Some people like to base their identity on the intrinsic elements of their genetics or demographics. Other people prefer to base their identities on their actions, interests and achievements.
It's merely my hunch that most HN users are in the latter group and are perhaps turned off by the idea of identifying people primarily by demographic or genetic factors. This does not invalidate the discussion but is my hunch as to why many people may have flagged it nonetheless.
Someone in that thread argued that it's naïve "if you don't believe that people naturally discriminate for people who look like them."People might, but I'd hope that the smart, usually rational and mostly intellectual crowd that HN attracts isn't the average joe on the street. Female, male, fat, thin, black, white, gay, straight and in-between.. I want to work and socialize with the best people and while I am not blind to the genetic hand you were dealt, it doesn't figure into my heuristics.
If you're referring to discrimination against certain groups, I totally agree. If there are people who happen to be gay, black, white, female, or whatever, and they're being discouraged from doing something or actively discriminated against, that's wrong and we should stigmatize people who engage in it.
The stories on HN about female engineers and the like do tend to be more about specific instances of discrimination and less general discussion about demographic ratios as the original post was, though.
Racial disparity doesn't just result from racism or "like preferring like". There are many institutional and structural issues that are partially causal and a frank discussion could help uncover them as they relate to the startup world. Sadly, frank discussion of race is very difficult in this country.
Btw, I do agree that the valley is very meritocratic so I don't think racism is a big factor.
It makes sense that the post on women founders wouldn't be similarly flagged if the difference is related to comfort level.
Comfort comes from trust and exposure, among other things, and I'd say that most white men have more relationships with women than with people of color.
The legacy and history of the feminist struggle and the civil rights struggle, although related, are vastly different. I would be careful equating the two under any circumstances.
I think many of them are. The topic comes up every couple of weeks in various forms. The ones that seem to do well, however, are more specific and link to well written external posts rather than "Hey, how come there are only X women in Y Combinator?" chatter.
It's merely my hunch that most HN users are in the latter group and are perhaps turned off by the idea of identifying people primarily by demographic or genetic factors. This does not invalidate the discussion but is my hunch as to why many people may have flagged it nonetheless.
Someone in that thread argued that it's naïve "if you don't believe that people naturally discriminate for people who look like them." People might, but I'd hope that the smart, usually rational and mostly intellectual crowd that HN attracts isn't the average joe on the street. Female, male, fat, thin, black, white, gay, straight and in-between.. I want to work and socialize with the best people and while I am not blind to the genetic hand you were dealt, it doesn't figure into my heuristics.