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by SantalBlush 1866 days ago
Insinuating that he's being racist for writing more about a negative experience is really grasping at straws.

Really, this whole write-up about him is a thinly veiled backhanded compliment. Extremely petty and childish.

1 comments

Just because you're passive aggressive doesn't mean I am. I meant what I said and there was no insinuation at all. I don't compliment people's software lightly. I would advise you to take your negative filter off.
>Just because you're passive aggressive doesn't mean I am.

No, it's what you wrote that means you're passive aggressive.

>Unfortunately he doesn't seem to blog about that and instead focuses on the time a cop forced his head into a steering wheel because he reached in his pocket.

>The human mind gravitates towards the negative, probably due to evolutionary pressures.

>The US is such a racist place that a white dude who is a well-known Republican gave him $100,000 to do whatever for 2 years but he ignores that and focuses on the negative experiences in his life

>I wish him well, and hope he learns to recognize how fortunate he has been in other ways. If being given 100 grand to do whatever for 2 years isn't privilege, then I don't know what is.

This is the most condescending thing I've read in a while, and clearly a backhanded compliment.

I assure you, it wasn't intentional.

I read Mr. Sampson's blog, and I literally got tears in my eyes. I regretted engaging with him in the way I did, but HN doesn't let me delete posts. It was also too late to edit them.

He and I had something in common, and it's just extremely rare to encounter fellow coders who spent some part of their childhood in "the system" (shelters, foster care, etc) like I did. I've also seen hardcore racists who disown their children for dating a person of color. I even tried to dissuade a man (he was a boss on a construction site i worked at) one time from doing this to his daughter. The hatred in his heart was so deep that it was like talking to a wall.

I saw a commenter continuing to engage, and I wanted to express my emotions I felt after reading his blog. I understand the anger too. I remembered, especially in my mid to late 20s, having the suppressed memories/emotions come back and fuck up my head, and often consume me. It was an attempt to relate and process, and yes, a reminder that these negative memories cause us to forget about being grateful for the good things and good people we encounter on a daily basis. The dehumanization of people who disagree with us, is bad, and I'm not pretending I'm not part of the problem, including some asshole things I said in this thread, which I regret.

Based on your outright hostility and strong political beliefs (you clearly have politics incorporated into your identity), I doubt you'll believe my explanation, but I'm writing this in the off-chance that Mr. Sampson sees this. He's embarked on a difficult path with his startup, and I sincerely wish him well. That's it.

This is better written and less condescending than your original write-up, except for your last childish insult here which you just couldn't resist making. Whatever, I'll take it. Cheers.