I voted for Trump and I'll vote for him again. Hi HN!
why?
Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
131–140 of 307 posts
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
In NYC, coming out as a Trump supporter is a cardinal sin that will lose you friends.
In my first month in NYC I was yelled at by someone I'd met in a bar because I didn't do enough to stop my mother from voting for Trump. [0] [0] My mother didn't actually vote for Trump, but this woman got the impression that she had and was appalled that I hadn't done more to stop her.
You are also apparently being downvoted for daring to mention that you were yelled at for your mother voting for Trump when she didn't. The communication shut-down knows no bounds anymore.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#133You can say any of those things in Silicon Valley. I mean, people might make some judgments about you. But that happens whenever you state any opinion, especially if it isn't the mainstream. I think a lot of people are used to saying what's on their mind without consequence. They're used to other types of people remaining quiet on certain topics -- especially topics related to race, gender, and sexuality. And that's…
I 100% agree with your premise that “the more voices the better” (i.e. the fewer voices that are silenced, the better). What you describe certainly covers much of what’s happening, but something else is happening too: Voices are being silenced. And to respond to your opening sentence, I don’t mean anyone is silenced physically (who does that?), but rather psychologically, culturally, and socially. That’s not a good t…
> That’s not a good thing.
It really depends on the context. For example, I think there's a certain kind of racist, sexist, and homophobic talk which simply adds nothing good to the world. I don't think it should be illegal necessarily, but I'm fine if people are ostracized for holding such views. I certainly don't want to be exposed to that kind of shit.
And there are many situations which require learning and understanding to participate. A software developer would be appalled if they had to continue to have debates at work about software development with someone who had no idea how computers work -- especially if that person was adamant that their views much be heard and listened to. "Why is my opinion that we should write our iOS app in ActiveX being SILENCED?" Again, that dumb opinion shouldn't be made illegal. But maybe that person doesn't need to be invited to developer meetings any more.
You get my point.
Lots of subtlety when it comes to free speech.
Not all controversial opinions are the same.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#134You can say any of those things in Silicon Valley. I mean, people might make some judgments about you. But that happens whenever you state any opinion, especially if it isn't the mainstream. I think a lot of people are used to saying what's on their mind without consequence. They're used to other types of people remaining quiet on certain topics -- especially topics related to race, gender, and sexuality. And that's…
I 100% agree with your premise that “the more voices the better” (i.e. the fewer voices that are silenced, the better). What you describe certainly covers much of what’s happening, but something else is happening too: Voices are being silenced. And to respond to your opening sentence, I don’t mean anyone is silenced physically (who does that?), but rather psychologically, culturally, and socially. That’s not a good t…
Let's be clear here. We're not talking about where to eat lunch or controversial scientific theories, a la Galileo or Darwin. We're talking about "is race X smarter than race Y", "is gender X smarter than Y". Bigoted ideas.
Some have been comfortable espousing bigoted views. Now they are forced to think about what they say and how they say it. As a white man, this has affected my own behavior (for the better IMO): I've been forced to be more thoughtful of others.
The Paradox of Tolerance shows we must be intolerant of such bigotry.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
And knowingly exposing others to HIV is no longer a felony in California. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/1... While virtue-signalling about nomenclature is fun, this actually has a measurably horrible impact on public health.
How is this related to the parent or OP?
There are some things you're not allowed to say.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#136You can say all of these things anywhere with minimal actual consequences other than social consequences. You have to be so deep into first world problems that you can't see that social consequences are not the biggest problem for most Americans right now. * You can support Trump, it doesn't mean other people don't have the right to think you're a moron, bigot, or supporter of fascism for doing so. You go right ahead…
> Diversity of thought often comes with diversity of skin color
I definitely agree (ethnical?) diversity is desirable, but the idea that differences in race correlate highly enough with differences in thought to justify largely using race to locate thought diversity is the very racist idea itself; that people who look like this think one way, and people who look like that think another way. It's a low-resolution view of the world; in reality, the variance between individuals within a given race is greater than that of individuals between races.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#137I stopped reading here: “If San Francisco residents really believed that sea levels were rising, they’d have all sold their homes by now.” Apparently the author has never been to San Francisco or seen the sea level estimates for the next 30-70 years. The last time I looked the northernmost and easternmost parts of SF will have some trouble, but by far the biggest areas of concern are east of 101 south of the city. An…
Exactly. The highest point in San Francisco, Mount Davidson is 928 ft above sea level and is close to three times as high as the highest point in the entire state of Florida, Britton Hill at 345 ft...
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#138You can say any of those things in Silicon Valley. I mean, people might make some judgments about you. But that happens whenever you state any opinion, especially if it isn't the mainstream. I think a lot of people are used to saying what's on their mind without consequence. They're used to other types of people remaining quiet on certain topics -- especially topics related to race, gender, and sexuality. And that's…
I think fact that you get fired if you bring up biology at your company's brown bag on diversity (a la Damore), means, just maybe, that you can't actually say some of those things.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#139Saying things has consequences. All these articles seem to be complaining about the sudden realization that you can't say something without suffering from consequences in SV.
I don't generally care about SV and I think it has its fair share of problems but being accountable for sharing your (mostly ill-informed) beliefs, especially when you have the social reach to influence millions is not "oppression". It's the simple fact of there being consequences of what you say and do.
Re: Stuff You Can't Say in Silicon Valley
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
I 100% agree with your premise that “the more voices the better” (i.e. the fewer voices that are silenced, the better). What you describe certainly covers much of what’s happening, but something else is happening too: Voices are being silenced. And to respond to your opening sentence, I don’t mean anyone is silenced physically (who does that?), but rather psychologically, culturally, and socially. That’s not a good t…
> Voices are being silenced. I think we've got to be cautious in defining what "being silenced" means. Because I see a world in which people are saying all sorts of things out loud. There was a protest with a bunch of people waving Nazi flags in a public park in Virginia a few months ago. I don't think people are being silenced. I think community norms are shifting quickly in many parts of the country and, again, it'…
The White Nationalist march on Charlotte is actually an example of voices being silenced. Photos of people there were distributed, their names were found (sometimes incorrectly), and their places of work contacted. Then they were fired.
If people see that people who share the same views are losing their livelihoods, they are more likely to be silent. Only the independently wealthy wouldn't consider losing their job risky.
And just to be clear, I in no way support their views, desires, or actions. But claiming the goal isn't to silence them is disingenuous.