Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

gen.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 188 posts

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#91

Post by tstrimple »

Izkata wrote: post #51
starpilot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only do this if you're part of the in-group. If you're part of the out-group and reveal yourself, you could lose your job, friends, and more. If you were to reach out or fraternize with someone like James Damore, you will likely be cast out.

This is actually the impression I got from the medium post: he didn't reveal any viewpoints that would risk exposing him as not being part of the in-group, whether or not he actually held any.

Can you say the same for Derek Black?

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/24/651052970/how-a-rising-star-o...

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#92

Post by JshWright »

anon9001 wrote: post #83
sillysaurusx wrote: post #29

If you want to see what a Navy SEAL's life is like, I highly recommend this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvvNKBGgUw "Documentary" makes it sound sterile or clinical, but in fact it's pretty badass. Kind of dispels the illusion that we're not pampered. It's so good I'll probably watch it again today. The diving section is the best, IMO. Imagine someone spinning you around underwater and ripping off pa…

This kind of training seems like it would cause a lot of injuries. Is that just an accepted part of it?

Seems to be, yeah. Just about every SEAL I know suffered done sufficient (sometimes career ending) injury in training.

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#93

Post by manigandham »

luckydata wrote: post #66
forgotmylogin2 wrote: post #22

The author either has a fundamental misunderstanding of the criticisms against "safe spaces" or he's deliberately mischaracterizing them to earn the favor of his classmates. > What she meant by “safe space” was that she was happy to be in an environment where difficult subjects can be discussed openly, without the risk of disrespect or harsh judgement. If that's actually how safe spaces were implemented in practice,…

Put this way, it really makes me think you don't like safe spaces because they hinder your ability to hurt transgender people. It always seem that the only people complaining about systems designed to respect others is the people that are doing the dis-respecting, haven't seen much proof of the contrary so far.

You seem to be taking an example and making it personal. Let's avoid that.

The OP is merely pointing out how so-called "safe spaces" today are just echo chambers. If you consider topics that you disagree with as uncomfortable, or even harmful, and exclude them from discussion, then what exactly is the difficult non-judgemental conversation to be had in that space?

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#94

Post by diag »

dctoedt wrote: post #84
danharaj wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is everyone really required to learn all these new words / triggers / etc. in order to appease a tiny tiny fraction of the population? Every person you meet is a minority of 1 in 7 billion. Is it so hard for you to learn how to understand people? Do you have trouble with new words and concepts?

> Do you have trouble with new words and concepts? The trouble comes when a tiny minority (i) decides that the accepted meaning of common terms no longer suits their personal preference — I refer here to the use of they as a generic singular pronoun in formal language — and (ii) insists loudly that anyone who fails to conform to their new preference is being hurtful and disrespectful instead of merely precise.

It's not up you how somebody wants to be addressed after requesting it. You don't have to harbor cruel feelings about it. Singular they has been used in English for a long time historically.

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#95

Post by DuskStar »

tptacek wrote: post #86
DuskStar wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that the horrible in question - giving puberty blockers and other transgender treatments to children - is already happening, and I think I remember a case in Canada where that was done despite the wishes of the parents.

All a puberty blocker does is delay the onset of puberty. They're part of the medical standard of care, and have no permanent effects that require reversal; their effects end as soon as they're taken. The whole point of them is to buy time for patients to more carefully consider their path going forward. They're practically the opposite of "unproven and ill-advised". I'm not seeing the "horrible" here. But more to th…

> All a puberty blocker does is delay the onset of puberty. They're part of the medical standard of care, and have no permanent effects that require reversal; their effects end as soon as they're taken.

If that's true, then that's fine! But I was under the impression that there were still significant concerns about the long term safety of those drugs. (And other allegations besides safety - I've heard that many/most people who identify as the opposite gender prior to puberty begin to identify as their birth gender following puberty, but I don't have a source there)

And it sure seems to me like the debate is about more than just bathrooms. "Can there be legal repercussions for misgendering someone", for instance.

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#96

Post by namirez »

DuskStar wrote: post #80
tptacek wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand why you'd read it that way and I'm sorry if I worded it carelessly, but I didn't make the "bestiality" thing up and wasn't implying that you were making that comparison. Those really were dots that people, including senior policymakers, connected. Something you might want to read up on is "the parade of horribles", which is what you're essentially invoking when you suggest that any government protection…

Except that the horrible in question - giving puberty blockers and other transgender treatments to children - is already happening, and I think I remember a case in Canada where that was done despite the wishes of the parents.

> despite the wishes of the parents

This is a complex subject and you're entitled to your opinion, but please don't misrepresent facts. The kid and the mother want the treatment, but the father is trying to block it.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/06/trans-teenager...

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#97

Post by staplor »

anon9001 wrote: post #83
sillysaurusx wrote: post #29

If you want to see what a Navy SEAL's life is like, I highly recommend this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvvNKBGgUw "Documentary" makes it sound sterile or clinical, but in fact it's pretty badass. Kind of dispels the illusion that we're not pampered. It's so good I'll probably watch it again today. The diving section is the best, IMO. Imagine someone spinning you around underwater and ripping off pa…

This kind of training seems like it would cause a lot of injuries. Is that just an accepted part of it?

Yes, it is more likely for a serviceman to die in training than in combat.

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#98

Post by DuskStar »

namirez wrote: post #96
DuskStar wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that the horrible in question - giving puberty blockers and other transgender treatments to children - is already happening, and I think I remember a case in Canada where that was done despite the wishes of the parents.

> despite the wishes of the parents This is a complex subject and you're entitled to your opinion, but please don't misrepresent facts. The kid and the mother want the treatment, but the father is trying to block it. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/06/trans-teenager...

And that does change things!

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#99

Post by ItsMattyG »

tptacek wrote: post #78
ItsMattyG wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is of course when legitimate facts or opinions hurt others, it has the side effect of silencing others and creating a false sense of consensus (sometimes, literally, a false sense of scientific consensus) and debating the actual merit of different policies. The flipside of your statement is "I'm starting to think that only the people whose opinions aren't silenced are the ones who like safe spaces"

The reason this isn't a devastating rhetorical blow is that everyone from scientists to basement-dwelling bigots believes they have "legitimate facts" on their side. People believe all sorts of random things, and some of those things are genuinely harmful. I'm not saying I know where the line needs to be drawn, but there clearly is a line somewhere; "drink bleach to cure diseases" seems like a solid (and real!) examp…

I mean, are you advocating for the policy that people shouldn't be allowed to say this?

Would you have also advocated that people shouldn't say "mold cures disease"? How would we have then come to a consensus that in fact this mold does cure bacterial infections if we couldn't discuss it because it was considered "too dangerous to ever discuss"?

Re: A Navy Seal's Semester at Yale, at Age 52

#100

Post by manigandham »

hellomyguys wrote: post #70
luckydata wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put this way, it really makes me think you don't like safe spaces because they hinder your ability to hurt transgender people. It always seem that the only people complaining about systems designed to respect others is the people that are doing the dis-respecting, haven't seen much proof of the contrary so far.

Safe spaces is a phrase people use when they don't want to call it these environments for what they actually are, which are spaces for vulnerable members of society to have a place to discuss issues that are relevant to them, without having the already dominant voices in society interjecting, usually in a disrespectful manner.

That is not at all the definition used in the article which is the point of the OP's comment.

If the membership and topics are exclusive based on comfort then it is, by definition, not a safe space for any kind of difficult conversation. It's just a private club.

Post reply on HN