This is pretty normal though. Also I wouldn't say they're racist. They'd strongly object to being called racist as well. And this is in a pretty liberal area too.

> This is pretty normal though.

It's not. Stop making excuses for them.

Thank you! What he's doing is a textbook example of normalizing racism.

> They'd strongly object to being called racist as well.

Every racist objects to being called a racist.

If they object to being called racist more strongly than they object to racism itself, then they're probably racist, especially if they tolerate and sound like racists like Notch or Trump.

And whether or not you want to acknowledge it (and most racists don't), racism is an extremely common thing.

Especially with people who normalize racism by calling racist behavior normal, and get along with racists without calling them out.

Just because you call it normal doesn't mean it's not racist, it means you're literally normalizing racism.

It's not rocket science folks, it's just racism.

It is not so black and white. A person may have been brought up racist, no fault of their own and tantamount to child abuse I would say. Your mindset would exclude any chance of re-education for them. At a wider scale it's also very simple to talk big like you are right now online. But as a hackernews regular I rather imagine you are most likely a middling tech worker, perhaps living pay cheque to pay cheque feeding a family (2.5 kids and a dog). You are, much like the average American politician, very likely to denouce racism and support grand action in private - but much less likely to jeopardise your family and livelihood to back the words up. Hopefully you can see the hypocrisy in asking anyone else to do so from behind the glow of your monitor.

Your reply and your others that were downvoted and flagged dead for violating the HN rules are also not in good faith and aren't worth a response. But I'm glad that this discussion of Notch's racism has caused you and others like you to crawl out of the woodwork to defend his hate speech and calls to violence, and identify yourselves as the kind of people you truly are. I believe you. Thank you for being so obvious.

Everyone objects to being called a racist. You clearly talk as someone who considers themselves not to be racist, if someone on the street called you racist you would no doubt object more strongly than an actual racist! But that would implicate you as an actual racist, by your standards. This kind of thinking is why the American education system (from my understanding, not being an American) used to include studying "The Crucible". Faulty witchhunt logic often applies to the person using it, and only leads to trouble. That being said, fuck Notch, but your mindset is almost as dangerous as his.