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Comment by zarkov99 | Hacker News Reader

What? His remark regarding racial bias is reasonable and should not be grounds for barring from talking about programming in any sane, free society. We are going insane here. This isn't going to work, there is going to be a huge backlash and no one is going to take this SJW stuff seriously anymore.

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He's not barred from talking about anything. He still has a popular blog and presumably writes books or something and can talk at other conferences.

Some people don't want to share a platform with him and the conference decided they'd rather have those people than him.

He was prevented from talking at a conference because other speakers found his political opinions insufficiently woke. That does not bother you?

If I invited a dozen guests to a party at my house and half of them objected to having #7 on the guest list because he's a shitbag, it would not bother me one bit to have him disinvited.

If, on the other hand, I myself were disinvited in such a manner, my first thought would be to reassess my recent behavior rather than suing the house owner.

Of course, when faced with a few loud complainers, you would never consider yourself to be right, and them wrong. You would recognize the folly of your ways, and the wisdom of the crowd that was right all along.

> If, <...>, my first thought would be <...>

> Of course, when <...>, you would never consider <...>

Presented without comment.

What if your party took place 80 years ago, in Berlin, and you invited a dozen guests, half of them were Nazi and objected to your invitation of the 7th for being a Jewish sympathizer? Would it bother you to disinvite him? And would you reassess your recent behavior if you were the one disinvited?

What if the other six had enough plutonium on them to collectively trigger a nuclear blast? What if one of the Nazis had super powers and wasn't fully committed to the Reich's agenda? What if this comment goes on forever, listing increasingly ridiculous scenarios?

To answer your particular hypothetical question: I can't say for certain, but I sure hope that yes, it would bother me to disinvite that person in that situation. But I don't see how your post relates to the topic at hand.

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