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Comment by pedalpete | Hacker News Reader

I am not in the US, but I'm a white male in Australia, so very similar culturally, and no, I don't feel alienated in the least.

So, I'm hoping you are not a white male, as I don't think we can have the tiniest inkling of what it feels like to be a minority. Even travelling in Asia, where we're clearly a minority, I feel like we know on a global scale that even though we may not be the majority of the population, we hold the majority of influence.

So, I don't think we will ever know what it's like. I have curly hair, and I remember my young nieces and nephews being terrified of me. They had never seen curly hair before (well, not a huge afro like I've got). That was my tiny sliver of a taste of being different. But I know, that is nothing, and we still have no idea.

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You’re not wrong, but…

You’re completely talking past the parent and telling them that they are wrong to feel alienated.

“You’re privileged so buck up son,” is all I hear, and it’s a ridiculous sentiment.

>> Honestly does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society?

> So, I'm hoping you are not a white male, as I don't think we can have the tiniest inkling of what it feels like to be a minority.

So GP is suggesting that everyone feels isolated, regardless of race or gender.

You reply with "hoping you are not a white male" to this observation.

We all know that if GP is a white male, his comment borders on white supremacy. He's saying we've lost what makes America great, and it's all because we opened our borders and gave up cultural homogeneity. What a racist xenophobe! Good on you for calling him out!

But if GP is a woman of color, the US being a hostile place makes so much sense. And of course she's trying to figure out who the country is really for, because her experience makes it feel like it's not built for her. It's so brave to be asking these tough questions and challenging the system.

Also, are you a white male? Why do you even feel that it's ok for you to weigh in on this topic?

The way I see it, your "hoping you are not a white male" comment is culturally expected, and you said it anyway, even though we both know it causes acceleration of conflict.

Maybe you're a right-wing accelerationist, but I suspect you're not, which makes your comment even worse, because you're reinforcing their narrative unintentionally.

I think that is why IAmWorried is actually worried.

I TOTALLY missed that, and DEFINITELY am not a right-wing accelerationist. I don't even know what that is tbh, but it doesn't sound good.

It's a pretty insidious and effective tactic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism

The idea is to destabilize society by accelerating disruptive societal change.

At the far extremes, this looks like mass shootings or bombings with manifestos attached.

On the right, the theory is that a white ethnostate will surely emerge to bring order if the country is thrown into chaos along racial lines.

On the left, it looks very much the same, except what will surely emerge is an egalitarian utopia once those white fascists are out of the picture.

In practice, a lot of these ideas successfully filter into the mainstream because they're being pushed by propaganda networks that seek to damage western democracy.

Importantly, if the propaganda can convince otherwise well meaning people to subtly ingrain "white male == bad" into the language and attitudes, that benefits accelerationists.

White supremacists want you to say that white people are the problem. It legitimizes radical ideas like "replacement theory".

It's also why things like the Rittenhouse trial are so volatile. If he's acquitted, one side will further radicalize. If he's convicted, the other side will further radicalize.

Even if you honestly believe that white males are the source of all the world's problems, labeling it as a white male problem will produce further radicalized white males.

I'll grumble that the Rittenhouse trial is nothing to do with said accelerationism. Said volatility is solely because of the media trying to flay him to push their views, regardless of the evidence.

What else can you say of a clown parade where the prosecution witnesses all corroborate the defense's position and the prosecution decides to insinuate that silence implies guilt. Or, with the spirit of Jack Chick watching over him.

>“Isn’t it true when you would hang out with Dominic Black you’d play Call of Duty and other first-person shooter video games?” prosecutor Thomas Binger asked Rittenhouse on November 10. “And those are games in which you use weapons like AR-15s to pretty much shoot anybody who comes at you, right?”

Seems to me there is a correlation between cultural homogenity and less societal problems. He is not 100% wrong. Is it racist to point out the truth?

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