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Comment by JanneVee | Hacker News Reader

> As an aside and a comment on the article, I feel dismayed by the author's decision to include the 'go brrr' meme. It's connected with toxic sentiment and communities from where it's generally used, and is oftentimes used to needlessly mock a group of people. There was good content in reading the article, but it turned me off at the beginning as it was rather childish -- in not-a-pleasant way -- and unfunny, and it made the rest of the article hard to read with that taste in my mouth.

I have questions...

Is the author aware of the toxic communities and their use of the meme or is the author a member of these toxic communities? Is it the authors intent to exclude you in anyway when using the meme?

And if there a bunch of "no" answers above: Why is it the authors responsibility to keep track with your associations with this meme?

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I did address those earlier in terms of association, I'm not sure if I understand the aggressive tone of this response however, or of a few of the assumptions in it. A few other people have made similar points about this culture as well.

I think your comment comes off as "concern trolling" whether you intended it to be or not. And indeed we are now off the topic and discussing "going brr" instead of the subject.

That's a fair response. I'm generally okay (some modern connotations aside) with people using the going brr bit. The servers where H.He spends a lot of time in actively use the meme when mocking outside groups (w/ few neutral uses), and it's a bit frustrating as it actively causes rifts that make it harder for me to do professional work.

I bring it up because I'd like to bring light on it if it's sorta seeping into the mainstream, a lot of people adjacent to it sort of just ignore it and leave it be. Like, I've actively seen this meme used in the main AI servers where it's used to push down people who do question blind scaling, for example (which is not what Sutton was talking about). It silences conversation and halts diversity, and it's an actual problem unfortunately.

Thankfully there are other spaces where it's not as much a problem, but since it's pretty well-tied and trickling into HN, felt appropriate to share my 2c. And people may well say what they want (including brr) in response. :)

I'm trying to get the point across that not all people come from the same place and don't keep the same connotations and associations with the memes they use. Making them responsible for your associations is in my view fairly aggressive.

If you feel validated by people that think the same thing go ahead, but I think is that the 'meme policing' was unnecessary on a technical response of the content.

This feels pretty aggressive, I think we're on a different wavelength here. That's not quite what I'm saying, but it seems best for us to leave it at that.

Sorry but I'm actively trying to help you here. From the other reply

> it's a bit frustrating as it actively causes rifts that make it harder for me to do professional work.

My comments that you are taking that I'm being aggressive is that you have made your professional frustration about your feelings. These issues isn't who else uses the meme, but that the meme spreads a bad idea that makes your professional life harder.

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