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Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

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Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#61

Post by siglesias »

V__ wrote: post #52
blagie wrote: post #31

If I were running a business ethically, I'd want to mute my criticism of politics, including fairly extreme ones. Partisanship is tearing the world apart. I want people with different viewpoints to interact. That's the only way to address them. If we don't work together and we don't shop together, we'll grow more polarized as a result. Democracy isn't a battle, and you win by convincing people, and not by beating the…

I agree with you that partisanship and polarization are making it worse. However, you imply that "both sides" are just as extreme, but that isn't often the case. Let's exaggerate it to: "Russians buy sneakers too" or "Taliban are religious too" or something alike. A business saying "We want the Russian military and the Ukrainian civilians to interact, share different viewpoints and prevent partisanship" would sound r…

>> Right now there is only one really extreme "side" in the U.S.

I urge you to consider that this attitude is the very problem under discussion.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#62

Post by googlryas »

There's a meme, where someone goes on a rant in the wrong location and someone responds "Sir, this is a Wendy's".

Maybe we need one for "Sir, this company sells shoes". It isn't clear to me why a person trying to sell shoes needs to take a stand about one politician or another. Except for the fact that there is only one thing partisans hate more than their enemies - the people who aren't part of the partisan fray.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#63

Post by mikkergp »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #44
Morizero wrote: post #28

And yet, Nike's sales surged when they brought on Kaepernick > Despite Fox News and parts of the social mediasphere predicting the Swoosh’s downfall, the company claimed $163 million in earned media, a $6 billion brand value increase, and a 31% boost in sales. https://www.fastcompany.com/90399316/one-year-later-what-did...

> ... brought on Kaepernick not long after, the Nike Store in Scottsdale, Arizona 'went out of business'. I wondered if it was correlated.

If your statement is true, it sounds like it was for sure correlated.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#64

Post by bell-cot »

blagie wrote: post #31

If I were running a business ethically, I'd want to mute my criticism of politics, including fairly extreme ones. Partisanship is tearing the world apart. I want people with different viewpoints to interact. That's the only way to address them. If we don't work together and we don't shop together, we'll grow more polarized as a result. Democracy isn't a battle, and you win by convincing people, and not by beating the…

> Ironically, if I were running a business efficiently, I'd probably want to pick one side and stick to it...

Longer-term, that's a dangerous strategy in the social media era. The side you pick may regularly twist your arm to perform expensive demonstrations of loyalty to them. And (depends on where you are) potential customers who are less than comfortable with hyper-partisan politics may be more numerous than the red or blue zealots.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#65

Post by dclowd9901 »

blagie wrote: post #31

If I were running a business ethically, I'd want to mute my criticism of politics, including fairly extreme ones. Partisanship is tearing the world apart. I want people with different viewpoints to interact. That's the only way to address them. If we don't work together and we don't shop together, we'll grow more polarized as a result. Democracy isn't a battle, and you win by convincing people, and not by beating the…

I think your initial ideas illustrate a truly naive viewpoint. This isn't about what your company wants. Your customers will create an identity for you and it's yours, whether you like it or not. You can choose to embrace it or to deny it, but even if you try to go the middle route, you're still making a call (usually it's "I'm ok with it").

Another way to look at it: There was a very popular hairstyle among alt-right youths a while back (actually, a couple now that I'm thinking about it). It didn't matter if you were alt-right: if you had that haircut, that's how people perceived you, because that's who adopted the style. It's no different with consumer products.

If alt-right nuts started buying up Jumpman products in droves, you can bet that the progressive fans of its brands would demand for the company to take a stand on their co-option or risk losing the progressives (because progressives buy sneakers too).

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#66

Post by deepdriver »

kmeisthax wrote: post #47
deepdriver wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Official hate speech policies and enforcement patterns on Reddit, Facebook and Twitter explicitly allow racist speech that targets whites. Facebook: https://reason.com/volokh/2020/12/07/facebook-discriminating... >In the first phase of the project, which was announced internally to a small group in October, engineers said they had changed the company's systems to deprioritize policing contemptuous comments about "whi…

"They don't censor reverse racism as badly " is a far cry from what you are alleging. It sounds like Facebook realized they were overmoderating and backed down. And, furthermore, I would rather tech giants err on the side of less censorship. The problem that they've engendered over the past decade is that they want to punish everyone rather than just dealing with narrow problems. If you realize your platform is being…

>And, furthermore, I would rather tech giants err on the side of less censorship.

Agreed, but censoring some hate speech less than others is worse than uniform censorship.

>The only time they ever bother enforcing their own rules is when those subs become enough of a problem that investors or advertisers get cold feet.

Yes, and investors today don't get cold feet about racial hatred of whites, or Reddit would alter their official policies accordingly.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#67

Post by roflyear »

munk-a wrote: post #18
roflyear wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you got a persecution complex if you believe whites are receiving any real hostility in the US. But comments like this don't surprise me anymore on HN. HN is surprisingly conservative. I guess lots of rich white people here, and lots of people who want to be a rich white person.

The correct response to flamebait on HN is always just to flag it and move on. This isn't Reddit - just elect the thread for removal to keep the conversation productive and healthy.

No post body was provided.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#68

Post by mikkergp »

xwdv wrote: post #43
mikkergp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you defining the word “signaling?” Are you being as definitive as you sound when you say serves no other purpose, or do you mean few other purposes? Some would say that celebrities have influence they can use to champion causes they believe in.

After a certain point there is no reason to champion a cause. If a cause is popular enough people have already made up their minds and all you are doing is boosting your image among those who agree with you. You will not change a mind.

Is this ever really true in a capitalist system where causes are constantly competing for dollars?

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#69

Post by jklinger410 »

Morizero wrote: post #28

And yet, Nike's sales surged when they brought on Kaepernick > Despite Fox News and parts of the social mediasphere predicting the Swoosh’s downfall, the company claimed $163 million in earned media, a $6 billion brand value increase, and a 31% boost in sales. https://www.fastcompany.com/90399316/one-year-later-what-did...

Yes, excellent observation, both Republicans and Democrats buy products.

Re: Michael Jordan: “Republicans Buy Sneakers Too”

#70

Post by bdowling »

Barrin92 wrote: post #13

The positive framing of this phenomenon is strange. Someone muting his criticism against an open segregationist because his voters buy sneakers is probably one of the more cartoonish examples of market logic and self-interest crowding out people's values. And I mean this even in a value neutral sense in regards to the topic itself. It's as if a devout Christian would start selling abortion pills or a pacifist became…

> Someone muting his criticism against an open segregationist ...

You're assuming that there was criticism to mute. Many people just want to live their lives without being dragged into politics and forced to choose a side.

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