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

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 694 posts

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#181

Post by pseudalopex »

Covzire wrote: post #152
cbryan wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is complete hogwash. I know and work with plenty of Christian scientists. They do just as well as everyone else in the job market.

Name one prominent scientist who is on record (and has tenure) who holds the position that the origin of the big bang as taught today is un-scientific. Of course there are Christian scientists, but Academia only promotes and gives tenure to atheists for a growing number of fields.

A Christian is defined by belief in salvation through Christ's death and resurrection. Not disbelief in the Big Bang.

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#182

Post by phendrenad2 »

RobLach wrote: post #114
bitcharmer wrote: post #5

It's really sad that in the age of unrestricted access to information public discourse is self-restricting to avoid wrong-think and dissenting opinions. If you look at the history of intellectual progress, much of it was exactly due to unpopular opinions. Now by having one you're risking your entire career and sometimes more. This is truly the dark age of the information era.

Hardly so. There's ample evidence that the current is the greatest opportunity for dissenting thought and opinion to have massive reach without much consequence or effort. The idea that we're in a dark age of thought is purely rhetorical and only serves to frame a narrative that further amplifies ideas that would never had a chance to propagate before the information era. Furthermore, we are living in a time of such…

Would love examples of popularly-disapproved-of speech that is flourishing online, and not banned and cancelled at every juncture.

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#183

Post by fallingknife »

whimsicalism wrote: post #135
omgwtfbyobbq wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is this had been around for a while, and what people are calling "cancel culture" is the same old-same old, but with (hopefully) less prison/death. There's nothing new about receiving negative feedback for having and expressing unpopular opinions. That's really common in pretty much every single social group I've been in, including on HN.

People are upset now that the current is shifting and you get shunned for being racist, rather than being shunned for not speaking properly or whatever the heck. The underlying mechanism has not really changed.

No one is complaining about going after actual racists. The problem is that things which aren't racist are now defined as racist and vice versa. e.g. saying that universities shouldn't admit students by race and only use grades and test scores is now "racist"

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#184

Post by gotoeleven »

RobLach wrote: post #114
bitcharmer wrote: post #5

It's really sad that in the age of unrestricted access to information public discourse is self-restricting to avoid wrong-think and dissenting opinions. If you look at the history of intellectual progress, much of it was exactly due to unpopular opinions. Now by having one you're risking your entire career and sometimes more. This is truly the dark age of the information era.

Hardly so. There's ample evidence that the current is the greatest opportunity for dissenting thought and opinion to have massive reach without much consequence or effort. The idea that we're in a dark age of thought is purely rhetorical and only serves to frame a narrative that further amplifies ideas that would never had a chance to propagate before the information era. Furthermore, we are living in a time of such…

For example, if you think people who have a sex of male and a gender of female shouldn't play in women's sports then really you actually have not thought through your perspective to adequate level of introspection and evidence that can survive free and open discourse. And so you should have your books banned and be subject to abuse and threats. That's just reasonable.

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#185

Post by slothtrop »

RobLach wrote: post #114
bitcharmer wrote: post #5

It's really sad that in the age of unrestricted access to information public discourse is self-restricting to avoid wrong-think and dissenting opinions. If you look at the history of intellectual progress, much of it was exactly due to unpopular opinions. Now by having one you're risking your entire career and sometimes more. This is truly the dark age of the information era.

Hardly so. There's ample evidence that the current is the greatest opportunity for dissenting thought and opinion to have massive reach without much consequence or effort. The idea that we're in a dark age of thought is purely rhetorical and only serves to frame a narrative that further amplifies ideas that would never had a chance to propagate before the information era. Furthermore, we are living in a time of such…

Tell that to David Shor, among others - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/david-shor-cancel-cu...

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#186

Post by robotresearcher »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #182
RobLach wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardly so. There's ample evidence that the current is the greatest opportunity for dissenting thought and opinion to have massive reach without much consequence or effort. The idea that we're in a dark age of thought is purely rhetorical and only serves to frame a narrative that further amplifies ideas that would never had a chance to propagate before the information era. Furthermore, we are living in a time of such…

Would love examples of popularly-disapproved-of speech that is flourishing online, and not banned and cancelled at every juncture.

Fox News.

They regularly have people on expressing minority views that directly contest facts accepted by the majority of the US and the world.

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#187

Post by [deleted] »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #166
heterodoxxed wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not clear why this applies, she wasn't dropped by her publisher or blacklisted. She chose to cancel the story herself.

This is exactly what the article discusses and this is also the reason why it is relevant and why it applies. The topic becomes too controversial for a vocal minority and an author "voluntarily" self-censored. I chuckled when you said she did it herself. She did, likely after she was told what would happen otherwise. I chuckled, because I assume you think she is free the way Sartre suggested she is free?

[deleted]

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#188

Post by whimsicalism »

refenestrator wrote: post #141
whimsicalism wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are upset now that the current is shifting and you get shunned for being racist, rather than being shunned for not speaking properly or whatever the heck. The underlying mechanism has not really changed.

It's specifically about speaking properly. Nobody gives a shit when Uber classifies their drivers as independent contractors to stiff them on benefits, but everybody cares about the propriety of master/slave replication terminology. We're dealing with police violence by capitalizing Black in our style guides. Etc etc etc.

> Nobody gives a shit when Uber classifies their drivers as independent contractors to stiff them on benefits,

I think quite a few people gave a shit? I think you're attacking a straw man, it is perfectly possible to have opinions on small stylistic issues (like master vs main) while also thinking that there are fundamental economic things that need to change.

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#189

Post by fallingknife »

omgwtfbyobbq wrote: post #99
c06n wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And fired from your job. And yelled at on the street. And prevented from working in your field ever again. And death threats. So, blacklisting: check. Excommunication: check. I'd rather not wait till it goes down further.

I think the point is this had been around for a while, and what people are calling "cancel culture" is the same old-same old, but with (hopefully) less prison/death. There's nothing new about receiving negative feedback for having and expressing unpopular opinions. That's really common in pretty much every single social group I've been in, including on HN.

Normal feedback is down votes and replies. Cancel culture is messaging dang and asking him to ban you.

Re: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'

#190

Post by offtop5 »

dahfizz wrote: post #46
BitwiseFool wrote: post #14

I genuinely wonder what cancel culture is going to look like in the next 5-10 years and beyond. Just about everyone I speak to about the subject agrees that cancel culture is bad but very few people seem willing to confront it. I sense that people hope the rest of society will come to its senses and we all stop being so judgemental. But as much as I loathe cancel culture and it's chilling effects on the free exchange…

> Just about everyone I speak to about the subject agrees that cancel culture is bad but very few people seem willing to confront it. I sense that people hope the rest of society will come to its senses and we all stop being so judgemental. I found this[1] article very interesting. Basically, only 2% of American adults generate over 80% of all tweets. "Cancel Culture" really is run by a few extremists who have a loud…

This 2% are the are same folks who will berate you on Reddit for saying you prefer partners with jobs.

At the end of the day you can decide to argue with angry people or not. Another perk of being social media free

Post reply on HN