In what way is my summary terrible? I stand by it and I have the facts to back it up. When somebody says:
> If you are a white cis man (meaning you identify as male and you were assigned male at birth) you almost certainly should resign from your position of power. That’s right, please quit.
No reasonable person can make such a blatantly unfair demand and then accuse me of uncharitable interpretation of their opinion. In fact, I find it horrifying that someboy so unhinged as this woman was allowed to lecture in a university.
It is terrible because it ignores the fact that the author's intention is to provoke thinking, in a cynical way. It is one thing to say that a post contains racist/sexist etc pieces, it is another thing to say that the author is racist. In that case, Bo Burnham is someone who deserves a death sentence.
Even for a mathematician or scientist, a person has the right to talk with the extremes outside of classroom every once in a while.
I don't think I was cynical at all. I just took the most straightforward literal interpretation of what she wrote. And I think she really meant it since otherwise she would have apologized for any misunderstanding by now.
About he idea that the author's intention was to provoke thinking. What kind of thinking was it suppose to provoke? Push people to self-hate for who they are? Make the ones in the other camp sharpen their pitchforks and attack math departments until they comply with her lunacy?
On the idea that if you write something racist then you are not a racist. Yes you are. What she wrote was not comedy and it wasn't funny at all to me so she does not get the comedy pass.
Did you read the post? She says that's pointless and useless.
She also acknowledges that her blog post isn't going to change anything. Nobody is going to quit because they read this. She has no power to fire anyone. White men, on the other hand, have the power to not hire her, to fire her, and so forth.
So what's the damage? Why are you mounting an all-out attack against her because you were reminded of her thesis? Why are you hurting so much?
What's the damage? The damage is that racism is evil irrespective of who the racist is (and yes, black people can be racist too, as any reputable dictionary should be able to prove to you). And every instance of it should be denounced, especially the more egregious ones like this one.
You can say, there's no problem, she doesn't have any power. I would counter that it's not true. These people have large followings and many apologists (like yourself). And even if it were true that she had no power, her hate should be confronted. People should learn the limits of good behavior in civilized society.
You say this is not about instilling guilt, because the author said so. I will put it to you that even if it was not her intention (and I'm not so sure about that), it might still end up happening (if you want to understand the kind of effect such accusations, even when only implied, can have on people, read [http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2119]). When I read "you are the problem" it sure sounds like an accusation to me (and a pretty serious one at that). And this accusation is surely bigoted when you apply it indiscriminately to a whole class of people.
> The damage is that racism is evil irrespective of who the racist is
But... why? You're not giving an example of any damage other than abstractions like "evil". Did you lose your job? Do you fear for your safety? Are you being unfairly judged? Did you have an unfair disadvantage under some minority group?
To quote a well-known feminist, men are afraid of being laughed at, but women are afraid of getting killed.
> These people have large followings and many apologists (like yourself)
But our power isn't comparable. We can write a few blog posts or HN comments. White men make the hiring decisions. This is not the same kind of thing.
> if you want to understand the kind of effect such accusations,
Sorry for not responding earlier to the Scott Aaronson blog post, but it's a bit long. I just read a bit bit of it, I'm not sure what part of that story you're referring to.
You can understand being part of a problem through no fault of your own, right? That's what I was trying to convey with the traffic analogy. To quip, you're not in traffic, you are traffic?
Yes. Remember, I linked to it. And, as painful as it was, I did read the whole thing.
White men, on the other hand, have the power to not hire her, to fire her, and so forth.
So the implication is that a majority of these white men in position of power are bigoted? I think an alternative explanation for her not getting hired is that maybe she didn't meet their standards. I understand that this is maybe a difficult conclusion to accept if you're a female supremacist with a fragile ego.
Why are you mounting an all-out attack against her because you were reminded of her thesis?
I think the attack is well-deserved for reasons that should be obvious by now.
If you read the whole thing, you should have read that she says that your self hate isn't what she wants. She explicitly says that's useless.
If white men aren't responsible, then who is?
Her perceived attack is completely without power. She has no power to harm you. She addresses this in the post. So why do you feel so hurt? Why is it so painful?
Who hurt you, buddy?
Please remember that your guilt is pointless. Pointless. Nobody wants you to self-hate. Your intentions can be noble and pure, your prejudices (which you do have, just like anyone else) can be unintentional, and you can still be taking up unwarranted space.
Would you please stop engaging in ideological flamewar on HN? It is not what this site is for.
I haven't banned your account because you haven't used HN primarily for this. Nevertheless, feeding trolls is trolling in its own right. It perpetuates the worst dynamics of the internet and those are what we have to proactively moderate lest this site be engulfed in flames. So please don't do this again.
Sorry. I figured this thread was already dead except to the two of us, so no one would be bothered if I kept talking to him. I guess the mods still see everything?
I so desperately want to reach out to him and people like him. I would have moved on to email, if I could have found one. I wish there was a private message function on HN.
> If you are a white cis man (meaning you identify as male and you were assigned male at birth) you almost certainly should resign from your position of power. That’s right, please quit.
No reasonable person can make such a blatantly unfair demand and then accuse me of uncharitable interpretation of their opinion. In fact, I find it horrifying that someboy so unhinged as this woman was allowed to lecture in a university.