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Comment by creaghpatr | Hacker News Reader

>...but the expectation that people with diametrically opposed outlooks on the world should "just get along" for the sake of a project seems absurd to me. It's why most companies have values, and is pretty much the only non-BS use of "company culture".

Replace 'outlooks' with 'skin color' and you can see why some people think that people should, in fact, "just get along".

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My point wasn't that they shouldn't work together, but that just expecting that person, in your example, a closet racist, would lay that at the door when working with someone of another skin colour on a project seems fantastical.

There will always be friction between people based on their views - expecting everyone in a project to only be giving one part of themselves (only the bit relevant to the project) is ridiculous. I guess a roundabout way of saying you need to take people as the wholes that they are, not just cherry pick the parts you like and expect the rest to have no impact.

It goes without saying that this is a false equivalency, and yet here I am.

There is no way someone's skin color, in isolation, can impact me. If I know someone's views though, that means that they must have already taken some action that expressed those views.

>There is no way someone's skin color, in isolation, can impact me.

That is empirically false, and one's skin color is never in isolation so its irrelevant. Everyone is subject to unconscious implicit bias (not just racial). http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40124781

I'm well aware of implicit bias, and making a totally orthogonal statement.

I'm specifically talking about how another person's skin color would affect me, not how I might change my behavior of them based on their skin color. Their skin color does not affect me. Their skin color might affect how I treat them, and my skin color might affect how they treat me, but their skin color does not affect me.

You don't seem to understand:

"I'm specifically talking about how another person's view would affect me, not how I might change my behavior of them based on their view. Their view does not affect me. Their view might affect how I treat them, and my view might affect how they treat me, but their view does not affect me."

It's no different.

For me to know your view, you must have expressed it in some manner. That implies an action on your part. For me to know your gender or race, you simply need to exist, and must actively work to hide either.

Expressing their view took action, and their actions can affect me.

What if you find out about their view from someone else? i.e. their "actions" do not happen in your presence, but in their private life.

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