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It's interesting how the tenor of comments suddenly becomes "wait a moment" when it's hitting our own industry.

by sho_hn 9y ago

4684499 9y ago
Not really, our industry has been hitting for awhile, Uber for instance. The "wait a moment" is because it's Google this time.
- discoursism 9y ago
  I wouldn't say so. I've seen a few of these threads in my time on this site. It's very common for the first few responses, and the ones that are up-voted early, to be folks doing what can only be described as concern trolling ("I can't date my coworkers?" "Guilty until proven innocent!" or, as in this thread, "zomg blackballing" for a guy that hasn't even been fired, etc.). Often times folks will even flag these stories off the front page. Later on, cooler, more egalitarian heads seem to prevail, but things are always pretty dirty during the first hour or so one of these stories is on the front page. I can only be thankful that the folks doing the upvoting are not the dominant voice in the direction that we're taking as a society r.e. respect for women in the workplace and elsewhere.
- zbentley 9y ago
  > The "wait a moment" is because it's Google this time. Er, James Damore, anyone?
tigershark 9y ago
I don't really care about the industry in which he is in. I'm just wary of witch hunts started from nothing just to destroy an individual. I'm certain that this is not the case, but how would you react if someone that has a grudge against you would write an accusing unverified comment and your career would be finished because of this?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
mc32 9y ago
I don't agree with that take, but I'd like to hear of another industry which has taken a harder stance against SH than tech. Even progressive Hollywood, as progressive as they are, have not even scratched the surface. I don't doubt there is a reason for the "casting couch" cliché/meme/stereotype. I'm sure there is a lot of housecleaning to be had that's yet to begin. This is a new consciousness and it will take some time to work things out and figure out how we go forward without going overboard.
- phkahler 9y ago
  I think Hollywood is a special case that makes it particularly bad.
- Synaesthesia 9y ago
  I wouldn’t call Hollywood “progressive”.
  - mc32 9y ago
    If Hollywood isn't composed of progressive people who like the Vision set forth by the Soros funded causes[1] and donate to progressive causes, etc., I don't know who is. Maybe you're saying they only talk the talk... That might be fair to say. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_projects_supported_by_George_Soros https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_projects_supported_by_...
    - jacobolus 9y ago
      Why does support for voting rights, civil liberties, human rights, government transparency, media fact-checking, public education, international cooperation and cultural exchange, campaign finance reform, etc. now constitute one man’s capitalized “Vision”? In general those are fundamental western values supported by broad majorities of the American public since long before Soros. Hollywood is somewhat unique in that (a) it is located in a region with center-left politics relative to the USA, and (b) it has a concentration of rich celebrities who come from an arty background rather than a business background, and therefore have different values and priorities, and use their personal public stature to promote those. That doesn’t mean that it is politically monolithic, or that local businesses and other institutions are particularly “progressive”.
dang 9y ago
Yours is one comment that made more sense before we changed the thread to point to its current URL (see my comment at top). The Bloomberg article doesn't make it as clear as the blog post does that, for example, assault was involved, or that the pattern was so persistent over time. HN has hosted many previous threads about sexual harrassment and sexual assault in the tech industry, and most haven't had the quality you rightly object to.
speedplane 9y ago
The beauty of technology, hacking solutions together, and putting petty BS aside to solve a bigger problem is the heart of the developer community. Any attack or criticism based on anything other than merit goes entirely against that. Even if developers don't believe in equality and egalitarianism on a moral level, I'd like to think that on a purely practical level they want both 50%'s of the population to be working at their peak capability.

It's interesting how the tenor of comments suddenly becomes "wait a moment" when it's hitting our own industry.

by sho_hn 9y ago

It's interesting how the tenor of comments suddenly becomes "wait a moment" when it's hitting our own industry.

Not really, our industry has been hitting for awhile, Uber for instance. The "wait a moment" is because it's Google this time.

discoursism 9y ago
I wouldn't say so. I've seen a few of these threads in my time on this site. It's very common for the first few responses, and the ones that are up-voted early, to be folks doing what can only be described as concern trolling ("I can't date my coworkers?" "Guilty until proven innocent!" or, as in this thread, "zomg blackballing" for a guy that hasn't even been fired, etc.). Often times folks will even flag these stories off the front page. Later on, cooler, more egalitarian heads seem to prevail, but things are always pretty dirty during the first hour or so one of these stories is on the front page. I can only be thankful that the folks doing the upvoting are not the dominant voice in the direction that we're taking as a society r.e. respect for women in the workplace and elsewhere.
zbentley 9y ago
> The "wait a moment" is because it's Google this time. Er, James Damore, anyone?

tigershark 9y ago

I don't really care about the industry in which he is in. I'm just wary of witch hunts started from nothing just to destroy an individual. I'm certain that this is not the case, but how would you react if someone that has a grudge against you would write an accusing unverified comment and your career would be finished because of this?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

mc32 9y ago

I don't agree with that take, but I'd like to hear of another industry which has taken a harder stance against SH than tech. Even progressive Hollywood, as progressive as they are, have not even scratched the surface. I don't doubt there is a reason for the "casting couch" cliché/meme/stereotype. I'm sure there is a lot of housecleaning to be had that's yet to begin. This is a new consciousness and it will take some time to work things out and figure out how we go forward without going overboard.

phkahler 9y ago
I think Hollywood is a special case that makes it particularly bad.
Synaesthesia 9y ago
I wouldn’t call Hollywood “progressive”.
- mc32 9y ago
  If Hollywood isn't composed of progressive people who like the Vision set forth by the Soros funded causes[1] and donate to progressive causes, etc., I don't know who is. Maybe you're saying they only talk the talk... That might be fair to say. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_projects_supported_by_George_Soros https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_projects_supported_by_...
  - jacobolus 9y ago
    Why does support for voting rights, civil liberties, human rights, government transparency, media fact-checking, public education, international cooperation and cultural exchange, campaign finance reform, etc. now constitute one man’s capitalized “Vision”? In general those are fundamental western values supported by broad majorities of the American public since long before Soros. Hollywood is somewhat unique in that (a) it is located in a region with center-left politics relative to the USA, and (b) it has a concentration of rich celebrities who come from an arty background rather than a business background, and therefore have different values and priorities, and use their personal public stature to promote those. That doesn’t mean that it is politically monolithic, or that local businesses and other institutions are particularly “progressive”.

dang 9y ago

Yours is one comment that made more sense before we changed the thread to point to its current URL (see my comment at top). The Bloomberg article doesn't make it as clear as the blog post does that, for example, assault was involved, or that the pattern was so persistent over time. HN has hosted many previous threads about sexual harrassment and sexual assault in the tech industry, and most haven't had the quality you rightly object to.

speedplane 9y ago

The beauty of technology, hacking solutions together, and putting petty BS aside to solve a bigger problem is the heart of the developer community. Any attack or criticism based on anything other than merit goes entirely against that. Even if developers don't believe in equality and egalitarianism on a moral level, I'd like to think that on a purely practical level they want both 50%'s of the population to be working at their peak capability.