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I think this is a reference to PewDiePie recently focusing a lot of his content on Minecraft and how the media has gone after him on a number of occations. The

I think this is a reference to PewDiePie recently focusing a lot of his content on Minecraft and how the media has gone after him on a number of occations. The concern would be in trying to attack PewDiePie, the media would attack what he is doing and label that as bad (similar to how the OK hand gesture was labeled as a white supremacist sign by the ADL). This is just my assumption though.

happytoexplain 7y ago
>the OK hand gesture was labeled as a white supremacist sign by the ADL I'm not 100% sure you're criticising that, so if you're not, please take this comment as directed at the many other times I have seen it criticized on HN and elsewhere: It always surprises me to see fairly smart people throw this out there like it's obviously silly. Communication is based simply on actual usage of language and symbols. If a bunch of people want to associate a symbol (especially one that's still ubiquitously known but has somewhat fallen out of popular real-world usage) with something very controversial and offensive, then they can realistically do that by simply using the symbol that way, even if they're only doing it as a hilarious joke. Then it just means that sometimes (depending on context), until they stop using it that way. If people are, in practice, using a symbol to mean a certain thing, then it means that thing (with the likelihood of meaning being a function of context). I don't have to think about it or philosophize about it when I see it - it comes naturally based on context, because that's how language works. If I've seen 10 usages of <Mercury-symbol> to mean "Mercury" in the past 5 years, and 75 usages of it to mean "kill all the elderly" in the past year, then when I see somebody who seems antagonistic write <Mercury-symbol> with no planetary context in sight, I can reasonably assume he probably means the latter, and I would probably be correct. As another example, the "V" sign means different things in different places - but if I see it in the US, I don't fret at the idea that I might misinterpret it. The fact is, in practice, it's used here to mean "peace", therefore it means "peace" at that moment. Sort of like how money works. You can't just say "no" and make the social agreement go away. *edit: I didn't know HN filtered some seemingly innocuous characters - I've replaced my usage of the Mercury symbol with <Mercury-symbol>.
- bloody-crow 7y ago
  Not trying to derail, but I honestly just learned about the existence of Mercury-symbol from this comment and I'm pretty sure I've never seen it used anywhere before in my life. I've also never heard of "kill all the elderly" message in general. Can you provide some context examples? Genuinely curious.
- patorjk 7y ago
  I tried to write my comment such that I wasn't making a judgement call on it, just listing it as a recent event that is most likely on the minds of people thinking about this topic. > It always surprises me to see fairly smart people throw this out there like it's obviously silly. I don't think it's silly, but I do feel the media's coverage of it was irresponsible / clickbaity. The ADL website itself mentions that most uses are "entirely innocuous and harmless" but CNN's headline was "'OK' is now a hate symbol", which stigmatizes the gesture and feels like cultural vandalism. I understand your point about language usage, but far more people use the gesture in an innocuous way. It's not surpising to me that people would be upset when told it's a hate symobol (when it's not in most cases - documenting that it is in some cases is fine, but generalizing it as a hate symbol is what most people disagree with).

happytoexplain 7y ago

>the OK hand gesture was labeled as a white supremacist sign by the ADL I'm not 100% sure you're criticising that, so if you're not, please take this comment as directed at the many other times I have seen it criticized on HN and elsewhere: It always surprises me to see fairly smart people throw this out there like it's obviously silly. Communication is based simply on actual usage of language and symbols. If a bunch of people want to associate a symbol (especially one that's still ubiquitously known but has somewhat fallen out of popular real-world usage) with something very controversial and offensive, then they can realistically do that by simply using the symbol that way, even if they're only doing it as a hilarious joke. Then it just means that sometimes (depending on context), until they stop using it that way. If people are, in practice, using a symbol to mean a certain thing, then it means that thing (with the likelihood of meaning being a function of context). I don't have to think about it or philosophize about it when I see it - it comes naturally based on context, because that's how language works. If I've seen 10 usages of <Mercury-symbol> to mean "Mercury" in the past 5 years, and 75 usages of it to mean "kill all the elderly" in the past year, then when I see somebody who seems antagonistic write <Mercury-symbol> with no planetary context in sight, I can reasonably assume he probably means the latter, and I would probably be correct. As another example, the "V" sign means different things in different places - but if I see it in the US, I don't fret at the idea that I might misinterpret it. The fact is, in practice, it's used here to mean "peace", therefore it means "peace" at that moment. Sort of like how money works. You can't just say "no" and make the social agreement go away. *edit: I didn't know HN filtered some seemingly innocuous characters - I've replaced my usage of the Mercury symbol with <Mercury-symbol>.

bloody-crow 7y ago
Not trying to derail, but I honestly just learned about the existence of Mercury-symbol from this comment and I'm pretty sure I've never seen it used anywhere before in my life. I've also never heard of "kill all the elderly" message in general. Can you provide some context examples? Genuinely curious.
patorjk 7y ago
I tried to write my comment such that I wasn't making a judgement call on it, just listing it as a recent event that is most likely on the minds of people thinking about this topic. > It always surprises me to see fairly smart people throw this out there like it's obviously silly. I don't think it's silly, but I do feel the media's coverage of it was irresponsible / clickbaity. The ADL website itself mentions that most uses are "entirely innocuous and harmless" but CNN's headline was "'OK' is now a hate symbol", which stigmatizes the gesture and feels like cultural vandalism. I understand your point about language usage, but far more people use the gesture in an innocuous way. It's not surpising to me that people would be upset when told it's a hate symobol (when it's not in most cases - documenting that it is in some cases is fine, but generalizing it as a hate symbol is what most people disagree with).