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Comment by possibilistic | Hacker News Reader

Reading anecdotes like this makes me so disappointed in my gender. Why do some people marginalize other groups so eagerly?

I see so much "bro culture" in our field, and it feels inescapable. Every time I experience it, I literally cringe. I'm not even a party to being singled out; I can't imagine what it must be like to have this garbage directed at you.

The sad thing is, I used to be picked on and ostracized by these types of people. This was one of those things I assumed I was going to be getting away from back in high school by choosing computing. I thought "nerds" didn't do shit like this.

Apparently not.

I just want to wake up in the decade this is no longer an issue. That must be nice.

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I hate to break it to you, but it'll never not be an issue. Humans stereotype. It's a natural function for us. It may not be as much of an issue on a specific topic (race, gender, sexuality, etc.), but it will never not be an issue.

Also, you probably do it too. That's okay - we all do. The trick that people haven't learned is not letting their automatic beliefs have overt influence on their actions.

I'll second this. Bias and prejudice are an unavoidable part of human nature. I wish that wasn't the case, but it's the reality we live in. The most ANY of us can do is 1) Recognize our biases and work to look past them, and 2) Apologize when we get it wrong and try to improve

#2 is the difference between acting like an asshole and being an asshole.

Thanks for raising this point. It's absolutely correct, and I agree with both of you.

It still irks me when biases are so general and aimed at an entire set of people. I know I do the same internally for some populations or interest groups, but it still makes me mad when I see it done by others on the basis of race, gender, sexual preference, etc. I'm probably guilty at some level too sometimes... :/

It may be a natural function, but it can be amplified and distorted by institutions and media. Not all cultures are the same, and there are reasons for that.

you'll never get away from being picked on and ostracized (even in mild or veiled forms) either, which is a function of hierarchy. think lord of the flies--politics are inherent to systems with more than 1 person.

these kinds of responses comes from a sense of threat to the current order, an order that tells the threatened that they are better than the disenfranchised.

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