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Comment by dsincl12 | Hacker News Reader

As a white dude, I feel really ashamed for this even though I'm not involved in this at all. Sorry man, you deserve a better world.

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Isn't this the exact sentiment that is causing the issues in the first place?

I would disagree. I think the "woke" stuff is a more active movement to solve all of the 1% of the issue, while ignoring the 99% that actually effects peoples' lives (how universities perpetuate classism, living wages for people doing 'un-skilled' work, revitalizing disadvantaged communities that perpetuate historical racial injustices, etc.).

Displays of misplaced white guilt like this - while bizarre psychologically - don't really harm or help anything.

Seriously. Compared to incarceration, poverty, and social mobility statistics, none of this matters very much.

I appreciate the empathy, I hope that my thoughts can help people direct energy in more productive ways.

Yes, flog yourself! Repent for your sins! If you draw enough blood on your back, the plague will stop!

As an independent who has both democratic party and liberalism as my part of my makeup I have to say this overcompensation from the far left is nuts. It's some kind of white man's guilt complex. I believe everyone is created equal and we have to always be diligent about keeping that at the forefront, but the terms master/slave and their ilk (in english) were around looooong before the whole white/black slave travesty happened. The same with white/black list. Until I hear some prominent black leaders sayign the community at large has an issue with it then I don't really care what some blogger or guilt stricken white people say. It's overcompensation and cancel culture all rolled into one.

As a white dude, I feel extremely proud because my ancestors abolished slavery.

Oh wait no I don't, because feeling shame or accomplishment for something your ancestors did hundreds of years ago that you had zero control over is a completely ridiculous concept.

I don't understand how that little line could be so misinterpreted so wrong. I'm not ashamed of being white, I'm ashamed of asshats running around gunning for cheap SJW points while ignoring the real issues. We can do better. Master/slave, blacklist/whitelist etc has no relation to race at all so it's a completely pointless act. But instead this is taking center stage just so people can post "feelgood" LinkedIn/Twitter posts to make them feel better about themselves, or company PR blog posts like GitHub and GitLab while doing nothing to change the actual status quo.

What gives you the right to feel ashamed on behalf of someone else's actions, just because you're of the same race as them? Shame on you, virtue-chaser.

As someone whose ancestors annihlated his other ancestors I'm not proud at all, nor do I feel guilt. It's a tragedy as old as human history. We can't forget those horrible things, but we can't bury them either, we are an imperfect species and we have to live with it. Burying words under a rug doesn't fix anything, only diligence and real egalitarianism will.

Why would you be ashamed because of your skin color?

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