Hacker News Reader

Comment by detritus | Hacker News Reader

Why is a preference for homogeneity always equated with a sense of superiority? I'm not defending their actions - and perhaps they did indeed feel some misguided sense of superiority - but perhaps just as equally, they did not and simply preferred to be with their own?

View on HN

If they simply wanted to be 'with their own' they would have rejected American servicemen with equal disdain. An Italian American is no more Nordic than an African American.

I presumed a subtler gradient in whatever confused muddle of thinking went on, literally and figuratively.

Humans are nothing if not highly flawed and somewhat tribal.

A preference for homogeneity is a great euphemism for racism. It sounds almost neutral.

I was specifically trying to be neutral to make a point about the choice of language used in the person I was responding to, yes.

I'm not advocating the thought, I just find it curious how polarised and absolutist such discussions get (as, very quickly, in the responses here) when the shoe is on one foot, versus - say, the shoes worn by tribes and cultures we in the West deem worthy of paternalist protection.

*shrug

The thing about that is that you don’t have an “your” own. The discrimination simply chooses the next target, which is why the faroes islands of Denmark is some of the most homophobic climate in Europe despite Denmark as a whole being one of the least.

It’s cute that you think there is this fantasyland where bigots just get along as long as they are left with their “own” kind, but history shows that they really don’t.

Curious, I was under the impression that the demographics of the Faroe Isands were changing dramatically due to an influx of female partners from Asia, actively 'imported'.

It's 'cute' that you choose to condescend my response with an assumption of my standing in it.

The demographic doesn’t really change with the purchased wives. At least not the way you think it does. It would if it was purchased husbands, but sexism is always going to be a stronger bond than racism.

It still isn’t fun to be a homosexual just because the hopeless bigots have given up finding wives the old fashioned way.

My apologies, I think I entirely misread your response prior and responded uselessly.

I have no response other to say "That's shit". I'm of the mind that a percentage of men who are particularly homophobic are veiling their own uncomfortable position and inability to self-express within the society they find themselves, and - unfortunately - propagate. Small Islands seem susceptible to this.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com