Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley

Post by asabjorn » Sat, Dec 16, 2017, 4:43 AM UTC

chasing wrote: post #133

electrograv wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 100% agree with your premise that “the more voices the better” (i.e. the fewer voices that are silenced, the better). What you describe certainly covers much of what’s happening, but something else is happening too: Voices are being silenced. And to respond to your opening sentence, I don’t mean anyone is silenced physically (who does that?), but rather psychologically, culturally, and socially. That’s not a good t…

> That’s not a good thing. It really depends on the context. For example, I think there's a certain kind of racist, sexist, and homophobic talk which simply adds nothing good to the world. I don't think it should be illegal necessarily, but I'm fine if people are ostracized for holding such views. I certainly don't want to be exposed to that kind of shit. And there are many situations which require learning and under…

Post by asabjorn » Sat, Dec 16, 2017, 4:47 AM UTC

chasing wrote: post #58

You can say any of those things in Silicon Valley. I mean, people might make some judgments about you. But that happens whenever you state any opinion, especially if it isn't the mainstream. I think a lot of people are used to saying what's on their mind without consequence. They're used to other types of people remaining quiet on certain topics -- especially topics related to race, gender, and sexuality. And that's…

Post by grandalf » Sat, Dec 16, 2017, 4:56 AM UTC

Post by aptwebapps » Sat, Dec 16, 2017, 4:57 AM UTC

ghostcluster wrote: post #143

chasing wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Voices are being silenced. I think we've got to be cautious in defining what "being silenced" means. Because I see a world in which people are saying all sorts of things out loud. There was a protest with a bunch of people waving Nazi flags in a public park in Virginia a few months ago. I don't think people are being silenced. I think community norms are shifting quickly in many parts of the country and, again, it'…

So Stanford Medical School should retract this article about the overwhelming evidence of the biologically based cognitive differences between men and women then? http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2017spring/how-mens-and-womens-b... Science Denialism is just the new community norm, I guess.

Post by gamechangr » Sat, Dec 16, 2017, 5:03 AM UTC

swimfar wrote: post #214

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #144

I see that a new poster was quickly downvoted into oblivion for writing "Clearly you can say this stuff. It's just that the speakers seek to demand no consequences from their speech," but...I think that's largely true. I'm not making a moral judgement about that, per se, but it's worth engaging with the sometimes uncomfortable truth that free speech entails both what you say and how people react to it. Furthermore, t…

Have you actually ever lived in Alabama? Or are your views based on anecdotes and stereotypes of the South? I lived there for a short while and it's not Deliverance. In my experience it's a lot more integrated than the Bay Area. Note: (spoilers?) Deliverence doesn't actually paint the negative picture of the south that people associate with the movie. It's just as much about prejudices people have against rural peopl…