

Samsung GS4 launch: Tone-deaf and shockingly sexist - cooldeal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-57574466-256/samsung-gs4-launch-tone-deaf-and-shockingly-sexist

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k-mcgrady
According to the second paragraph every actor they had played a stereotypical
character. In other words they didn't single out women and make fun of them,
it was part of a skit in which they made fun of a variety of people. I didn't
see the event but it doesn't sound to me like they were being sexist.

Edit: after watching a few clips it seems like a really cheesy presentation, I
didn't see any blatant sexism.

>> "The Brazilian woman was hot"

So? It really seems like the author has read far too much into this. I presume
the Brazilian woman was demoing a feature of the phone. Should Samsung have
discriminated against her based on her appearance and chosen someone less
attractive? There are many problems women face in the tech world which need to
be fixed but this is a poor attempt at turning a non-story into something
bigger.

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arrrg
Uhm, presenting stereotypes _is_ sexist. They might also have been racist or
whatever, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

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omonra
I wasn't going to upgrade to S4, but now that I read this rant, makes me want
to go and get one.

Every week some columnist gets on a soapbox and drones about how they are
offended. Just read a good blog post about it:
[http://falkenblog.blogspot.fr/2013/03/taking-offense-is-
not-...](http://falkenblog.blogspot.fr/2013/03/taking-offense-is-not-
righteous.html)

"Curiously, a former definition of impoliteness has become a new focal point
for all sorts of political and psychological offense. I remember Miss Manners
noting that politeness has two, related, sides: not giving or taking
unintentional offense. That's clearly old school. There seems to be a public
bounty for perceiving slights, and lots of columnists are full-time
commentators noting the latest injustice to their tribe. There's a website
called MicroAggressions documenting slights felt by people who don't
appreciate the guy who opened or failed to open the door for them.
Interestingly, the more they talk about things, the more people get upset by
people getting upset ad infinitum."

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seivan
Honestly, a company that doesn't innovate, doesn't treat its talent right, and
is run by suits who mass produce junk. Don't expect them to have any taste
what so ever.

~~~
neya
>Honestly, a company that doesn't innovate

Go flame elsewhere, troll. I bet even the displays of your LCD/LED Tv's in the
hall and your laptop were made by this very same company. And they're perhaps
one of the most innovative companies in the world when it comes to displays.
And not just displays - Memory, SSD's, Processors (which even Apple
uses)..etc.

Atleast, they exercise true innovation - Genuinely inventing something,
instead of just patenting rounded corners and suing people for it.

~~~
pavanky
Well that is what you get for going against the hivemind of hacker news.
Sometimes we just need to sit back and let a few people have their bit of
drama.

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ChuckMcM
Interesting. I find the "I'm so offended" rants or the "What just happened?"
rants rather amusing. It's easy to pick something to be offended by, but why
is _that_ the lede? Would talking about the phone be too dangerous? I don't
know, it reminds me of drama for drama's sake.

I found their skits contrived, I wondered if this was how Koreans saw American
Culture, I reminded myself that Psy got the YouTube page view record with
Gangnam Style. But mostly I was trying to hear how they felt their design
choices added value in the phone. Some I found compelling (like picture
insets, translation) and others sort of ho-hum (like storybooking) but it
didn't bother me that they all had midwestern accents or anything.

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thomasbk
The video: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6GRFKWGn1k>

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epmatsw
Man, I need to remember to not read the comments on other websites. They're
just horrifying...

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flexxaeon
tl;dr

> _Shut up and make me a phone._

Exactly.

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cooldeal
Well, at least they had some women on stage, unlike the PS4 launch event.
[http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4013500/no-women-
onstage-a...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4013500/no-women-onstage-at-
Sony-PS4-event-game-industry-feminism)

