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Comment by alain94040 | Hacker News Reader

Instead of everyone here nitpicking on how this action is too little, or not meaningful enough, or misguided, or whatever other criticism you can think of, just acknowledge that he is trying to do something. He is not seeking your approval or accolades. But actually doing something is more than posting comments on HN, so there's that.

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As I write this, there are 12 comments here, and every single one other than yours is disgusting. It seems Reddit isn't the only collection of self-centered people lacking empathy or any drive at all to understand the world around them.

It is irrational to compensate a negative event now incoherently with positive discrimination.

It's like saying: Germany started World War 2, now Germany must send soldiers to stop Syrian war to compensate its bad karma.

"Irrational" is becoming something of a synonym for "I don't agree". Also, that's an awfully dramatic analogy.

> lacking empathy or any drive at all to understand the world around them.

I wish desperately I knew how to communicate a drive to understand the world around me. I wish desperately wish that I knew how to actually communicate that I don't know or understand things.

People refuse to believe me when I say "I don't know" or "I don't understand" or "I'm missing something".

People refuse to take as honest my questions -- to hear them as expressions of a drive to understand the world around me.

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Request for advice: What sorts of words do you use to communicate that you don't understand or something and wish to know it. How do you convey ignorance in a way that people don't think you're lying about it?

I have repeatedly observed both in life and in this thread that asking questions does not work.

I don't know you or your history of questions. In my experience, I'm taken more seriously when I don't ask questions in a way that implies an answer I expect. Open-ended questions seem more sincere every time.

"Where can I learn more about Black Lives Matter?" is far better than almost any variation, ranging from "Why do people say Black Lives Matter when such-and-such is true?" (which smells like disingenuous nonsense) to "Do protestors care about COVID-19 anymore?" (which is structured to allow only yes/no questions with zero nuance, and is clearly designed to result in "Apparently not" from people who already agree.

So if you often find yourself not being taken seriously, think about how your questions might be answered, and maybe ask more open-ended questions.

Also, people aren't required to answer questions because you ask them. Not everyone has the time or motivation to educate, especially on contentious topics at times of stress.

After writing the above, I clicked through to your comments. IMO, you started with an open-ended question that was literally answered in the link already, then followed up with a series of additional questions that suggested you disagreed with the stated reason.

Dude makes a sacrifice to move things in what he perceives to be a positive direction, and your response seemed to be to cast doubt on his motivation and imply his actions were foolish and misguided.

It sure didn't seem like any kind of honest questioning to me.

This can't be overstated. The mockery and negativity is overwhelming and monstrous. My first instinct was to call it "cynicism", but cynicism isn't usually expressed as such an active attack on a person.

Really saddened to see the negativity in the comments surrounding this post.

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