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

American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

621–630 of 888 posts

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#621

Post by inglor_cz »

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #567
RigelKentaurus wrote: post #437

Indian-American father here, living in the Bay Area. My wife and I came to this country with a few hundred dollars between us and have worked hard to reach where we’re at. We're far from privileged. I am 100% against affirmative action on the basis of race. I think there should be some measure of AA on the basis of economic status. It's quite personal for me this year. My 17-year old is applying to universities to st…

its all about you and your son apparently?

Injustice tends to work on personal level.

Would you happily sacrifice your son's wellbeing for the Greater Good, or whatever some talking heads say that the Greater Good is?

In that case, think hard about yourself, because you just might be sliding into fanaticism, or that kind of suckership that keeps tyrants afloat and fills their armies with cannon fodder since time immemorial.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#622

Post by antman »

Out of curiosity, how many people have flagged this post? It seems to be actively deprioritized by the HN algo? Now this post is in mid second page 613pts 592comments 7 hrs. For comparison the first ten posts now on HN are:

1. Blip: A tool for seeing your internet latency 245 pts 5 hours ago | 88 comments

2. Malicious PyPI packages discovered 630 points 13 hours ago| 283 comments

3. The dynamic incremental compiler of APL\3000 (1979) 25points 2 hours | 2 comments

4. The case for JPEG XL ( 64 points 2 hours ago | 34 comments

5. A large collection of fraudulent web stores 56 points 4 hours ago 16 comments

6. Universal Paperclips 33 points 4 hours ago | 11 comments

7. Next C compiler is a D compiler 122 points 8 hours ago | 41 comments

8. PR that converts the TypeScript repo from namespaces to modules 283 points by Kyza 12 hours | | 156 comments

9. Visualizing Diffs: The Myers difference algorithm 13 points 1 hour ago | discuss

10. Apache AGE, a PostgreSQL extension with graph database functionality 63 points 6 hours ago | 32 comments

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#623

Post by zimpenfish »

albedoa wrote: post #373
jimmygrapes wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like how you edited the actual words

Go on. What are the actual words?

WaPo from 1988[1], in a first-hand report by Bill D Moyers, says

> "I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Which look to be the the same words to me.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/11/13/w...

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#624

Post by Tozen »

inglor_cz wrote: post #617
Tozen wrote: post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am 100% against affirmative action on the basis of race. The problem with your statement is that affirmative actions is not based solely on race, so it appears that you are attempting to or have mistakenly fallen into perpetuating an offensive myth that the main beneficiaries of it are Black/Hispanic. The group that has benefited the most from affirmative action are White/Non-Hispanic women. White Women and Affir…

TL;DR: According to you, an Indian teenager born in the 21st century should be treated as less desirable during a college admission process, because of things that some white people did to some black people in the 19th and 20th century. Sorry, this is textbook bigotry to me, and I am dismayed by the fact that this way of thinking infested the American academia and half of its political system. As a young guy in the 1…

> According to you, an Indian teenager born in the 21st century should be treated as less desirable during a college admission process, because of things that some white people did to some black people in the 19th and 20th century.

Nowhere did I state that. You are putting words into my mouth and making up fake arguments. You are doing a classic straw man. Just stop, with that, and argue actual points that I made.

For the record, I have zero bias against young smart Indian Americans trying to get into college, nor against their parents who have done their best to raise and provide for them.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#625

Post by Ekaros »

nanidin wrote: post #597
RigelKentaurus wrote: post #437

Indian-American father here, living in the Bay Area. My wife and I came to this country with a few hundred dollars between us and have worked hard to reach where we’re at. We're far from privileged. I am 100% against affirmative action on the basis of race. I think there should be some measure of AA on the basis of economic status. It's quite personal for me this year. My 17-year old is applying to universities to st…

If I were a college application reviewer, I would filter for helicopter parents in an attempt to find kids genuinely seeking education as opposed to parents pushing their kids to unhappy places.

And I would only look at test scroes like SAT. Nothing else. Maybe few exceptions on relevant competitions like math olympics medalists.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#626

Post by DeathArrow »

In its effort to end discrimination and division, the American society built more discrimination and division than ever.

Division over race, gender, sexual preferences and lots of invented "identities" brings out the worst in people.

We should concentrate on what people have in common, not in what they might have different.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#627

Post by DeathArrow »

worik wrote: post #581

For some of us (me included) living in a racist society is like a fish swiming who does not notice water. I only noticed when I became intimate with a person from a minority race and saw how they were treated. That is when I noticed I live in a racist society. I love the economist. Their writing is so good, they are biased but know it, and acknowledge it. Biased, but not bigoted. nYet this article misses the point, I…

>For some of us (me included) living in a racist society is like a fish swiming who does not notice water.

And what was the society answer to racism? More racism but directed towards groups that were deemed "offenders". Somehow, some people decreed that thare is "bad" racism and that there is "good" racism. That there is "bad" discrimination and that there is "good" discrimination. This is obviously false and we should return to the situation where all people have equal rights.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#628

Post by zozbot234 »

Dreako wrote: post #614
mythhouse wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

>You had the momentum generations of high caste privilege and high caste education focused culture in India that let you achieve that. still not a reasonable justification to misdirect talented individuals to mediocre colleges and waste their potential. On a long term, this negatively affects scientific progress, and indirectly the national security.

"Mediocre" colleges are only mediocre because the best prospective students shun them. It's a vicious cycle, and breaking it would be quite beneficial.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#629

Post by mythhouse »

RigelKentaurus wrote: post #595
mythhouse wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

You don't know me, writing about high caste and whatnot. I remember having $30 in the bank, sleeping in my car in Detroit, and being awakened by gunshots near Wayne State Univ. The reason I'm grateful for what we have is that I'll never forget those days. I forgive you since you wrote out of ignorance.

I apologize for "high caste" assumption . you didn't address the crux of my comment. You came here with an education and momentum for success which is worth way more than whats in your pockets. Only a minuscule portion of Indian population has that privilege to get that education and immigrate to the states. Do you really belive you got into that tiny tiny population purely by your own hard work.

Your comment portrays you on par with a poor mexican immigrant who just crossed over. You both had $30 in your pockets when your came over but you credit your success to "have worked hard" implying the mexican immigrant didn't "work hard" as yourself.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#630

Post by [deleted] »

BoorishBears wrote: post #413
ipaddr wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a movie I don't think anyone is seething or really cares. They may look at you and wonder where you rank, so it forces you to prove yourself. But in this industry every interview wants you to prove yourself in pointless ways regardless if you have 20 year or 1.

> This isn't a movie I don't think anyone is seething or really cares. If you think people who assume minorities are diversity hires only exist in movies I'm not sure if you're naïve, clueless, or both. > They may look at you and wonder where you rank, so it forces you to prove yourself I mean you want to tell yourself no one cares, but you also want to say that removing AA forces me to prove myself? (actually that's…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN