Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab • Hacker News Board

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#321

Post by RulerOf » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

nudpiedo wrote: post #306

ronenlh wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it sounds like he’s “poisoning the well,” but this comment answered the question I had in my head. I thought the source was left-leaning but the article had a conservative voice. It’s important to know who’s writing: The article is not an objective list of facts. They did not reach to the publication for comment. Some nuances might have been ironed out. This is true regardless of the political side talking.

why it is not an objective list of facts? To me it sounds quite objective, it answers all five W, exposes the facts chronologically and it even showed compromise to show the side of the company firing: > Newsweek reached out to the agency and to Oefelein for comment and will update this article with any response. Instead, your comment to me sounds likme an apology to the ad hominem fallacy.

IMO the problem here is that they've taken a couple of tweets and profile links and ballooned it to a ten paragraph "summary" when a single link to the tweet in question would've served better.

When an article about a tweet doesn't bother to embed the tweet, it's probably a good indication that the article itself doesn't really add anything to the topic. Firsthand accounts from _either_ of the parties here would've been significantly more valuable to us as readers.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#322

Post by xenocratus » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

Macha wrote: post #296

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Disabled" is being replaced by "differently abled".

That one was used pejoratively pretty much instantly, so never had much momentum, so my understanding is "person with disabilities" is the currently correct term.

I honestly find it tiring to have to always check what I'm saying just in case one of the words I'm using is on a WRL (Word Revocation List) - this basic assumption that if you use one of these words you're using it in a derogatory way...

I don't really have any suggestions about how this could be handled differently, just pointing out this aspect that does end up making me talk less, certainly about touchy subjects, because I'm afraid of being misinterpreted and seen in a bad light.

Edit: It's also especially bad because English isn't my native language so I might use some construct that seems "natural" to me but insulting to a native speaker

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#323

Post by refurb » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:21 PM UTC

common_crow wrote: post #10

Reminds me of Dawn Frederick, a literary agent who was "cancelled" for calling 911 on looters who rammed a van into the gas station on her apartment block: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p... This happened during the BLM protests this summer in St. Loius. The looters she reported were blocks away from any BLM protest, and other looting bands were setting fires on nearby blocks. Frederick w…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings

"On April 8, 1933, the Main Office for Press and Propaganda of the German Student Union (DSt) proclaimed a nationwide "Action against the Un-German Spirit", which was to climax in a literary purge or "cleansing" ("Säuberung") by fire."

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#324

Post by aaronharnly » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:22 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #209

OJFord wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had no idea what it meant and actually guessed it was some kind of slur (in line with PoS) until I learnt recently. Weird term. Doesn't work unabbreviated as an adjective, an adjectival formation ('coloured') is long out of politically-correct favour (at least it is in the UK), and why, is 'of colour' different/better/at all a good description of someone anyway? I'm, er, 'without colour', so it's hardly for me to o…

> why is 'of colour' different/better/at all a good description of someone anyway? It's different in that it's a different phrase. It's better because it's different; terminology in this area is driven purely by fashion. https://www.gocomics.com/bloomcounty/1988/08/28

I think it has to do with which names have been chosen for people, and which chosen by people.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#325

Post by enkid » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:24 PM UTC

mellosouls wrote: post #315

enkid wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any evidence the "left wing" is in any more of an echo chamber than the right wing? Is this just personal observation or do you have something more to point to?

You can just read the many, many articles on cancel-culture and de-platforming that have emerged in the last few years which is all a part of the same thing and overwhelmingly a problem from the left. Presumably the right-wing are just as capable (and historically have been the aggressor often), but the left have mastered it as a form recently.

So, this is a different argument from the one you were making before. You first post is about ingestion of media. This one is about production. This is a very different claim, but still requires evidence beyond stating that there is some. Can you help me out and provide some?

