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Anytime someone says, "Blah blah sentiment blah blah... BUUUUUUT", what they're really saying is, "I'm doing exactly what you think I'm doing, but I don't want

Anytime someone says, "Blah blah sentiment blah blah... BUUUUUUT", what they're really saying is, "I'm doing exactly what you think I'm doing, but I don't want anyone to call me out on it!" And just have the goddamned courage to say what you want to say to begin with. You're exactly the problem. You can't even be honest enough to say, "You just want the Internet to be white again!" We didn't have voice communication when I was young. Sending a single high-resolution GIF took 10-15 minutes. In 1996, it took 28 minutes for me to receive a single 4 MB MP3 via DCC in IRC using mIRC. We didn't know what color anyone was. Oftentimes we didn't even know what nationality someone was. You were judged solely by the quality of your content. How good were your arguments? How cogent was your point? How well do you present yourself in communication.

shadowgovt 3y ago
> "You just want the Internet to be white again!" I sought not to put words in your mouth because I didn't know your meaning. But if they come out of your mouth as an intepretation of my interpretation, I have to assume that's what you meant to say. > You were judged solely by the quality of your content I remember; I was there too. A not-insignificant portion of "quality of one's content" was whether it fit the right 'hacker' mold. How well did you present your argument? Did you use the right words? Were you savvy to the right concepts? Those concepts were couched in the culture that originated the Internet, which leaned in a certain race, class, and gender direction. You didn't know what nationality someone was, but they got ignored if they didn't use the right words. And the choice of what words were right wasn't a democracy; it was a biased selection from the first people to trailblaze the culture, who brought their cultural baggage with them. You and I are both old enough to remember "There are no girls on the Internet." Now that we're building a net for 8 billion people, a lot of those norms are obsolete and over-constraining.

shadowgovt 3y ago

> "You just want the Internet to be white again!" I sought not to put words in your mouth because I didn't know your meaning. But if they come out of your mouth as an intepretation of my interpretation, I have to assume that's what you meant to say. > You were judged solely by the quality of your content I remember; I was there too. A not-insignificant portion of "quality of one's content" was whether it fit the right 'hacker' mold. How well did you present your argument? Did you use the right words? Were you savvy to the right concepts? Those concepts were couched in the culture that originated the Internet, which leaned in a certain race, class, and gender direction. You didn't know what nationality someone was, but they got ignored if they didn't use the right words. And the choice of what words were right wasn't a democracy; it was a biased selection from the first people to trailblaze the culture, who brought their cultural baggage with them. You and I are both old enough to remember "There are no girls on the Internet." Now that we're building a net for 8 billion people, a lot of those norms are obsolete and over-constraining.