Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) - Reverse Racism
Why Hacker News recommends it
Pointed to as a comedic but clear explanation of power dynamics in discussions of race and diversity in tech.
What it is
Aamer Rahman of Fear of a Brown Planet delivers a stand-up routine on so-called reverse racism, arguing about power imbalance and why criticism of a dominant group is not equivalent to racism.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2013 to 2016.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec spacemanmatt · 2015-04 · on “100 Days as a Black Man in Silicon Valley”
There are a lot of ways to explain that power imbalances are critical context to racist statements. Yes, when black people say racist things in America, it's racist, but when white people do it, it's racism. But the very best explanation is long-form stand-up comedy. If you don't understand, you really should watch this. [this video]
Recommends jdunck · 2013-12 · on “Girls Who Code”
That people are reading this subthread and finding common cause with this right here... Do you realize how ridiculous you are? If you would like to know what racism is and why criticism of a dominant group on the basis of race isn't in, here's one take: [this video] But you'd have to listen to get it, and you'd definitely have to give up your bullshit self-serving circular "logic".
Recommends smtddr · 2015-04 · on “100 Days as a Black Man in Silicon Valley”
First, I downvoted your comment for the excessive negativity/abuse in it. You could have made your point just as clear without them. Second, I'm going to take your comment to point out something I've noticed when talking about sexism/racism. I'm going to call this theory of mine "Calibration". When I hear people say stuff like "What about letting [underrepresented group] choose what they want to do with their lives?" , I've come to believe that most are not trolls and they're probably not actually actively racist[1]. It's a difference in calibration. Perhaps you believe by default these kids are at a neutral(zero) level and have the full power of choice right now. But, what I see is that soc
Cites mgbmtl · 2016-04 · on “Stephen Fry hits out at ‘infantile’ culture of trigger words and safe spaces”
It is far from being a level playing field. The message varies greatly depending on the sender, receiver and context, right? I think it's quite OK to call out your fellow stereotype when they're being dicks. And while we're at it, since this thread is going down into "this is reverse racism": [this video]