News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you. Parent comment

Re:Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you by starkd on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @10:00AM (#32496495)
My main concern is that people are not held back because of it. At some point, everyone needs to develop an innate resiliance (a thick skin) in how they deal with negativity. I think that, in the U.S. at least, there is a greater danger of a social thought-police where people feel like they can't say what they think.

When my grandmother was dying in a hospital, she had some dementia. I don't think she ever uttered a racial epithet to anyone in her whole life, but one day a hospital worker was trying to clean her room up and making a bit of a commotion, she sat up and told him to go away, that she did not like black people. We apolized to the man who seemed to understand the situation. My point is that people are complicated, sometimes they say things on reflex they would not say in a healthier more positive frame of mind.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you by alphabettsy on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @11:23AM (#32497577)
> greater danger of social thought-police

People are concerned about existing as they were born as well. I think those people are less concerned about whether or not your grandma can be honest about her feelings towards black people.

> I don’t think she uttered a racial epithet to anyone in her whole life

I’ll start by saying this is an assumption and likely untrue.

As previously stated, lots of people who are racist are never overtly racist.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you by starkd on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @12:54PM (#32498783)
Their existence can not be negated by inner thoughts or insults. My only point is much of racism is reflexive and most of the time not acted on in any measurable way. I've heard many other instances of people using racial epithets or politically incorrect jokes that are nothing more. People generally find a way to get along and don't like to waste energy on unnecessary strife if they can help it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you by spywaregorilla on Wednesday August 17, 2022 @05:24PM (#32501915)
This just seems so willfully naive.
[ Parent | on HN ]