Hacker News Reader

Comment by mac01021 | Hacker News Reader

"Russian", is not a race. We should find another word for this kind of prejudice.

There's the old and not as often used "stereotype". But it doesn't have the emotional impact like racist does, so... Anything that doesn't hit squarely at the pathos is right out.

Yeah. I guess I was saying that we, the Anglophone world, need to pick an equally effective word for this meaning. I think probably “xenophobic” is more accurate than “racist” in this case, but still not quite right.

Not right at all if a Russian poster is talking about Russians.

The word "xenoracism" has actually been applied, but it strikes me as a make-do lashed-together word. "Xenotyping" is no good because it already has a precise scientific definition. "Stereotyping" ends up the best description, though it's less than satisfactorily insulting.

> "Stereotyping" ends up the best description, though it's less than satisfactorily insulting.

Why does it have to be insulting? Rather, why do you have to import shame from an unrelated activity to make your point? It seems to me like that trivializes racism and doesn't do very much to bolster this argument.

> Anything that doesn't hit squarely at the pathos is right out.

Otherwise known as appeal to emotions. I think I'm going to start finding examples of avowed racists who criticize lynching so I can do the 'not all racists' thing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com