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There are two convenient fact omissions when talking about sexism and racism towards Pao: the fact that the fired employee was female too. And the fact that Pao

There are two convenient fact omissions when talking about sexism and racism towards Pao: the fact that the fired employee was female too. And the fact that Pao is of asian origins and that Asians are traditionally over-represented in SV and not traditional victims of racism in technology. Those facts made the case for a racist and sexist crowd a bit too nuanced for a front page. (Or maybe Asians and Indians are officially not counting now? They were getting too much in the way of the simply racist technoworld narrative?)

notahacker 11y ago
Regardless of whether the article's editorial stance is a bit kind to Pao, I think the fact that numerous racist comments were directed towards her is a lot more pertinent to the story than the number of Asians working in SV...
- nraynaud 11y ago
  in a world where storytelling and example is more important than statistics and hard numbers, this story will be used in the future as an example instead of an exception.
Brakenshire 11y ago
> And the fact that Pao is of asian origins and that Asians are traditionally over-represented in SV and not traditional victims of racism in technology. Is the reddit audience particularly strong in SV? In the people on the board, and working for the company, yes, in the audience, I would say no. Also, it doesn't necessarily matter about what people really think, the behaviour on reddit was more about trying to find the most unpleasant thing you can say, rather like when a football/soccer crowd tries to rile up opposition players with abuse - it's more bigotry than genuine racism. Although, just like with football crowds, the genuine racists do then get to ride in the slip-stream. And people don't necessarily go back into the real world and shake it off, these movements develop their own momentum. Much in the same way than 4chan started off being racist in an ironical or troll-like way, and is now unashamedly, sincerely racist.
- nraynaud 11y ago
  there is a straight Kierkegaardian element in that behavior, crowd vs people.
  - Brakenshire 11y ago
    I didn't realize Kierkegaard talked about things like that. Could you recommend something from him to read on the subject?
    - nraynaud 11y ago
      nope, studied at school 15-20 years ago.
rquantz 11y ago
You misunderstand racism if you think Asians in tech are not subject to it.

notahacker 11y ago

Regardless of whether the article's editorial stance is a bit kind to Pao, I think the fact that numerous racist comments were directed towards her is a lot more pertinent to the story than the number of Asians working in SV...

nraynaud 11y ago
in a world where storytelling and example is more important than statistics and hard numbers, this story will be used in the future as an example instead of an exception.

Brakenshire 11y ago

> And the fact that Pao is of asian origins and that Asians are traditionally over-represented in SV and not traditional victims of racism in technology. Is the reddit audience particularly strong in SV? In the people on the board, and working for the company, yes, in the audience, I would say no. Also, it doesn't necessarily matter about what people really think, the behaviour on reddit was more about trying to find the most unpleasant thing you can say, rather like when a football/soccer crowd tries to rile up opposition players with abuse - it's more bigotry than genuine racism. Although, just like with football crowds, the genuine racists do then get to ride in the slip-stream. And people don't necessarily go back into the real world and shake it off, these movements develop their own momentum. Much in the same way than 4chan started off being racist in an ironical or troll-like way, and is now unashamedly, sincerely racist.

nraynaud 11y ago
there is a straight Kierkegaardian element in that behavior, crowd vs people.
- Brakenshire 11y ago
  I didn't realize Kierkegaard talked about things like that. Could you recommend something from him to read on the subject?
  - nraynaud 11y ago
    nope, studied at school 15-20 years ago.

rquantz 11y ago

You misunderstand racism if you think Asians in tech are not subject to it.