[blub]

When accusations of racism are being thrown around carelessly and people are having their reputations destroyed and lives turned upside down because of a single thing they (allegedly) said, the potential future targets of these accusations realize that the stakes just became much higher for them. So why would they support and enable those that might come for their own heads next?

It's rational to be antagonistic in such a situation.

[slg]

What is "careless" about the accusations in the article and who at Coinbase is having their life ruined by a "single thing they (allegedly) said"? It sounds like you are letting your fears of this overall issue impact how you view these specific accusations against a specific company.

[blub]

The fact that my comment doesn't mention the word "Coinbase" should be a pretty strong hint that I'm referring to a general situation.

What happens at one company is utterly irrelevant, but what happens in many places and in many countries is much more concerning and it also reflects on this situation and the comments.

[slg]

So are you protesting against any accusations of racism regardless of the specific circumstances? Otherwise why bring up something that is only relevant in general instead of this particular situation?

[triceratops]

> people are having their reputations destroyed and lives turned upside down because of a single thing they (allegedly) said

Then perhaps you can find it in you to empathize with the black folks who are scared of the police, and can begin to understand BLM. You have something in common with them.

[blub]

I continue to look out after friends and of course family and strongly believe in equal basic rights for all human beings but BLM (and other causes) are not my fight.

Starting several years ago I couldn't deny any more that several groups use political correctness as a weapon to hurt others. They do not deserve my help nor empathy.

[triceratops]

I said empathy for black people scared of the police. You really don't see the parallels?

For BLM I said "understand", not help or support.

[wwright]

Do you have any evidence that reputations are being destroyed by unfounded accusations of racism to a significant degree?

Secondly, have you compared that to the damage inflicted by racists not being held accountable in society currently?

[demarq]

that point of view is only because you feel that someone could come after you with a false accusation. but you need to see it as a feeling rather than a rational decision you made

people say the same about sexual harassment accusations, once a video, or admittance comes out silence...

most of the times people want there to be videos and solid evidence to believe - but you yourself know that in 2020 we have members of the police force actively killing an meting out their own law upon black people

why is is so hard to believe that behind closed doors people can act and behave in discriminatory ways towards black people?

shall we start walking with little microphones and cameras to work? is this what black people should deal with going to work?

[kaitai]

I understand that people feel threatened by accusations of racism, but we should subject those feelings to the same scrutiny that fear of vaccines, fear of blood transfusions, fears of child kidnapping, fear of having our child trafficked for sex, and various fears of violence are subjected to. If we look at data, we find that many of our fears are not calibrated to probability of occurrence or even to the expected value of the outcome -- they're instead calibrated to media coverage.

Two guys and a gal were fired after Donglegate. People's lives are being turned upside-down in many ways by social media, whether its discussion of justice issues or sex tapes or your dog or your toast going viral. Discriminatory behavior has long been documented in employment, housing sales and rentals, financial services, etc -- just today I was reading about the riots in Cicero in 1951, when a mob of thousands attacked an apartment building in Cicero, IL into which a black couple attempted to move -- and now some of this behavior is being caught on video, unsurprisingly.

Sure, you can be antagonistic, but as doctors have discovered with malpractice, it's actually more productive and more optimized on a financial level to be gracious. Doctors who are honest and express sympathy and empathy, with an apology [1], when things go poorly are far less likely to be sued for malpractice (more links in linked article). Similarly, when you'd done something that appears to someone else to be racist, why not simply apologize (even something like, "Sorry, that was not my intention!") and then try to do better, even ask how you can do better?

If you are committed to an ideology of white supremacy, then of course this doesn't make sense as a next move. But if you're a normal person who just does things that in retrospect do come across as thoughtless or uninformed, like asking your Asian-American colleague where they're really really from and complimenting them on their English, or telling your Black colleague that you're surprised at how articulate they are, or giving a nine-year-old female chess genius a doll when she just wants a chess set... why not just apologize and do better next time?

The world is made of imperfect people who are all gonna die anyway. Most likely no one will care about your reputation in 100 years, even your great-grandkids (I knew my great-grandparents and I only knew a bit about them). So use this time to actually do your part to make the world better -- why not? It will most likely make you feel better, feel you have more integrity, and you'll be happier.

[1] https://www.natlawreview.com/article/you-had-me-i-m-sorry-im...

[secondcoming]

Because it's impossible to prove you're not a racist.

I could claim that you have a sexual interest in children. Good luck proving you don't. Would you just 'apologise and do better next time'?