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I think Umair is Pakistani, he's referring to racist tension he feels at some places. As an Asian, I can actually also attest to racism (though of a more subdue

by selmnoo 13y ago

I think Umair is Pakistani, he's referring to racist tension he feels at some places. As an Asian, I can actually also attest to racism (though of a more subdued variety) against brown people in hipster'ish cafes. Incidentally, I do want to comment on the hasty and acerbic reaction to this piece on HN: wow, this got emotional fast, I was hoping for an informed and intellectually honest discussion, not going into people's twitter history and finding all sorts of tidbits. If you guys are finding him at fault for saying things that are actually not that out of line with this very article's sentiments, how do you reconcile with -- for example, the Zuck openly inviting his friend to let in on people's private information and calling FB users "dumb f---s"?

jlgreco 13y ago
I see.. I looked for that tweet to find context but couldn't find it. However I did find two others in which he claims that white people having beards is racist, or something: https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 As an occasionally bearded white guy, this is distressing news; I was planning on growing a beard in December after "Movember", I hope I don't offend anybody... Maybe he's got a point in the cafe case, but honestly it seems like from the other posts he is just an purposely inflammatory troll. That seems to be his schtick, which probably explains the harsh reaction on HN. It's the sort of reaction he was looking for. > "...how do you reconcile with..." I'm not sure what needs to be reconciled. Can you explain this more?
- selmnoo 13y ago
  People are rejecting Umair's piece, in part, by what he's said elsewhere informally and casually. Somehow people continue using FB, and defending it, despite Zuck having said fairly nefarious things. To be clear, my question wasn't charged against you specifically. > However I did find two others in which he claims that white people having beards is racist, or something: https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 I did not find these tweets to be racist or strange at all. Maybe you're missing the context of what he's like as a person -- maybe that crucial information of tone is lost in pure text. I read it as more casual teasing. Considering he's a Pakistani-American, and probably associates big beards to religious Muslims in his mind, he's drawing some parallel between the two, maybe making note of the dissonant juxtaposition. But I do think he should be more careful with his wording, and make some due effort in not sounding offensive.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    In one of those tweets he seems to think that beards are problematic because they are some sort of Muslim culture appropriation (bizarrely ignoring the long history of beards in Europe...). In the other tweet he isn't talking about cultural appropriation or referring to any sort of Muslim connection, he seems to be taking offense to beards on white people because he thinks the beards emphasis their whiteness. The fundamental incompatibility between those comments leads me to believe that in neither case is he being sincere. He is just out to piss people off. He's 'trolling'. (Also, I suspect that most people who both know the "dumb fucks" quote, and think that it is significant, do not use Facebook. Facebook users probably mostly consist of people who have never heard the quote, have heard the quote but don't believe it, or don't think that the quote is relevant to Facebook today. Personally, I trust Zuck, so when he says I'd have to be a dumb fuck to use Facebook, I believe him...)
    - selmnoo 13y ago
      Do you really think he is simply out to 'piss people off'? I'm genuinely interested in your answer. I personally don't think there are many people like that. I think the word 'troll' is overused, very, very few people out there are trolls. When I think 'troll' I think about people who join multi-player games only to cause havoc, people who join IRC channels to paste nazi ascii's. I think people who have unorthodox, or radical beliefs often mistakenly appear intentionally inflammatory, but they really aren't. So, I really don't think Umair is a troll in the traditional way. He's probably (at least in his mind) making a good faith effort to explain something, he's clearly misguided in his ways of elucidation of complicated ideas, but reducing him to a 'troll' just takes the direction of discussion down a confrontational and unproductive path. Yes, he is ignoring the long history of beards in Europe, instead focusing how beards are viewed today by specific subsets of people, and I think that's probably the source of his errors.
      - davidw 13y ago
        I think he's out to get attention, and one way to do that is to be controversial, something which he seems to have honed to a fine art. I think he must be bright to have gotten so good at it, but it does not strike me as being all that productive, either.

by selmnoo 13y ago

jlgreco 13y ago

I see.. I looked for that tweet to find context but couldn't find it. However I did find two others in which he claims that white people having beards is racist, or something: https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 As an occasionally bearded white guy, this is distressing news; I was planning on growing a beard in December after "Movember", I hope I don't offend anybody... Maybe he's got a point in the cafe case, but honestly it seems like from the other posts he is just an purposely inflammatory troll. That seems to be his schtick, which probably explains the harsh reaction on HN. It's the sort of reaction he was looking for. > "...how do you reconcile with..." I'm not sure what needs to be reconciled. Can you explain this more?

selmnoo 13y ago
People are rejecting Umair's piece, in part, by what he's said elsewhere informally and casually. Somehow people continue using FB, and defending it, despite Zuck having said fairly nefarious things. To be clear, my question wasn't charged against you specifically. > However I did find two others in which he claims that white people having beards is racist, or something: https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393721183197483008 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 https://twitter.com/umairh/status/393722734918004737 I did not find these tweets to be racist or strange at all. Maybe you're missing the context of what he's like as a person -- maybe that crucial information of tone is lost in pure text. I read it as more casual teasing. Considering he's a Pakistani-American, and probably associates big beards to religious Muslims in his mind, he's drawing some parallel between the two, maybe making note of the dissonant juxtaposition. But I do think he should be more careful with his wording, and make some due effort in not sounding offensive.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  In one of those tweets he seems to think that beards are problematic because they are some sort of Muslim culture appropriation (bizarrely ignoring the long history of beards in Europe...). In the other tweet he isn't talking about cultural appropriation or referring to any sort of Muslim connection, he seems to be taking offense to beards on white people because he thinks the beards emphasis their whiteness. The fundamental incompatibility between those comments leads me to believe that in neither case is he being sincere. He is just out to piss people off. He's 'trolling'. (Also, I suspect that most people who both know the "dumb fucks" quote, and think that it is significant, do not use Facebook. Facebook users probably mostly consist of people who have never heard the quote, have heard the quote but don't believe it, or don't think that the quote is relevant to Facebook today. Personally, I trust Zuck, so when he says I'd have to be a dumb fuck to use Facebook, I believe him...)
  - selmnoo 13y ago
    Do you really think he is simply out to 'piss people off'? I'm genuinely interested in your answer. I personally don't think there are many people like that. I think the word 'troll' is overused, very, very few people out there are trolls. When I think 'troll' I think about people who join multi-player games only to cause havoc, people who join IRC channels to paste nazi ascii's. I think people who have unorthodox, or radical beliefs often mistakenly appear intentionally inflammatory, but they really aren't. So, I really don't think Umair is a troll in the traditional way. He's probably (at least in his mind) making a good faith effort to explain something, he's clearly misguided in his ways of elucidation of complicated ideas, but reducing him to a 'troll' just takes the direction of discussion down a confrontational and unproductive path. Yes, he is ignoring the long history of beards in Europe, instead focusing how beards are viewed today by specific subsets of people, and I think that's probably the source of his errors.
    - davidw 13y ago
      I think he's out to get attention, and one way to do that is to be controversial, something which he seems to have honed to a fine art. I think he must be bright to have gotten so good at it, but it does not strike me as being all that productive, either.