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Comment by lsy | Hacker News Reader

The term "third rail" comes from underground subway systems where there is a third, electrified rail to provide power to trains. There are usually warnings in the subway not to touch the rail due to the risk of electrocution. "The third rail" is used colloquially to describe a topic that is socially or politically difficult to discuss because of the reactions it can bring up.

In this context, I think the author is describing conversations he had with people who were patient with him as he asked (possibly naive or hurtful) questions about a hot-button and loaded topic that they had more experience with than he did.

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These topics can be particularly tough to ask about because it isn't an oppressed persons job to be an "oppression explainer". I thought his recognition of this was very respectful.

FWIW in other parts of the world an electrified third rail is the norm on overground railroads too.

>These topics can be particularly tough to ask about because it isn't an oppressed persons job to be an "oppression explainer". I thought his recognition of this was very respectful.

If you leave it up to the oppressors to decide for themselves how to make the world a more inclusive space for you without your input, I don’t think you can expect better results than what we’ve had thus far.

However, if it's the oppressed's responsibility to educate every person they interact with, it becomes trivial to DoS them through willful ignorance.

There can't be a social expectation that the privileged are entitled to cognitive labor from already-oppressed individuals, because that can and has been abused.

(That said, people are more likely to be open to a person that they can sense has already done the basic research.)

This isn't a question of ought, it's just a matter of is. People with power will act in their own interests always. The only way to make them act in your interests is to make their interests align with yours.

If nobody is willing to do that, they will appeal to your interests only in the most perfunctory way that never threatens their privileged position. Thus, you get a lot of "diversity panels" that are full of old White men speculating as to what makes you tick.

Fairness and "problematicness" don't enter into it. That's just how the world works. It's easy enough to differentiate ignorance born out of good faith from malicious sea-lioning without having to assume bad faith on everyone's parts simply because of how they present to the world.

OP was expressing frustration at having to deal with explaining third rail topics and the lack of awareness of the asker of how annoying it can be.

It doesn't need to be in bad faith to be annoying. To illustrate the problem, I had a visible medical problem that didn't resolve quickly and had to deal with constant questions about how it was going. While I appreciated the sympathy, it was a bit annoying after answering the same question to tens of people.

> The term "third rail" comes from underground subway systems where there is a third, electrified rail to provide power to trains. There are usually warnings in the subway not to touch the rail due to the risk of electrocution. "The third rail" is used colloquially to describe a topic that is socially or politically difficult to discuss because of the reactions it can bring up.

An older metaphor for the same thing: minefield.

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