborhood. Let's point out his race over and over...".
- tomlock 10y agoWhat this author is trying to say is separate from the narrative people may try and build off the back of this article. The narrative built could be that journalists are mistreating successful entrepreneurs by looking for stereotypes. Also, someone could look at this article and think it signals that discussions about race and its effect on entrepreneurship are now actually harmful overall. Another narrative could be that the archetypal black entrepreneur is well represented by this guy. Alternatively, someone could build this into a narrative that black people aren't inordinately effected by poverty. I don't personally think there is enough quantitative evidence relayed in the article to substantiate any of those narratives, but I'm pretty sure at least one or two of those narratives have been cognitively hardened in someone because they read this article.
- hueving 10y agoAh, the "well the other news is fake news so this fake news is okay" approach.
- mehaveaccount 10y agoThe people have read your narrative and the article author's and have judged his to be more sound.