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What does LCK being white have to do with anything? I am starting to notice people mentioning white people's race - which I just don't get. If someone does not

by omonra 14y ago

What does LCK being white have to do with anything? I am starting to notice people mentioning white people's race - which I just don't get. If someone does not position/think of themselves as a "color X", why bring it up? Also - Woody Allen and Seinfeld are jewish comedians. While they are certainly white, it's probably as relevant as them being male or human. Ie a person can obviously have overlapping identities, but if one identity is shared with 15m people and the other with a billion, the former one matters more.

newnewnew 14y ago
There's an idea taught by marxist academics that being white means living life on "easy mode"[1]. A lot of people on hacker news believe it because there is a high level of average education on HN. This belief is often used to denigrate the achievement of white people. In Wisconsin, the K-12 school system asks white students to wear a brand to remind them of how privileged they are for being white[2]. There are a lot of poor, underprivileged white people in the country, but racism is not logical. [1] Stuff like this is taught in class: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-th... [2]http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-schools-push-a-curriculum-of-propaganda/2013/04/03/6d25550e-9bc1-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-schools...
- markdown 14y ago
  > There are a lot of poor, underprivileged white people in the country So your argument is that if a particular race of people had it a little easier than other races, there wouldn't be any poor people in that race? On the whole, the white male does have a slight advantage.
  - peterjancelis 14y ago
    Fair enough, but that advantage is well deserved if they worked to build it. Honestly, if you want to be on top in 10 years, spend your weekends toying with bitcoins, drones and/or 3D printers. These areas will give birth to the new Facebook, and it's mostly white males who are playing with them right now. Get into it now, don't come whining in 10 years when a Hollywood movie is made about it and it suddenly becomes cool.
    - vidarh 14y ago
      > Fair enough, but that advantage is well deserved if they worked to build it. But the point is we didn't work to build it. Merely being born were I was gave me extremely high odds of being amongst the richest people in the world. At most you could claim my ancestors "worked to build it", but that's still a massive stretch - the main reason for the wealth I grew up around was oil and European imperialism.
      - abrown28 14y ago
        yay lets nerf those undeserving white men. that will make the world a better place
        esrauch 14y ago
        How does recognizing you are lucky imply "needing" them? Telling well of American children to keep in mind their privilege and that most people in the world don't have what they have hardly seems like Marxism to me.
        peterjancelis 14y ago
        'Privilege' implies shame. 'Culture' implies pride. I prefer to teach our kids culture.
        DharmaPolice 14y ago
        Pride (or shame) in other people's actions seems irrational to me (unless you had some involvement). Why should I feel proud that I am from the same country as Isaac Newton? Or shame about the bombing of Dresden? I had nothing to do with either of those things.
        eropple 14y ago
        No. Wrong. Privilege implies no such thing. Privilege is not a moral judgment: it is a description of a condition. You are privileged when you have advantages due to your religion, birth class, sexual orientation, or other socially relevant criteria. You are a dick when you refuse to recognize when you are privileged and act to reinforce your privileged position.
- barry-cotter 14y ago
  Whatever the correct term is for people who use privilege outside academic discourse is, Marxist is not it. I would suggest Social Justice Warriors™, they're the kind of people who don't believe in racism against white people or sexism against men, as possibilities.
- stfu 14y ago
  There's an idea taught by marxist academics that being white means living life on "easy mode"[1]. A lot of people on hacker news believe it because there is a high level of average education on HN. Marxist Academics believe x. Hacker news readers are intelligent. Being intelligent means believing in x. I see what you did there...
ladzoppelin 14y ago
LCK is also half Latino which makes the "white dude" comment even more ridiculous.
- LukeShu 14y ago
  Assuming that "white dude" is a race, not an ethnicity; then that has nothing to do with it. Race is culturally defined. If most people perceive him as being white, he's white.
- JamesArgo 14y ago
  His father is a Hungarian Jew who immigrated to mexico at a young age. He has no Latino blood. Both of his parents were ivy league academics: so he had a big genetic advantage, but that's just life.
  - ladzoppelin 14y ago
    From Wiki: "C.K.'s paternal grandfather, a Hungarian, immigrated to Mexico, where he met C.K.'s paternal grandmother, who was a Catholic Mexican of Spanish and Mexican Indian ancestry". I am not sure what to make of your "big genetic advantage" comment however having educated parents can definitely be considered an advantage in some circumstances.
    - Kudzu_Bob 14y ago
      Deafness does not adversely affect IQ, nor does blindness. Compared to those obstacles, having uneducated parents is a trivial disadvantage.
ams6110 14y ago
The implication is if you are white, and especially if you are male, you don't deserve what you have, or your opinion doesn't count.
- eruditely 14y ago
  This is the implication only if you're looking to shove vitriol into everything.
tiredofcareer 14y ago
> What does LCK being white have to do with anything? Even though in this context, absolutely nothing, Louis C.K. has discussed being white in his stand-up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY (NSFW audio) Interpretations vary, of course. I think he's underhandedly criticizing the discussion of white privilege; other people who saw that special with me disagreed.
- pervycreeper 14y ago
  >I think he's underhandedly criticizing the discussion of white privilege; other people who saw that special with me disagreed. Arguably, it's that ambiguity that gives depth to that bit.
erikpukinskis 14y ago
In the context of my comment, his whiteness and maleness are rough heuristics for the similarity of his product to Woody Allen and Seinfeld.

