Exactly. The previous points were interesting and I was about to share the article to an East-Asian friend that started a PhD recently. But being a White guy that point would just make it awkward to share it with her.
Fellow white guy here. Sharing the article might be a signal to this person that you're open to one day talking about race with them (when some kind of race-related situation inevitably comes up) and also that you can poke fun at your own position in society (or at least how many people view our position in society). The fact that you like this article enough to consider sharing it but are hesitating just because of #9 is a yellow flag to me. Obviously I don't know your history or situation but HN is all about honest inquiry and I humbly suggest this might be something worth looking into more.
Fellow white guy, are you aware that you're speaking form a position of privilege, that few will actually receive that signal as you intend, and the vast majority of "non-whites" will actually view you as foolish for making such comments because their native cultures teach self-respect? I think you need to do some research into how "white people" willingly denigrate themselves and contribute to their own mental health crises.
Definitely aware that I'm speaking from a position of privilege. Definitely aware that there's a chance that my intention is different from my impact. Still don't regret taking the risk to challenge the ideas in this thread.
> I think you need to do some research into how "white people" willingly denigrate themselves and contribute to their own mental health crises.
Thanks for the suggestion. I am aware of this idea but am open to looking at the situation more from this lens. What resources do you recommend for learning more?
Fair enough. You do say you're interested in honest inquiry, so I'll give you a few resources.
A first step is considering that difference can be accepted. "The Illusions of Egalitarianism" by John Kekes is a good place to start in understanding where an egalitarian approach falls short. Because many people in the world are religious, and religious belief shapes much action, you might also want to understand differences between religions, so I recommend "God Is Not One" by Stephen Prothero.
The subject of white denigration is itself polarizing among "white people", which demonstrates a certain white fragility, I suppose. One polarizing book which examines white denigration relative to other groups is "White Identity" by Jared Taylor. In my experience, polarizing books usually get at important points without fully arriving at the main conclusion, so I would recommend you read it carefully yet avoid prejudgement one way or the other until the very end. While I've skimmed its content out of curiosity, I haven't given it a careful read myself, so I'm not endorsing all its conclusions. That said, the main points appear well-sourced (over 1200 citations).
Grasping social understanding is important to understand the relationship between stereotypes and accuracy. On this, I recommend "Social Perception and Social Reality" by Lee Jussim. A key quote from that book is: "[According to the social science literature,] When a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs, perceivers’ expectations lead them to treat targets in accord with those expectations, and targets respond to that treatment in ways that confirm the originally erroneous expectation."
I don't understand why it would have been awkward. Whatever the flaws in the institution as a whole I'm sure she doesn't blame you for them personally. You have no reason to feel self-conscious about satire.
I can see it. Especially if he does have some romantic interest in her. There’s the worry if the subtext is that the reason I’m sending this whole article to you is about #9.
Just not enough upside for the potential downside.
Nobody said anything about a romantic interest. Most people’s relationship with people of the opposite gender are not romantic at all. Why would this be relevant to bring up?
It's relevant to bring up because he said it would make him feel awkward to send it. You'd be right if he didn't think it would be awkward to send and he had no romantic interest, even less awkward if he knew she had no romantic interest. But at this point the only thing we know is that he did feel awkward about sending it. Hence the relevance.
i see the relevance, but i don't see the problem, especially if he himself isn't in academia. he could convincingly argue that he isn't part of that mess and especially won't benefit from it.
