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Comment by zeroname | Hacker News Reader

> What astonishing presumption

There's tons of evidence:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/why-your...

If it's "presumptious" of me to point that out, I don't care. Only ever telling people what they want to hear is not helpful.

> Is the casual racism completely necessary?

Is the casual accusation of racism completely necessary?

It has nothing to do with race, more with history. Crab mentality is very common in the former "eastern block".

> Couldn't you just stick to the critique of the work rather than the person and his nationality?

I'm not criticizing the person's nationality, that's not their choice. I'm drawing the distinction between the individual and their nationality. You can be a proud Pole, doing polish things, espousing polish ideals and mannerisms above all else, whatever. You also can be an individual in global society who happens to be from Poland.

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You don’t need to cite the prevalence of racist bigotry. Most people are aware.

Practising it is fucking despicable.

> You don’t need to cite the prevalence of racist bigotry. Most people are aware.

If you think discriminating based on difficult names is "racist bigotry", okay. It doesn't change the facts. If you want free discrimination showered upon you, keep your unpronouncable foreign name. If you want success, change it. It is common practice for a reason.

> Practising it is fucking despicable.

You know what's despicable? Accusing people of "being racist" for just acting like ordinary people happen to act. It's diminishing the impact of the word. Ordinary people, including you, do have these biases. Consciously, unconsciously, it doesn't matter.

I want people to do better for themselves, I can't change the world for them. Neither can you by leaving these comments on HN.

It’s common practice because there are a lot of racist bigots. That’s not a particularly compelling reason.

You suggested to someone that they hide their heritage so you don’t think less of them. You may consider that ordinary. But that’s common or garden racism.

And your inability to pronounce someone’s name is a failing in your education or experience. Your failing, not theirs.

> You suggested to someone that they hide their heritage so you don’t think less of them.

That's actually not true, that's your warped perception of what I'm saying. Your brain happens to portray me as a caricature of everything that's wrong in the world - a common bias you may not be conscious of.

Let's take my standpoint to the extreme. Let's say I know there's a bunch of violent Nazis roaming the streets and I suggest not to wear a Star Of David out there in public. Does that make me a Nazi or an endorser of Nazism? If I was the Nazi, wouldn't I rather want to withhold that piece of information?

In any event, your name is not your heritage and your heritage is not you.

> And your inability to pronounce someone’s name is a failing in your education or experience. Your failing, not theirs.

That's actually a pretty arrogant thing to say. Let's say there's an Indian restaurant chain that serves food worldwide. Are you going to say they'd be denying their heritage, if they tuned down the spices in markets where people generally can't stand hot food? Is it the failing of the people if they don't return after eating just one meal that was too spicy? You know what, maybe it is. That restaurant chain is still going out of business there.

Again, if you don't care about success, go all in with staying "true to your heritage" if you like to. Keep your unpronouncable name and insist on it being pronounced correctly.

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