by omonra 14y ago

newnewnew 14y ago

There's an idea taught by marxist academics that being white means living life on "easy mode"[1]. A lot of people on hacker news believe it because there is a high level of average education on HN. This belief is often used to denigrate the achievement of white people. In Wisconsin, the K-12 school system asks white students to wear a brand to remind them of how privileged they are for being white[2]. There are a lot of poor, underprivileged white people in the country, but racism is not logical. [1] Stuff like this is taught in class: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-th... [2]http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-schools-push-a-curriculum-of-propaganda/2013/04/03/6d25550e-9bc1-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-schools...

markdown 14y ago
> There are a lot of poor, underprivileged white people in the country So your argument is that if a particular race of people had it a little easier than other races, there wouldn't be any poor people in that race? On the whole, the white male does have a slight advantage.
- peterjancelis 14y ago
  Fair enough, but that advantage is well deserved if they worked to build it. Honestly, if you want to be on top in 10 years, spend your weekends toying with bitcoins, drones and/or 3D printers. These areas will give birth to the new Facebook, and it's mostly white males who are playing with them right now. Get into it now, don't come whining in 10 years when a Hollywood movie is made about it and it suddenly becomes cool.
  - vidarh 14y ago
    > Fair enough, but that advantage is well deserved if they worked to build it. But the point is we didn't work to build it. Merely being born were I was gave me extremely high odds of being amongst the richest people in the world. At most you could claim my ancestors "worked to build it", but that's still a massive stretch - the main reason for the wealth I grew up around was oil and European imperialism.
    - abrown28 14y ago
      yay lets nerf those undeserving white men. that will make the world a better place
      - esrauch 14y ago
        How does recognizing you are lucky imply "needing" them? Telling well of American children to keep in mind their privilege and that most people in the world don't have what they have hardly seems like Marxism to me.
        peterjancelis 14y ago
        'Privilege' implies shame. 'Culture' implies pride. I prefer to teach our kids culture.
        DharmaPolice 14y ago
        Pride (or shame) in other people's actions seems irrational to me (unless you had some involvement). Why should I feel proud that I am from the same country as Isaac Newton? Or shame about the bombing of Dresden? I had nothing to do with either of those things.
        eropple 14y ago
        No. Wrong. Privilege implies no such thing. Privilege is not a moral judgment: it is a description of a condition. You are privileged when you have advantages due to your religion, birth class, sexual orientation, or other socially relevant criteria. You are a dick when you refuse to recognize when you are privileged and act to reinforce your privileged position.
barry-cotter 14y ago
Whatever the correct term is for people who use privilege outside academic discourse is, Marxist is not it. I would suggest Social Justice Warriors™, they're the kind of people who don't believe in racism against white people or sexism against men, as possibilities.
stfu 14y ago
There's an idea taught by marxist academics that being white means living life on "easy mode"[1]. A lot of people on hacker news believe it because there is a high level of average education on HN. Marxist Academics believe x. Hacker news readers are intelligent. Being intelligent means believing in x. I see what you did there...

ladzoppelin 14y ago

LCK is also half Latino which makes the "white dude" comment even more ridiculous.

LukeShu 14y ago
Assuming that "white dude" is a race, not an ethnicity; then that has nothing to do with it. Race is culturally defined. If most people perceive him as being white, he's white.
JamesArgo 14y ago
His father is a Hungarian Jew who immigrated to mexico at a young age. He has no Latino blood. Both of his parents were ivy league academics: so he had a big genetic advantage, but that's just life.
- ladzoppelin 14y ago
  From Wiki: "C.K.'s paternal grandfather, a Hungarian, immigrated to Mexico, where he met C.K.'s paternal grandmother, who was a Catholic Mexican of Spanish and Mexican Indian ancestry". I am not sure what to make of your "big genetic advantage" comment however having educated parents can definitely be considered an advantage in some circumstances.
  - Kudzu_Bob 14y ago
    Deafness does not adversely affect IQ, nor does blindness. Compared to those obstacles, having uneducated parents is a trivial disadvantage.

ams6110 14y ago

The implication is if you are white, and especially if you are male, you don't deserve what you have, or your opinion doesn't count.

eruditely 14y ago
This is the implication only if you're looking to shove vitriol into everything.

tiredofcareer 14y ago

> What does LCK being white have to do with anything? Even though in this context, absolutely nothing, Louis C.K. has discussed being white in his stand-up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY (NSFW audio) Interpretations vary, of course. I think he's underhandedly criticizing the discussion of white privilege; other people who saw that special with me disagreed.

pervycreeper 14y ago
>I think he's underhandedly criticizing the discussion of white privilege; other people who saw that special with me disagreed. Arguably, it's that ambiguity that gives depth to that bit.

erikpukinskis 14y ago

In the context of my comment, his whiteness and maleness are rough heuristics for the similarity of his product to Woody Allen and Seinfeld.