4 ms·

It’s easy to make a self-righteous anti-racist statement. They bore me, and I am mystified as to why everybody rushes to be the first to condemn someone wheneve

It’s easy to make a self-righteous anti-racist statement. They bore me, and I am mystified as to why everybody rushes to be the first to condemn someone whenever they step over a racial line. The correct response to an unfunny idiot performance is to ignore it, not to seize the opportunity to proclaim loudly how non-racist you are. Also, I don’t think it’s wrong to joke about race. By joking about racial stereotypes, people are more comfortable discussing and confronting the uneasiness they feel when interacting with people from other races, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. Plus, race jokes are probably more funny because they are so taboo, see Chris Rock, Dave Chappel, et al. This dude has an execution and taste problem, that’s the story.

pius 19y ago
It's not self-righteous, it's personal. I'm black and I personally find it offensive. And it's not easy to take a stand against it around here - more often than not, criticizing this sort of thing gets you a lot of anonymous downmods. I'm willing to say something about it, put my real name behind it, and take the downmods. That's fine. As I said before, I'd much rather these things don't get posted at all on a site I go to for Hacker News, but if they're going to be posted, I'm going to make a comment about it. Staying quiet on it is the same as saying that it's acceptable to you. If others want to do that, fine, but there's no way I'm going to do that. Sorry.
pius 19y ago
Also, I don’t think it’s wrong to joke about race. By joking about racial stereotypes, people are more comfortable discussing and confronting the uneasiness they feel when interacting with people from other races, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. Plus, race jokes are probably more funny because they are so taboo, see Chris Rock, Dave Chappel, et al. Interestingly, I mostly agree with you. If you read what I said carefully, I didn't call the guy a racist and I specifically said the headline calling him "cruel" was too much. That'd imply that he went out of his way to try to hurt people with what he said. Hell, I mostly like the guy and have posted some of his stuff on News.YC myself. I think that if you reread my comment, you'll see that even Loren Feldman himself would probably agree with what I said. What he did was a cliched minstrel show. He tried to be funny, but instead he ended up being hurtful and looking like a racist douchebag. He's essentially said as much himself in subsequent postings. The bigger question is why the black guy is being attacked for commenting on the original video. ;)
- staunch 19y ago
  > The bigger question is why the black guy is being attacked for commenting on the original video. ;) We're all #828282 here (oh, except nickb on his 10k day) . You were probably downvoted because your post looked like it was copy/pasted from Digg.
  - pius 19y ago
    I criticized an offensive video and that means my posts look like they're from Digg? I don't think that's particularly fair.
    - staunch 19y ago
      Just imagine 20 more one-line posts like yours that call him a "douche" and you can see how it'd fit right in on Digg. You seem pretty interested in arguing with someone about this guy. I think it's pretty obvious to most people that this guy just isn't worthy of discussion. He's clearly an asshole, what's there to talk about? (that's a rhetorical question).
      - pius 19y ago
        Actually, arguing with anyone about this is a waste of time. I made one post deriding it, people started criticizing me, so I'm answering them. End of story. I post technical articles here and contribute tips to other hackers every day; I really don't need you to lecture me about the quality of my posts.
        staunch 19y ago
        I was just taking a shot at answering your question and I wasn't commenting on any other of your posts except the one you asked about.

pius 19y ago

It's not self-righteous, it's personal. I'm black and I personally find it offensive. And it's not easy to take a stand against it around here - more often than not, criticizing this sort of thing gets you a lot of anonymous downmods. I'm willing to say something about it, put my real name behind it, and take the downmods. That's fine. As I said before, I'd much rather these things don't get posted at all on a site I go to for Hacker News, but if they're going to be posted, I'm going to make a comment about it. Staying quiet on it is the same as saying that it's acceptable to you. If others want to do that, fine, but there's no way I'm going to do that. Sorry.

pius 19y ago

Also, I don’t think it’s wrong to joke about race. By joking about racial stereotypes, people are more comfortable discussing and confronting the uneasiness they feel when interacting with people from other races, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. Plus, race jokes are probably more funny because they are so taboo, see Chris Rock, Dave Chappel, et al. Interestingly, I mostly agree with you. If you read what I said carefully, I didn't call the guy a racist and I specifically said the headline calling him "cruel" was too much. That'd imply that he went out of his way to try to hurt people with what he said. Hell, I mostly like the guy and have posted some of his stuff on News.YC myself. I think that if you reread my comment, you'll see that even Loren Feldman himself would probably agree with what I said. What he did was a cliched minstrel show. He tried to be funny, but instead he ended up being hurtful and looking like a racist douchebag. He's essentially said as much himself in subsequent postings. The bigger question is why the black guy is being attacked for commenting on the original video. ;)

staunch 19y ago
> The bigger question is why the black guy is being attacked for commenting on the original video. ;) We're all #828282 here (oh, except nickb on his 10k day) . You were probably downvoted because your post looked like it was copy/pasted from Digg.
- pius 19y ago
  I criticized an offensive video and that means my posts look like they're from Digg? I don't think that's particularly fair.
  - staunch 19y ago
    Just imagine 20 more one-line posts like yours that call him a "douche" and you can see how it'd fit right in on Digg. You seem pretty interested in arguing with someone about this guy. I think it's pretty obvious to most people that this guy just isn't worthy of discussion. He's clearly an asshole, what's there to talk about? (that's a rhetorical question).
    - pius 19y ago
      Actually, arguing with anyone about this is a waste of time. I made one post deriding it, people started criticizing me, so I'm answering them. End of story. I post technical articles here and contribute tips to other hackers every day; I really don't need you to lecture me about the quality of my posts.
      - staunch 19y ago
        I was just taking a shot at answering your question and I wasn't commenting on any other of your posts except the one you asked about.