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#326

Post by rayiner » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:25 PM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #190

marton78 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel you, as an European engineer far away from such matters, PoC means "proof of concept" to me :)

I had no idea what it meant and actually guessed it was some kind of slur (in line with PoS) until I learnt recently. Weird term. Doesn't work unabbreviated as an adjective, an adjectival formation ('coloured') is long out of politically-correct favour (at least it is in the UK), and why, is 'of colour' different/better/at all a good description of someone anyway? I'm, er, 'without colour', so it's hardly for me to o…

It’s a socially constructed term that was popularized in 2010 or so to figure out a way to lump Black, Latino, and Asian people together. It almost never makes any sense talk about all of those different groups as one (“Latino” and “Asian” are by themselves over-broad categories) but that’s where we are.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#327

Post by dane-pgp » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:25 PM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #86

pwinnski wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parler, at least, despite initially claiming to not censor anyone/anything, went out of its way to censor/block people in opposed groups.[0] Parler's CEO bragged about blocking trolls, which he identified as those attacking Christians or conservatives.[1] Of course, the most politically-conservative Christians I know are not on Parler nor Gab, but they're also not Trump supporters, which seemed to be the real reason…

Are people still peddling the hyperbole/lie that this was an attempted coup? https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/06/why-this-wasnt-a-coup-c...

I think it's worth pointing out what a "hot take" that article is. It was written on the day of storming itself, and published at 5:54 PM, before the announced curfew had even started (and before some details about the government response were revealed[0]).

The Naval War College professor being interviewed in the article basically argues that unless the military is involved, it isn't a "coup", by definition. That would make the phrase "military coup" redundant, and contradicts the Merriam-Webster definition[1] which characterizes it as:

> a “sudden decisive exercise of force in politics,” but particularly the “violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.”

By the professor's logic, even if a president were to explicitly command his followers to storm the Capitol, eliminate his political opponents, and destroy the certifications of the electoral votes he had lost, allowing him to stay in power illegitimately, that still wouldn't be a coup (or a self-coup, presumably).

In any case, another article[2] on the same site makes the opposing case:

> It’s undeniable at this point. The United States is witnessing a coup attempt — a forceful effort to seize power against the legal framework.

Admittedly it was published even earlier than the other article, but it had been drafted in response to discussions which had begun before the protests had turned violent, vindicating the author's position.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_storming_of_the_United_St...

[1] https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/13/insurrection-coup-and...

[2] https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/06/coup-america-capitol-el...

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#328

Post by javagram » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:26 PM UTC

Dirlewanger wrote: post #275

bentcorner wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in California, you cannot be fired for your political view. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...

Tell that to James Damore.

James Damore’s views (regardless if they are right or wrong) don’t seem to be covered by California laws:

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/...

> California Labor Code section 1101 prohibits employers from implementing any rule, regulation, or policy "forbidding or preventing employees from engaging or participating in politics or from becoming candidates for public office" or "controlling or directing or tending to control or direct the political activities or affiliations of employees."

>

> California Labor Code section 1102 provides "[n]o employer shall coerce or influence or attempt to coerce or influence his employees through or by means of threat of discharge or loss of employment to adopt or follow or refrain from adopting or following any particular course or line of political action or political activity." To this end, employers cannot enact policies limiting employees' political activities or affiliations or in essence force employees to follow the employer's political leanings.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#329

Post by boplicity » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:28 PM UTC

common_crow wrote: post #10

Reminds me of Dawn Frederick, a literary agent who was "cancelled" for calling 911 on looters who rammed a van into the gas station on her apartment block: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p... This happened during the BLM protests this summer in St. Loius. The looters she reported were blocks away from any BLM protest, and other looting bands were setting fires on nearby blocks. Frederick w…

The term "cancel culture" is extremely ironic. The implication of the term is that people should not be "cancelled" for expressing their views. And yet, backing out of a book deal, for example, is an expression of a view.

In practice, the term is used to de-legitimize some opinions, while upholding others.

The term "cancel culture" is cancel culture.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#330

Post by rayiner » Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 1:31 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #242

thu2111 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person in question wasn't fired for "random takes" but rather being seen in the vicinity of services that have been seen in the vicinity of people making decidedly non-random takes on political matters. And now she, perhaps correctly, believes she is the victim of religious and political persecution. As for not being mass hysteria, from the outside looking in it's clearly exactly that. Firing someone because of a…

> The US left appear to be descendeding into full bore anti-conservative hysteria. The corporate actors involved here are nowhere near the left, they are closer to the center-right; the problem the Trumpist faction is facing isn’t that the Left doesn’t like them, its that they’ve earned the firm enmity of the centrist factions that, even when they opposed conservatives them on certain issues, kept good relations with…

No it’s not just the “the Trumpists” versus everyone else. Almost all of these incidents involve conduct which nobody except a small fraction of the progressive left finds problematic. The mainstream left goes along because they’re afraid of being lumped in with “Trumpists.”

I expect this to change once Trump is gone and mainstream liberals aren’t so terrified of being compared to him.