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Comment by maerF0x0 | Hacker News Reader

being big is going to invoke more fear in smaller people. Size is correlated with ability to bring the pain (see: weight classes in MMA). Of course, your color should have nothing to do with it though.

ie: Its natural to be afraid of big people. Its racist to be afraid of only big people who are black.

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As someone who is extremely tall, it's not very nice to see people crossing the street to avoid you at night. How is making statistical inferences using my height any more justified than making statistical inferences using my race?

The notion of justifiable discrimination will take you to a very scary place if you apply it consistently.

I'm a 6'6" mesomorph, and never been in a fight in my life, not even in the schoolyard. I'm used to people being a bit apprehensive of me on a lonely street, and sometimes if I'm behind a woman and we're walking about the same pace, I'll cross the road to avoid potentially stressing them out. When people meet me and make some reference to me being someone 'not to mess with' because I'm big, I tell them that most big guys are teddybears, and to think of other big guys they know (I stress most, but not all). Almost invariably, their face shows that the light-bulb clicks, as they can't think of any aggressive big guys amongst their friends.

So I'm used to one of the things listed in this article. I'm fine with this preconception people have, as it's not that much of a problem on it's own, and it's easy to take it in my stride. However, it's the gestalt of all those things that the author is talking about that is the problem. They all work together, and if I experienced all of those working against me, I'd feel unfairly treated as well. "People fear me unfairly on the street? No worries, I'll be at work soon, and I don't have to deal with that shit there..."

I may not have been clear. I don't feel particularly discriminated and don't really care in any case. It's incredibly minor.

However, I strongly object to the idea that it's okay to discriminate based on unalterable characteristics as long as you're not discriminating against a member of a legally protected group.

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Having rights doesn't stop you being morally and factually wrong, which is the point of this piece: while you are allowed to cross the road when you see a black man, doing so is a dick move, because it upsets the man in question.

I never demanded you stop crossing the road because you're scared of specific groups, and for that matter neither did the author of the article, although our situations are obviously very different. It has merely been pointed out that doing certain legal things can have a negative impact on other people. In my case, I am pointing out that crossing the street to avoid someone has a negative impact on whoever is being avoided, regardless of race. This is clearly not the same as calling for legislation to prevent unlawful street crossing.

As you have noted, the government won't stop anyone from calling you a dick. If you don't like being called a dick, well, that's too bad.

It likely is a genetic mechanism rather than "discrimination." Fact is that in an adverse encounter, the big (tall) fellow is more dangerous. So its wise for smaller persons, and especially women and children to minimize encounters with taller/bigger persons, and strangers also.

So they're doing the right thing.

I believe in many places (Western countries) white people are more easily scared of black people (big or not) than big and white. I guess that's what the author was talking about.

I was born I Brazil and now live in UK where, despite the abyssal difference in physical/verbal violence against black people, it's still very easy to see how white people act more "jumpy" around black people. Mind you I'm "very" white (german descendant) and even to me it's clear the difference.

I am a white guy of about the same size, and scruffy to boot, and I do get some of the same thing with strangers being a little nervous around me, particularly smaller women; but it's definitely not as bad as he's saying here. Hell, I feel a bit nervous when I see a black guy my own size coming towards me, which really bugs me; I know it's stupid but I can't seem to suppress it. Racism is insidious.

"I see a black guy my own size coming towards me, which really bugs me; I know it's stupid but I can't seem to suppress it. Racism is insidious."

But is it necessarily racism? Possibly it is a survival mechanism? After all, don't you notice a white guy of your own size or larger coming toward you?

I think it is natural, and likely a genetic trait, to pay attention to and/or even avoid persons of larger size. Color may add to this wariness, since it is common knowledge that black men are more dangerous than white men. Neither is racism: the first is IMO genetic, the latter is based on statistics.

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