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Racism at a gaming company

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Re: Racism at a gaming company

#161

Post by chojeen »

rauljara wrote: post #88
drats wrote: post #29

"Dumbblack " "then proceeds to do what black men always can’t help but do" "black men always telling which way is up because they feel they are the “authority” when it comes to any and everything, most often when they don’t know shit about shit" " I know when black people start to speak down to me from their pedatsol which is white privilege, they aren’t listening, nor will they" "I cannot afford to take black people…

You're leaving out a pretty important bit of context. He isn't talking about white people in general, here. He is talking about a very specific subset of people who have had power over him, and said pretty racist things to him. I'm pretty sure he wasn't referring to my white mother when he said dumbwhite. While I agree that the saintly thing to is respond without bringing up your persecutors' race, I am pretty sympat…

> You're leaving out a pretty important bit of context. He isn't talking about white people in general, here. He is talking about a very specific subset of people who have had power over him, and said pretty racist things to him. I'm pretty sure he wasn't referring to my white mother when he said dumbwhite.

So racial epithets are OK as long as you're targeting a group of people who have wronged you? Got it.

Not that it in any way legitimizes the vile things that were said to the man.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#162

Post by jamesmiller5 »

If you replace the instances of "white men" with "mainstream white culture" his arguments are much stronger and I believe to be his original intent.

"And it’s not a matter of generalizing white people, rather it’s being real about the culture San Francisco creates."

The author is angry that white culture perpetuates racism and privilege, which himself and other cultural minorities are now forced to tolerate at their workplace. His choice of words was obviously inappropriate and while I'm not excusing how his point was said I don't believe it was his intention to make his point using racist statements.

This is a classic example of "What you said was racist VS. You are a racist": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#163

Post by Torgo »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #53
citricsquid wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno if he's just angry, I guess it makes sense, but I agree that some of his comments seem off, like he has "problems" beyond the situation, these are just as racist: Also, at some point after this conversation took place, one of the women looked at my prized necklace and said “Hey, that looks like a calculator, is that a calculator?” I said “um no, it’s a necklace, it’s African, from Nairobi.” And she replies “O…

In my experience once people get to the point where they want to shout out their hurt/anger to the world they have gone past the 'civil' stage. This person has a pretty much slam dunk case for a hostile work environment, the lawsuit would wake up management to that fact. Now it may be true that work was just the part that took them over the top, but I am not going to dismiss his clearly painful experience because of…

There is a huge chunk of Tumblr that sounds identical in tone and language. They all feed off of each other. He came into his job sounding like this, it didn't happen recently. Tumblr is their outlet.

Not that that in any way justifies his treatment, which is beyond bad and well into legally actionable.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#164

Post by benihana »

MartinCron wrote: post #77
ghayes wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty unacceptable viewpoint, especially as you have heard only one man's side of the story.

It's hyperbole meant to express my profound outrage at an apparently outrageous situation. To be clear, I do not endorse murder but when reading the article, I empathized with the author in a way that made me feel murderously angry.

Get a grip. Murderous rage isn't typically an acceptable response to things that upset you.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#165

Post by JPKab »

tptacek wrote: post #137

Decoder ring for nerds who are unable to read past words like "neoliberal colonizer" without racing to the nearest TEXTAREA: * A black coworker is singled out by another (non-black) coworker with "watch out for that guy, he’s trouble, he talks a lot of shit" * Referring to a latino coworker, that same coworker suggests jokes: "Like ‘you’re a mexican whore’ or like ‘your mother’s a Mexican whore?" * The black coworker…

Brilliant analysis.

I am one of the readers who had deep concern for the truthfulness of these observations. If they are true, then he got screwed, royally, and should sue.

Except for the pendant comment. That's just a case of taking yourself too seriously. Yet another nail in the coffin of his credibility.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#166

Post by unicityd »

JPKab wrote: post #25

I'm sorry, but this kind of whining is what I've heard from professional victims my entire life. Talking about gentrifiers as invaders discredits the rest of the story in my eyes. As a former trailer park country boy who grew up in a mostly black county, I can attest to how blatantly (and without even realizing it) racist and insensitive whites who grew up in affluent suburbs can be. My best friend (since age 11) is…

It doesn't sound like the people at this company gave a damn about being racist or offensive. Also, it's a lot easier to correct someone when you out-rank them or have some stature within the company. You say your friend "dominates at his company"; the guy in this story was a peon. He's not a "professional victim", he just got shit on by a bunch of racists assholes.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#167

Post by tommorris »

hugh4life wrote: post #6

I quit reading once I realized I was reading a gay man denouncing gentrifiers as being "neoliberal colonizers". Ugh... he may have experienced racism but he's also suffering from self delusion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator

Oh cute. You think all gay men are gentrifiers. Lovely.

Poor gay people exist. Read this: http://joeclark.org/gaymoney/facts/

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#168

Post by justinhj »

The unfortunate thing is about this is that I don't think the employees see themselves as racist or prejudicial at all. They think they are just cool, edgy and funny. When people get to positions of authority before they have grown up then you see this kind of shit. I think the OP will harm any tribunal or legal action he takes here because of the public racist comments he himself has made, but at least the company's culture has been outed, and hopefully there is at least one adult at the organization that can step in and stop it.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#170

Post by saraid216 »

methoddk wrote: post #148
rauljara wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're leaving out a pretty important bit of context. He isn't talking about white people in general, here. He is talking about a very specific subset of people who have had power over him, and said pretty racist things to him. I'm pretty sure he wasn't referring to my white mother when he said dumbwhite. While I agree that the saintly thing to is respond without bringing up your persecutors' race, I am pretty sympat…

That bit of context is irrelevant. He frequently used the extremely general term, "Dumbwhite motherfucker.", which is blatantly racist and makes his complete argument null and void, because the comments he makes in this post are no better than the crap he heard at his job. Sincerity and respect for a person's race does not take a backseat just because someone made racist remarks to someone else. I've been the victim…

> He frequently used the extremely general term, "Dumbwhite motherfucker.", which is blatantly racist

Agreed.

> makes his complete argument null and void

No, actually it doesn't. That's really not how logic works.

This is an audience problem. This post was pretty clearly not meant to be an intellectual tour de force; it was a rant, and a step away from frothing at the mouth. The author doesn't claim to be perfect, nor is he. For an audience like HN, it's completely inappropriate, because it doesn't take into account our biases and worldviews; but I seriously doubt he expected to be on the HN front page.

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