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What I Saw When I Crashed a Wall Street Secret Society (2014)

71 points by uxhacker 11y ago

xacaxulu 11y ago
Interesting, but totally unsurprising. Any time you get a group of elites together, this sort of fun is fairly common. In my opinion, tf it was really anything more than just a roast/goofy party, the reporter would never actually have made it in.
wyager 11y ago
News flash: people with similar interests tend to socialize. Rich wall street people are still just normal people, and it would be weird if they didn't have industry social events.
- rayiner 11y ago
  The homophobic jokes suggests they are not normal people, but rather terrible ones.
  - asddubs 11y ago
    unfortunately, this type of behaviour is not limited to 1% gatherings
  - harperlee 11y ago
    Sadly, homophobic jokes, if not plain homophobia, are very normal, and they will be for some time.
    - rrss1122 11y ago
      Don't worry, with the kind of shaming we're seeing in these comments, homophobic jokes and plain homophobia will be going underground sooner than you think!
  - themartorana 11y ago
    People that say shit like this are either completely hypocritical or completely naive.
  - smitherfield 11y ago
    Perhaps, but hardly confined to that one industry. Any article with the word "Mozilla" in its title on Hacker News and still, over a year later, 3/4 of the comments will be off-topic ones about how the gays are taking away muh freedom of speech.
  - RockyMcNuts 11y ago
    dongle jokes. not cool. terrible hot dog bun jokes, not normal ones, actually.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    Only if you can't find similar homophobic jokes being told by, say, 60% of the population... Jokes are irreverent. You don't have to be a "homophobe" to laught at such jokes, you could just as well be gay or a gay marriage supporter etc -- you just laugh at the mechanics of the joke (the word-play, the twist of the punchline, etc). Same with all kinds of jokes. You don't have to be a serial killer or a sadist to laugh at jokes about murdering people or black humor in general. You don't have to be an atheist to laugh at jokes about religion. You don't have to be an bigot to laugh at jokes about the Irish -- Irish themselves laugh with such jokes (and similar for other ethnicities). You just have not to be all righteous and/or PC.
    - PeterWhittaker 11y ago
      Yeah, you pretty much have to be a homophobe to laugh at a joke that disparages homosexuals, just like you pretty much have to be a misogynist to laugh at jokes that disparage women, a racist to laugh at jokes that disparage whatever race is the target of the joke. Oh, sure, you will find "in joke" types, where members of one group will tell jokes in an ironic kind of way for their own amusement - but I guarantee you that that will be seen as controversial and far from universally accepted within that group. Of course, you also get groups telling the jokes that disparage them in such a way to identify the group that would have told the joke originally, as a way of bad mouthing that original group. That's just as bad, just as sleazy. There is plenty of humour, plenty of belly rupturing spit out your beverage humour, without disparagement. There is never any need to disparage or be sophomoric to get a laugh. Ever. Was this post humourless? Good. So are racist, misogynist, and homophobic jokes.
      - coldtea 11y ago
        >Yeah, you pretty much have to be a homophobe to laugh at a joke that disparages homosexuals Strange, because many gay friends of mine laugh at those and even make them. In fact lots of famous gays are notorious for this kind of disparaging humor, against other gays but also against everybody. And I often laugh at jokes about a kind of handicap I have. Heck, I often MAKE such jokes about that thing. Also consider most comedians making jokes about their shortcomings, insecurities, appereance, etc). It's part of having a sense of humor. >There is plenty of humour, plenty of belly rupturing spit out your beverage humour, without disparagement. Not that much as you think. In almost every great comedian (and I'm not proposing a "no true scotscman" here: check the top-50 commercially or critically accepted acomedians of all time) you'll find all of these kinds of jokes you condemn about all kinds of groups. >There is never any need to disparage or be sophomoric to get a laugh. Ever. No, you can also tickle people. But being disparaging or somophoric is another great way. Heck, Aristophanes, probably the most celebrated comedy writer in the classics, had fart jokes and silly puns in his plays...
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    The quoted joke was not homophobic. Rather, it was a pun of a sexual nature. Homosexual sex is just sex. Jokes can be made about it, just as jokes may be made about heterosexual sex. People who don't like sex jokes are not "normal", they're prudes.
mattzito 11y ago
Should be tagged as (2014).
redwards510 11y ago
It sounds like an episode of The Simpsons, not real life. People who accumulate more wealth than they would ever need consider themselves better, smarter, more evolved than poor people. They should prove it by setting a good example and showing empathy for their fellow man. Instead, they laugh at the idea that your grandmother lost thousands in her 401k due to their addiction to amass more money than they need. If you need money to feel good about yourself, you should re-examine your priorities. EDIT: Also, what is with the cross-dressing? Do they dress as women to humiliate because they consider women lesser beings?
- discardorama 11y ago
  Money is like the score on the arcade machine to these people. It's not a measure of lives lost or dreams destroyed; it measures how well you played the game versus your buddies. At the end of the day, the one with the highest score "wins".
- freshhawk 11y ago
  I've completely forgotten where I read it but the most convincing sociological explanation for old school secret society cross-dressing I've heard was along the lines of: 1. These are cultures with very conservative ideas about gender and gender roles. Someone who cross dressed in their regular life would be shamed and excluded. It's considered degrading. 2. Since it's such a "bad" thing to do, when you are with your other high status peers it signals status to confidently do it anyway, as a joke only, to show that you are so confident in your position that you can even get away with cross-dressing. When you live at an extreme the normal status rules apply less and less to you, while the middle class engages in conspicuous consumption for status reasons, the upper classes can engage in conspicuous anti-consumption for status reasons. When you are high status enough, you can just ignore the normal rules because you are so comfortable and confident in your position. And this fact is something to show off with conspicuous rule breaking.
blfr 11y ago
Previously https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7256960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7256960 (104 comments)

