3 ms·

Amazing that these data are so upsetting to news.YC's audience. I wonder if one of the downvoters could articulate what it is about these facts that needs to be

by _h4xr 18y ago

Amazing that these data are so upsetting to news.YC's audience. I wonder if one of the downvoters could articulate what it is about these facts that needs to be suppressed. It seems relevant to me that Obama sought such a radical preacher as his mentor, and it was only when one of his other spiritual mentors (http://www.volokh.com/posts/1207631070.shtml http://www.volokh.com/posts/1207631070.shtml ) got in trouble that he finally left the church.

mynameishere 18y ago
I wonder if one of the downvoters could articulate what it is about these facts that needs to be suppressed Good luck. I was going to come up with an elaborate analysis, but it would be wasted. A quick analogy: If you write a post explaining why dell is cheaper than apple, given the same components, you will be severely downmodded. Even if apple is better in every other way, pointing out even a single disadvantage is an affront to people who've bought the whole package, even if they've bought that package because of a single detail. In Obama's case, that single detail might be: 1) Iraq, 2) Net neutrality, 3) Telecom immunity, 4) Anything else. ADDENDUM: I'm not going to look it up, but the only time I remember pg being dowmmodded severely was when he criticized (rather lamely, in fact) Ron Paul. So, it's not unusual.
- _h4xr 18y ago
  I definitely think that these bitter Americans and non-Americans cling to social news sites and Obama. I just wish some of them would explain why, instead of downvoting factual information about their candidate. The guy has been a public figure for about four years, compared to maybe forty for John McCain, so I'd expect them to be desperate for new information, and thankful when it's provided. And yet, the more I tell people about Barack Hussein Obama, they madder they get at me!
  - mwmanning 18y ago
    "And yet, the more I tell people about Barack Hussein Obama, they madder they get at me!" It's because you're a bigot.
    - _h4xr 18y ago
      Wait, is it bigoted to have information about Obama? Or bigoted to share it? Or is neutral information transubstantiated into bigotry by my communion with Odin? Please clarify your question.
      - mwmanning 18y ago
        It wasn't a question, it was a statement. You're a racist. It's become painfully obvious after reading your comments over the last several months. You can accept that or not. I just thought it was worth losing karma to confront you with that.
        _h4xr 18y ago
        Okay. Does that mean I'm wrong? Or does it mean that I'm right but you're upset about it? If you can make a factual argument, I'd like to hear it. If all you can do is call me names, that's fine -- I'm okay with being vilified but not contradicted.
j2d2 18y ago
I enjoy the handling of downmodded items though. Where reddit hides it and thus makes unpopular views (especially really unpopular views) hidden, YC simply grays them out.
- j2d2 18y ago
  It'd be neat to somehow highlight really unpopular views while still being able to filter things out that are simply trash. YC doesn't have much of a problem with this right now, but it could help suppress the noise from the random waves of out-of-place comments.
mwmanning 18y ago
Why are you so afraid of black people?
- _h4xr 18y ago
  Where did I mention that half of Obama's ancestry?
- carlos_m 18y ago
  [Playing armchair psychiatrist] Why? He has been victimized: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95161 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95161 Although he states that race has not permeated his thought process, a casual glance over the books he wants to buy share a decided slant towards race issues: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/SA583Y3SWBA8/ref=wl_web/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/SA583Y3SWBA8/ref=... Bear in mind that I am black, and I am empathetic to him. Put yourself in his shoes, a young guy with a new gig just trying to make it in the Big Apple, and you aren't getting paid much so you have to settle in a seedier part of the city. People attack you and rob you just because of your color. You are trying to do something generative with your life. You were not part of this: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynch_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynching.htm&h=271&w=512&sz=23&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=Vjyyr-Xfi_GLvM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlynchings%2Bsouth%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.liu.edu/cw... Or this: http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynch_1.jpg http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynch_1.jpg The folks that committed those crimes are long dead. But that is part of the ugliness of racism/tribalism: It's propagated like a tumor to non actors and good people. I've been called an epithet or ten in my day, but I've never been under physical attack like him. I would hope that I would have came to his aid in some way if I saw it happening. I would also hope that I would come away from it without negative racial views of the perpetrators, but am I that noble? I'm not so sure. I was good friends with a Jewish guy in college who got chased after school every day calling him "white boy". He overcame that and saved my ass on many an occassion, but I digress... The human mind evolved friend or foe circuitry tuned to statistics, so the conclusion his mind has come to is somewhat rational. So what does a man do? If you're of low intelligence and have a proclivity for violence, you become a skinhead. If you're Byrne, you have an above average intelligence, as he seems to, you get your ass out of dodge and read a few books to better inform yourself as to why what happened to you happened. Again, as a black person I can't agree with his conclusions, but I empathize with him and he would have been within his rights as a human being to fire a pistol at his attackers. If I mischaracterized him my apologies in advance.

