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by dialectifier 3439 days ago
Interesting quandary: How to respond to an opinion I disagree with, while still satisfying the criteria that I don't come across as "not anti-racist enough?"

HN really doesn't need to politicize the way a 24 hour news organization might. HN is a tech resource, with tangential angles into political factoids. It isn't a journalistic news outlet with a tech blog. While there should be responsibility, focus is more important.

With that in mind the tide here is overwhelmingly non-racist even if not precisely anti-racist. Racism is swiftly downvoted around here, and not readily preserved.

Opening up racial discussions is downvoted, because unless an article and discussion is patently race oriented, it's probably going to politicize and steer discussion away from tech details and into a sociological premise.

Meanwhile, the race politics that do get discussed are almost invariably the familiar territory of how bigoted America is. It's rarely any other sub-topic of racial discussion, and none of the discussion that occurs here solves a problem or highlights surprising facts.

Turning this site into the frontlines in a war waged by either side, will destroy the site. Battlegrounds, after all, are not beautiful places.

By choosing to foment strife, before doing so, ask yourself if your taking something away from more enemies or friends.

1 comments

My primary objective is to never normalize racism, no matter the context. I see it all the time here, and the subtle stuff constantly slips by and is given a pass. I don't care the community or context, this is never okay. All spaces are politicized whether it is convenient to you or not. By aggressively downvoting anti-racism or simply ignoring the racists the members of the community send an implicit message that racism is acceptable here as long as you look respectable and follow the group conversation rules.
I see that some prefer to live by the sword.