71 points by uxhacker 11y ago

Interesting, but totally unsurprising. Any time you get a group of elites together, this sort of fun is fairly common. In my opinion, tf it was really anything more than just a roast/goofy party, the reporter would never actually have made it in.

wyager 11y ago

News flash: people with similar interests tend to socialize. Rich wall street people are still just normal people, and it would be weird if they didn't have industry social events.

rayiner 11y ago
The homophobic jokes suggests they are not normal people, but rather terrible ones.
- asddubs 11y ago
  unfortunately, this type of behaviour is not limited to 1% gatherings
- harperlee 11y ago
  Sadly, homophobic jokes, if not plain homophobia, are very normal, and they will be for some time.
  - rrss1122 11y ago
    Don't worry, with the kind of shaming we're seeing in these comments, homophobic jokes and plain homophobia will be going underground sooner than you think!
- themartorana 11y ago
  People that say shit like this are either completely hypocritical or completely naive.
- smitherfield 11y ago
  Perhaps, but hardly confined to that one industry. Any article with the word "Mozilla" in its title on Hacker News and still, over a year later, 3/4 of the comments will be off-topic ones about how the gays are taking away muh freedom of speech.
- RockyMcNuts 11y ago
  dongle jokes. not cool. terrible hot dog bun jokes, not normal ones, actually.
- coldtea 11y ago
  Only if you can't find similar homophobic jokes being told by, say, 60% of the population... Jokes are irreverent. You don't have to be a "homophobe" to laught at such jokes, you could just as well be gay or a gay marriage supporter etc -- you just laugh at the mechanics of the joke (the word-play, the twist of the punchline, etc). Same with all kinds of jokes. You don't have to be a serial killer or a sadist to laugh at jokes about murdering people or black humor in general. You don't have to be an atheist to laugh at jokes about religion. You don't have to be an bigot to laugh at jokes about the Irish -- Irish themselves laugh with such jokes (and similar for other ethnicities). You just have not to be all righteous and/or PC.
  - PeterWhittaker 11y ago
    Yeah, you pretty much have to be a homophobe to laugh at a joke that disparages homosexuals, just like you pretty much have to be a misogynist to laugh at jokes that disparage women, a racist to laugh at jokes that disparage whatever race is the target of the joke. Oh, sure, you will find "in joke" types, where members of one group will tell jokes in an ironic kind of way for their own amusement - but I guarantee you that that will be seen as controversial and far from universally accepted within that group. Of course, you also get groups telling the jokes that disparage them in such a way to identify the group that would have told the joke originally, as a way of bad mouthing that original group. That's just as bad, just as sleazy. There is plenty of humour, plenty of belly rupturing spit out your beverage humour, without disparagement. There is never any need to disparage or be sophomoric to get a laugh. Ever. Was this post humourless? Good. So are racist, misogynist, and homophobic jokes.
    - coldtea 11y ago
      >Yeah, you pretty much have to be a homophobe to laugh at a joke that disparages homosexuals Strange, because many gay friends of mine laugh at those and even make them. In fact lots of famous gays are notorious for this kind of disparaging humor, against other gays but also against everybody. And I often laugh at jokes about a kind of handicap I have. Heck, I often MAKE such jokes about that thing. Also consider most comedians making jokes about their shortcomings, insecurities, appereance, etc). It's part of having a sense of humor. >There is plenty of humour, plenty of belly rupturing spit out your beverage humour, without disparagement. Not that much as you think. In almost every great comedian (and I'm not proposing a "no true scotscman" here: check the top-50 commercially or critically accepted acomedians of all time) you'll find all of these kinds of jokes you condemn about all kinds of groups. >There is never any need to disparage or be sophomoric to get a laugh. Ever. No, you can also tickle people. But being disparaging or somophoric is another great way. Heck, Aristophanes, probably the most celebrated comedy writer in the classics, had fart jokes and silly puns in his plays...
- jessaustin 11y ago
  The quoted joke was not homophobic. Rather, it was a pun of a sexual nature. Homosexual sex is just sex. Jokes can be made about it, just as jokes may be made about heterosexual sex. People who don't like sex jokes are not "normal", they're prudes.

mattzito 11y ago

Should be tagged as (2014).

redwards510 11y ago

It sounds like an episode of The Simpsons, not real life. People who accumulate more wealth than they would ever need consider themselves better, smarter, more evolved than poor people. They should prove it by setting a good example and showing empathy for their fellow man. Instead, they laugh at the idea that your grandmother lost thousands in her 401k due to their addiction to amass more money than they need. If you need money to feel good about yourself, you should re-examine your priorities. EDIT: Also, what is with the cross-dressing? Do they dress as women to humiliate because they consider women lesser beings?

discardorama 11y ago
Money is like the score on the arcade machine to these people. It's not a measure of lives lost or dreams destroyed; it measures how well you played the game versus your buddies. At the end of the day, the one with the highest score "wins".
freshhawk 11y ago
I've completely forgotten where I read it but the most convincing sociological explanation for old school secret society cross-dressing I've heard was along the lines of: 1. These are cultures with very conservative ideas about gender and gender roles. Someone who cross dressed in their regular life would be shamed and excluded. It's considered degrading. 2. Since it's such a "bad" thing to do, when you are with your other high status peers it signals status to confidently do it anyway, as a joke only, to show that you are so confident in your position that you can even get away with cross-dressing. When you live at an extreme the normal status rules apply less and less to you, while the middle class engages in conspicuous consumption for status reasons, the upper classes can engage in conspicuous anti-consumption for status reasons. When you are high status enough, you can just ignore the normal rules because you are so comfortable and confident in your position. And this fact is something to show off with conspicuous rule breaking.

blfr 11y ago

Previously https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7256960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7256960 (104 comments)