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I have no problem with him writing about what he assumes to be biased or racist behavior he's encountered. But the racist stereotyping and generalization he ind

I have no problem with him writing about what he assumes to be biased or racist behavior he's encountered. But the racist stereotyping and generalization he indulges in is baseless and drains his entire piece of credibility. It has no place on HN or in any sort of discourse.

ibejoeb 9y ago
I don't know. I kinda agree, but if HN will indulge writing on bias from every other demographic, why object to this one? You don't hear much about women in tech without the corollary that the industry is backboned by misogyny and men are sexist womanizers. I think there is a morsel of insight in here: "comfort" is a weasel word. It is the current accepted way of getting out of something we don't want. It can be, as the author suggests, the mask over racism. It is also the "cultural fit" nonsense, where we reject qualified a qualified person for being whatever he is: too ugly, too attractive, too old, too much potential to be my boss...
Mz 9y ago
My therapist used to say "If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is probably the one you hit." When criticisms from an oppressed underclass comes in, there is usually some polite and politically correct reason to dismiss them. In many cases, if the oppressed could somehow magically find the right words to say it "appropriately," it still would not be acceptable because the truth in such situations is very often that the real problem is criticizing the status quo, not the manner in which those criticisms were framed. Or, to use the terminology of this post, it makes people uncomfortable and they play the comfortable card. Because the comfort of privileged peoples matter. The discomfort of the oppressed never does, no matter how much real and genuine suffering is involved for the oppressed compared to the minor annoyances the privileged group can't tolerate for themselves.
- mugenjin 9y ago
  What an eloquent explanation. 100% agreed.

ibejoeb 9y ago

I don't know. I kinda agree, but if HN will indulge writing on bias from every other demographic, why object to this one? You don't hear much about women in tech without the corollary that the industry is backboned by misogyny and men are sexist womanizers. I think there is a morsel of insight in here: "comfort" is a weasel word. It is the current accepted way of getting out of something we don't want. It can be, as the author suggests, the mask over racism. It is also the "cultural fit" nonsense, where we reject qualified a qualified person for being whatever he is: too ugly, too attractive, too old, too much potential to be my boss...

Mz 9y ago

My therapist used to say "If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is probably the one you hit." When criticisms from an oppressed underclass comes in, there is usually some polite and politically correct reason to dismiss them. In many cases, if the oppressed could somehow magically find the right words to say it "appropriately," it still would not be acceptable because the truth in such situations is very often that the real problem is criticizing the status quo, not the manner in which those criticisms were framed. Or, to use the terminology of this post, it makes people uncomfortable and they play the comfortable card. Because the comfort of privileged peoples matter. The discomfort of the oppressed never does, no matter how much real and genuine suffering is involved for the oppressed compared to the minor annoyances the privileged group can't tolerate for themselves.

mugenjin 9y ago
What an eloquent explanation. 100% agreed.