[mercurial]

I'm not American, but it was my understanding that in the bad old days of the fights for civil rights, some politicians had the following stance: "I'm not racist, but I support the right of shopkeepers to who they want" (read: to white people only). Discrimination wasn't OK back then, discrimination is not OK now. Not that it has anything do do with the issue at hand, I'd be surprised if the majority of people arguing on this very forum against Eich didn't turn out to be straight.

[JoeAltmaier]

I was with you right up to the Ad Hominem attack.

[mercurial]

I'm sorry, which Ad Hominem attack did you mean (or any other kind)?

[Beliavsky]

Utterly unfounded speculation about the sexual preferences of other posters does not advance the conversation.

[JoeAltmaier]

The part about branding everybody on the wrong side of your argument as some pigeonhole category.

[mercurial]

Er. That would be an Ad Hominem attack if saying people are straight was an attack. It is a statement, just like saying "most women have long hair" is a statement and not a judgment.

Now, you may opine that it does not reflect the facts. It just seems to me that:

- a majority of commenters on the forum disagree with Eich's position

- as gays form a fairly small part of the population at large, and I'm not aware of any overrepresentation of gay people on HN, it follows that the majority of commenters are straight

Ergo, it's likely that most people protesting against Eich's appointment on HN are straight, and that it's not a gay conspiracy.

I'm not sure where you saw a "wrong side" to my argument either. For the record, I disagree with his position, but I also recognize that it is shared by the majority of the population of California, and that it is entirely possible that for a man like Eich, 1000$ represents pocket change. In any case, I'm of the mind of letting his actions as CEO speak for him.

[JoeAltmaier]

Yeah I agree with you really. It just seemed odd to throw the irrelevant detail in about 'its probably all those straight guys causing the problem', sounded like a slam. Sorry if I misinterpreted your intent.