OP might consider the fact that truth in the real world does not conform to his liberal ideals.
That perhaps not everybody who holds an opinion different from his own is a homophobe, racist or misogynist.
On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
11–20 of 40 posts
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#12One of the things that's always bothered me about HN is how quickly articles about women in tech get flagged off the front page. It took me a while to realize that this is actually a feature and not a bug as HN exists as a promotional tool for YCombinator. Having much needed discussions around sensitive topics might be good for the community as a whole; but is much too risky a proposition for YCombinator to take on.
...and it's gone.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#13Can't speak to the Duck Dynasty guy, but the skewering of PG is perfect example of the pc lynchmobs preventing a conversation about the absence of women in tech. As a techie, I see think there's significant truth to PG's opinions. Surely it takes two to tango, the tech industry is keen to hire and encourage women entrepreneurs, but it's not like women are being turned away at the gates, by sexist VCs.
But women chose not to join the tech industry because it is not an appealing option. It is not an appealing for any reason intrinsic to either women or the tech industry, but because the tech industry is currently dominated by men who are unable to create a comfortable work environment for women and because the tech industry enforces the norm that it is not for women. When an influential leader in the industry says t…
What? Where did PG say "there is an intrinsic reason women cannot be in technology"? He never said anything remotely close to that.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#14I don't want to imply Catherine Bracy is right or wrong.
From looking at it, PG describes how things are (YC applications, startup CEOs) and Catherine describes how things should be.
I myself get often argued with because people confuse when I describe things a I see them with I tell people how they should be.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#15Can't speak to the Duck Dynasty guy, but the skewering of PG is perfect example of the pc lynchmobs preventing a conversation about the absence of women in tech. As a techie, I see think there's significant truth to PG's opinions. Surely it takes two to tango, the tech industry is keen to hire and encourage women entrepreneurs, but it's not like women are being turned away at the gates, by sexist VCs.
I'm genuinely afraid of stating opinions about women in tech, almost no matter what they are. Being a white male, I have a lot of fear of being completely ripped apart in TechCrunch or ValleyWag for stating my opinions or making suggestions, because I'm never sure if I'm totally PC or not. It sucks, because I want to help somehow, but I don't want to be misunderstood and have my name be raked through the coals either…
There is a pretty easy solution to your problem: get informed. Your opinion is worthless if you don't know what you are talking about enough to not infuriate people who do.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#16Can't speak to the Duck Dynasty guy, but the skewering of PG is perfect example of the pc lynchmobs preventing a conversation about the absence of women in tech. As a techie, I see think there's significant truth to PG's opinions. Surely it takes two to tango, the tech industry is keen to hire and encourage women entrepreneurs, but it's not like women are being turned away at the gates, by sexist VCs.
DO you really think that there isnt a conversation about the absence of women in tech? Really? At least every other day I see a front page article highlighting this fact, people getting upset because some conference's either do or do not contain women (some version of either insinuation of "we need women because we dont have them" or "we have women but they might not be as qualified and that makes some dudes mad") Pe…
Yup; and they're all flagged off the front page in no time.
My favourite one is the article about one of the problems with women in tech being that Silicon Valley believes it's more meritocratic than it is, on which PG comments that it's really that meritocratic (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6795606)
I'm still curious if he spotted my last minute edit just as it was dropping off the front page while an interesting discussion was emerging.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#17Can't speak to the Duck Dynasty guy, but the skewering of PG is perfect example of the pc lynchmobs preventing a conversation about the absence of women in tech. As a techie, I see think there's significant truth to PG's opinions. Surely it takes two to tango, the tech industry is keen to hire and encourage women entrepreneurs, but it's not like women are being turned away at the gates, by sexist VCs.
And how does dismissing critics as "pc lynchmobs" advance the conversation? Some people have oversimplified Paul Graham's perspective; doing the same to other people's perspectives will get no one anywhere.
The PC lynchmobs are the ones stopping the conversation. Instead of saying "prove yourself" they shout "bigot!"
The OP itself says that PG is saying "Crazy" things. How are they crazy? He doesn't point out how this is the case. Instead, he's made a final judgment and anyone that disagrees must also be crazy. There is no reasoning with those who shun reason and react to disagreement with accusations of craziness and bigotry.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#18One of the things that's always bothered me about HN is how quickly articles about women in tech get flagged off the front page. It took me a while to realize that this is actually a feature and not a bug as HN exists as a promotional tool for YCombinator. Having much needed discussions around sensitive topics might be good for the community as a whole; but is much too risky a proposition for YCombinator to take on.
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Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#19Subtext of the article is... white people are the gatekeepers to wealth, Paul Graham is racist and sexist, and white men pick and choose the new wealth class. And we should be angry at people like Paul Graham instead of Phil Robertson for judging people based on race or gender or sexual identity.
Re: On Paul Graham and Duck Dynasty
#20One of the things that's always bothered me about HN is how quickly articles about women in tech get flagged off the front page. It took me a while to realize that this is actually a feature and not a bug as HN exists as a promotional tool for YCombinator. Having much needed discussions around sensitive topics might be good for the community as a whole; but is much too risky a proposition for YCombinator to take on.
It doesn't fall off because of some skittishness on YC's part about taking a stance on these things or w/e. It falls off because HN is designed to throw off anything that is more inflammatory than interesting to read. I believe that this is for the sake of community preservation. This is going to fall off because it's going to be a comment section full of people misunderstanding things and shouting at each other, not because of any admin flag.