by _h4xr 18y ago

mynameishere 18y ago

I wonder if one of the downvoters could articulate what it is about these facts that needs to be suppressed Good luck. I was going to come up with an elaborate analysis, but it would be wasted. A quick analogy: If you write a post explaining why dell is cheaper than apple, given the same components, you will be severely downmodded. Even if apple is better in every other way, pointing out even a single disadvantage is an affront to people who've bought the whole package, even if they've bought that package because of a single detail. In Obama's case, that single detail might be: 1) Iraq, 2) Net neutrality, 3) Telecom immunity, 4) Anything else. ADDENDUM: I'm not going to look it up, but the only time I remember pg being dowmmodded severely was when he criticized (rather lamely, in fact) Ron Paul. So, it's not unusual.

_h4xr 18y ago
I definitely think that these bitter Americans and non-Americans cling to social news sites and Obama. I just wish some of them would explain why, instead of downvoting factual information about their candidate. The guy has been a public figure for about four years, compared to maybe forty for John McCain, so I'd expect them to be desperate for new information, and thankful when it's provided. And yet, the more I tell people about Barack Hussein Obama, they madder they get at me!
- mwmanning 18y ago
  "And yet, the more I tell people about Barack Hussein Obama, they madder they get at me!" It's because you're a bigot.
  - _h4xr 18y ago
    Wait, is it bigoted to have information about Obama? Or bigoted to share it? Or is neutral information transubstantiated into bigotry by my communion with Odin? Please clarify your question.
    - mwmanning 18y ago
      It wasn't a question, it was a statement. You're a racist. It's become painfully obvious after reading your comments over the last several months. You can accept that or not. I just thought it was worth losing karma to confront you with that.
      - _h4xr 18y ago
        Okay. Does that mean I'm wrong? Or does it mean that I'm right but you're upset about it? If you can make a factual argument, I'd like to hear it. If all you can do is call me names, that's fine -- I'm okay with being vilified but not contradicted.

j2d2 18y ago

I enjoy the handling of downmodded items though. Where reddit hides it and thus makes unpopular views (especially really unpopular views) hidden, YC simply grays them out.

j2d2 18y ago
It'd be neat to somehow highlight really unpopular views while still being able to filter things out that are simply trash. YC doesn't have much of a problem with this right now, but it could help suppress the noise from the random waves of out-of-place comments.

mwmanning 18y ago

Why are you so afraid of black people?

_h4xr 18y ago
Where did I mention that half of Obama's ancestry?
carlos_m 18y ago
[Playing armchair psychiatrist] Why? He has been victimized: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95161 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95161 Although he states that race has not permeated his thought process, a casual glance over the books he wants to buy share a decided slant towards race issues: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/SA583Y3SWBA8/ref=wl_web/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/SA583Y3SWBA8/ref=... Bear in mind that I am black, and I am empathetic to him. Put yourself in his shoes, a young guy with a new gig just trying to make it in the Big Apple, and you aren't getting paid much so you have to settle in a seedier part of the city. People attack you and rob you just because of your color. You are trying to do something generative with your life. You were not part of this: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynch_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynching.htm&h=271&w=512&sz=23&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=Vjyyr-Xfi_GLvM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlynchings%2Bsouth%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.liu.edu/cw... Or this: http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynch_1.jpg http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynch_1.jpg The folks that committed those crimes are long dead. But that is part of the ugliness of racism/tribalism: It's propagated like a tumor to non actors and good people. I've been called an epithet or ten in my day, but I've never been under physical attack like him. I would hope that I would have came to his aid in some way if I saw it happening. I would also hope that I would come away from it without negative racial views of the perpetrators, but am I that noble? I'm not so sure. I was good friends with a Jewish guy in college who got chased after school every day calling him "white boy". He overcame that and saved my ass on many an occassion, but I digress... The human mind evolved friend or foe circuitry tuned to statistics, so the conclusion his mind has come to is somewhat rational. So what does a man do? If you're of low intelligence and have a proclivity for violence, you become a skinhead. If you're Byrne, you have an above average intelligence, as he seems to, you get your ass out of dodge and read a few books to better inform yourself as to why what happened to you happened. Again, as a black person I can't agree with his conclusions, but I empathize with him and he would have been within his rights as a human being to fire a pistol at his attackers. If I mischaracterized him my apologies in advance.