Racism at a gaming company • Hacker News Board

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#421

Post by anthonyb » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 2:28 AM UTC

chipsy wrote: post #414

reeses wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One phenomenon I've seen a lot is racism/sexism/prejudice of some other sort given free rein because there is no self criticism in that area. Because only stupid people are sexist and racist. We are smart, ergo, we cannot be sexist or racist.

To me it is a faith-induced form of ignorance - that because you have mastered one of the tiny, tiny subsets of all the world's technical knowledge, you believe yourself to have similar ability in other realms of knowledge as well. Morality and ability become one and the same, especially after the conditioning of hundreds or thousands of pissing matches in which you attempt to prove the same point, over and over: "I'…

Otherwise known as lesswrong-itis.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#422

Post by psykotic » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 3:12 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #408

psykotic wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Except for the pendant comment. That's just a case of taking yourself too seriously. Yet another nail in the coffin of his credibility. What nails? You're treating his every statement as suspect by default based on the racial, sexual and political stereotype you are projecting onto him. Judging by the admittedly superficial evidence of your post history, you are a Randian libertarian with a stereotypical dislike of…

You're treating his every statement as suspect by default based on the racial, sexual and political stereotype you are projecting onto him. The burden of proof for accusations of this nature (or any serious nature) should always be on the accuser, not the accused.

It's a blog post, not a legal document, so what do you expect? I have gotten independent albeit second-hand verification of a few of the episodes. Ignoring that, I still see nothing to warrant accusations of whining and lying. People yelling 'hypocrisy' and using it as evidence against his truthfulness are looking to rationalize their gut response, nothing more. Hypocrisy may be a weighty accusation against grandstanding moralists in the public square, but it has absolutely no relevance here.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#423

Post by javert » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 3:20 AM UTC

_pius wrote: post #361

javert wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he's right. The basic principle here is, do not talk to "progressive" black people, because you are likely to say something innocuous that they interpret as highly offensive. That is the message being sent here.

The statements made to this person seem innocuous to you?

The calculator necklace thing is what I was referring to.

But I'm speaking from personal experience.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#424

Post by anthonyb » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 3:25 AM UTC

xanados wrote: post #401

groby_b wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh. It's classic derailment. "Your damaging your cause by being so aggressive". "You're seeing problems where none exist". You get the same answers when you debate women's issues. And I have no doubt any other minority's issues, too. It's so common there's even a bingo card for it: http://tumblinfeminist.tumblr.com/post/12171070300/notasking...

The existence of bingo cards is not an argument, even if patio has made it so easy for us to generate them. You may find the following article interesting: http://squid314.livejournal.com/329561.html > This tendency reaches its most florid manifestation in the "ideological bingo games". See for example "Skeptical Sexist Bingo", feminist bingo, libertarian troll bingo, anti-Zionist bingo, pro-Zionist bingo, and so on.…

That article is a waste of time. It rails against poor arguments and a lack of insight with... poor arguments and a lack of insight. For umpteen pages. For some reason we're supposed to hear out people who start an argument with "I'm not racist but..."

If you find yourself saying "I'm not racist but..." you shouldn't be trying to justify yourself and come up with reasons why the other person should hear you out. You should immediately stop and think about what you're saying, because chances are that you are a bigot, and all the argument in the world isn't going to change that.

The existence of those sorts of bingo cards is because these arguments come up over and over again. It's a useful tool to help deal with bigots.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#425

Post by _pius » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 3:43 AM UTC

javert wrote: post #423

_pius wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The statements made to this person seem innocuous to you?

The calculator necklace thing is what I was referring to. But I'm speaking from personal experience.

But I'm speaking from personal experience.

Yeah, you've really got to watch out for "progressive blacks" like me, we're trouble.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#426

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 4:25 AM UTC

psykotic wrote: post #422

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're treating his every statement as suspect by default based on the racial, sexual and political stereotype you are projecting onto him. The burden of proof for accusations of this nature (or any serious nature) should always be on the accuser, not the accused.

It's a blog post, not a legal document, so what do you expect? I have gotten independent albeit second-hand verification of a few of the episodes. Ignoring that, I still see nothing to warrant accusations of whining and lying. People yelling 'hypocrisy' and using it as evidence against his truthfulness are looking to rationalize their gut response, nothing more. Hypocrisy may be a weighty accusation against grandstan…

[deleted]

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#427

Post by Uhhrrr » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 4:26 AM UTC

twism wrote: post #169

Hmm... 153 points in 1 hour and this is dropping off the front page rather rapidly.

Indeed - I guess there are some things people don't want to hear.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#428

Post by batgaijin » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 4:28 AM UTC

vacri wrote: post #410

batgaijin wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are the facts: This is from Wikipedia on demographics of the poor in the USA: The US Census declared that in 2010 15.1% of the general population lived in poverty:[30] 9.9% of all non-Hispanic white persons 12.1% of all Asian persons 26.6% of all Hispanic persons (of any race) 27.4% of all black persons. Looks pretty bad for hispanics/black people, right? Except it doesn't have the population breakdown... White…

That's for below the poverty line. Care to do a similar analysis for the wealthy or upper middle class? Racism is the false flag of socioeconomic problems in society. Racism is not just about the dollars in your hip pocket. Read the article - nowhere in it is he complaining about his pay.

I'm saying that racism exists because of how we treat the poor in general.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#429

Post by ceol » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 4:36 AM UTC

JPKab wrote: post #121

king_jester wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the equivalent of saying the author of this post is a reverse racist. When was the last time a white person was killed for being white? When was the last time someone came up to a white person and said they should be grateful that their ancestors were slaves? When was the last time the government systematically dismantled the white community in order to enforce racist class oppression? Repeat after me: WHITE…

Take a walk through half of Baltimore, friend, and you will discover that you will get the shit kicked out of you for being white. Murdered? Hopefully not, but I can assure you that, while the old, racist, static power structures of the USA are oppressive towards non-whites, power is not a static thing. It shifts depending on where you are. When you are taking said walk in Baltimore, and become surrounded by people w…

>Take a walk through half of Baltimore, friend, and you will discover that you will get the shit kicked out of you for being white.

Hey there! I'm a white guy who has taken walks through Baltimore before— in fact, all of Baltimore. What you're talking about isn't at all systemic like the shit the OP has to deal with. Yes, white people are victims of racially-motivated crimes. In fact, some of them are event prosecuted as hate crimes! But it's not systemic, so comparing it to white-on-black racism isn't fair.

Re: Racism at a gaming company

#430

Post by ceol » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 4:36 AM UTC

JPKab wrote: post #121

king_jester wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the equivalent of saying the author of this post is a reverse racist. When was the last time a white person was killed for being white? When was the last time someone came up to a white person and said they should be grateful that their ancestors were slaves? When was the last time the government systematically dismantled the white community in order to enforce racist class oppression? Repeat after me: WHITE…

Take a walk through half of Baltimore, friend, and you will discover that you will get the shit kicked out of you for being white. Murdered? Hopefully not, but I can assure you that, while the old, racist, static power structures of the USA are oppressive towards non-whites, power is not a static thing. It shifts depending on where you are. When you are taking said walk in Baltimore, and become surrounded by people w…

>Take a walk through half of Baltimore, friend, and you will discover that you will get the shit kicked out of you for being white.

Hey there! I'm a white guy who has taken walks through Baltimore before— in fact, all of Baltimore. What you're talking about isn't at all systemic like the shit the OP has to deal with. Yes, white people are victims of racially-motivated crimes. In fact, some of them are event prosecuted as hate crimes! But it's not systemic, so comparing it to white-on-black racism isn't fair.