Hacker News Reader

Comment by smakrybust | Hacker News Reader

I won't claim to know why, but when we discriminate in this country, you probably put race at the top. But we discriminate in this order:

  1. Wealth (that is, lack of)
  2. Education
  3. Race
  4. Gender
  5. Other stuff (appearance, sexual identity, etc)

I doubt a successful homosexual like Thiel feels terribly discriminated against. I'm guessing this because I work with a bunch of black physicians; they say they're all doing just fine.

View on HN

Ben Carson will also continue to do just fine.

I have to disagree with the list. How we discriminate can't be put in a list because it is different for different issues. For one example, consider that the legal system discriminate far more on gender than race. In some areas your list is close to accurate (I would definitely put mental health much higher), but in general a list is a poor data structure to represent how discrimination occurs. It also ignores interactions between groups.

That's a fair point, and your remark about mental health is true (it might even be number one on this oversimplified list). I wasn't trying to be authoritative on the subject or list, but to present a general idea about who, practically-speaking, feels disenfranchised. Thiel, even if he was a fat, ugly, uneducated, transgendered black person, would still be one of the most advantaged people in the world.

> I'm guessing this because I work with a bunch of black physicians; they say they're all doing just fine.

What they say and what they feel may not be the same thing.

Well they "seem" to be doing fine as well, so we're getting into some pretty dark territory (is that racist imagery?) to now imagine that they're suffering immensely inside and just putting on a painful show. One of them just won a "most eligible bachelor" competition in our predominantly-white city last year. Oh and I'm a hispanic physician (yes, we exist!), and I'm also doing great. No, I didn't vote for Trump.

The URM often say that they are doing to those outside the community. You don't complain, unless you wnat to be branded a problem, a complainer, a whiner.

True, but that's true in any organization and it's independent of any social class. Play along or you probably won't be a member much longer.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com