

Loren Feldman is hilarious but cruel at the same time - abhishekdesai
http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/03/loren-feldmantech-nigga-at-last-nights.html

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pius
Strange that I never saw this.

The guy acted like an ignorant douche, putting on a cliched minstrel show. I
think you're giving him too much credit calling him hilarious or even cruel .
. . try pathetic.

~~~
Prrometheus
It’s easy to make a self-righteous anti-racist statement. They bore me, and I
am mystified as to why everybody rushes to be the first to condemn someone
whenever they step over a racial line. The correct response to an unfunny
idiot performance is to ignore it, not to seize the opportunity to proclaim
loudly how non-racist you are.

Also, I don’t think it’s wrong to joke about race. By joking about racial
stereotypes, people are more comfortable discussing and confronting the
uneasiness they feel when interacting with people from other races,
nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. Plus, race jokes are probably more
funny because they are so taboo, see Chris Rock, Dave Chappel, et al.

This dude has an execution and taste problem, that’s the story.

~~~
pius
_Also, I don’t think it’s wrong to joke about race. By joking about racial
stereotypes, people are more comfortable discussing and confronting the
uneasiness they feel when interacting with people from other races,
nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. Plus, race jokes are probably more
funny because they are so taboo, see Chris Rock, Dave Chappel, et al._

Interestingly, I mostly agree with you. If you read what I said carefully, I
didn't call the guy a racist and I specifically said the headline calling him
"cruel" was too much. That'd imply that he went out of his way to try to hurt
people with what he said. Hell, I mostly like the guy and have posted some of
his stuff on News.YC myself.

I think that if you reread my comment, you'll see that even Loren Feldman
himself would probably agree with what I said. What he did _was_ a cliched
minstrel show. He tried to be funny, but instead he ended up being hurtful and
looking like a racist douchebag. He's essentially said as much himself in
subsequent postings.

The bigger question is why the black guy is being attacked for commenting on
the original video. ;)

~~~
staunch
> The bigger question is why the black guy is being attacked for commenting on
> the original video. ;)

We're all #828282 here (oh, except nickb on his 10k day) . You were probably
downvoted because your post looked like it was copy/pasted from Digg.

~~~
pius
I criticized an offensive video and that means my posts look like they're from
Digg? I don't think that's particularly fair.

~~~
staunch
Just imagine 20 more one-line posts like yours that call him a "douche" and
you can see how it'd fit right in on Digg.

You seem pretty interested in arguing with someone about this guy. I think
it's pretty obvious to most people that this guy just isn't worthy of
discussion. He's clearly an asshole, what's there to talk about? (that's a
rhetorical question).

~~~
pius
Actually, arguing with anyone about this is a waste of time. I made one post
deriding it, people started criticizing me, so I'm answering them. End of
story.

I post technical articles here and contribute tips to other hackers every day;
I really don't need you to lecture me about the quality of my posts.

~~~
staunch
I was just taking a shot at answering your question and I wasn't commenting on
any other of your posts except the one you asked about.

------
iamelgringo
Wow. That was truly horrible. I'm shocked that this crap is getting played.
I'm also really surprised that there were people who up-modded this to the
front page.

I'd like to make a motion to move this post to [dead].

~~~
gojomo
I think the real problem here is: bad submission headline, "Loren Feldman is
hilarious but cruel at the same time".

The link goes to a blog post where a software hacker -- the creator of a early
piece of Mac software I really liked, DayMaker -- comments on Feldman's work
and Feldman's inclusion in a tech industry panel. By mere virtue of having
open comments, that was an invitation for other discussion. And, as the issue
relates to tech bloggers and the online video market -- popular topics here --
it arguably fits at HN.

But the submission headline injects a strong opinion -- that the Feldman work
is 'hilarious' and 'cruel'. (Even 'cruel' can imply some level of affirmation;
nonsensical insults like "your mama wears combat boots" aren't 'cruel'.) That
initial spin has polluted the later discussion.

At the risk of offending another group, I will also point out the original
submitter does not reside in North America. He may not be familiar with North
American sensitivity taboos, and may mainly know about American race relations
and ethnic groups through the distorted lens of exported entertainment mass
media.

------
ghiotion
I've got to go along with pius on this one. This offends me. It's that smarmy,
ingratiating racism that seems to be all over the internet. It's not funny,
it's not clever.

