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Comment by Thorentis | Hacker News Reader

My rant wasn't about his intentions. He almost certainly had good intentions. I'm sad that his good nature has been corrupted by the current PC trend, and that he is suffering from imposter syndrome where he is attributing his success to his "whiteness".

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When you read that much into a text, how can you be sure you're not projecting your own conceptions and stereotypes on it? It's impossible. Nobody really has access to the cogs running inside ppls minds, you're just claiming you know his ulterior motives. Plus, I'd have to assume that not only you have this special knowledge but that it surpasses the authors own words directly saying otherwise(1), sorry, I can't trust that thought and I do not follow your conclusions. I just don't buy it.

I haven't talked about 'intentions' anywhere either, I criticized your reasoning and you restated your beliefs. More on what I meant by "uncharitableness" is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity

(1):

"This isn't to bemoan or disclaim my success or my hard work. The point is there are plenty of people who have worked just as hard as me, and many harder than me, who aren't having the success I am. It takes my social credentials to take a glidepath to the most interesting and advanced subjects."

"I don't feel guilty for my success but I won't be satisfied until I see a Black trans person given the social license to do what I've done"

> "I don't feel guilty for my success but I won't be satisfied until I see a Black trans person given the social license to do what I've done"

"I can't enjoy eating until there are no hungry children in Africa". Good intentions, not a healthy way to live in my opinion.

I see what you mean. I mean, nobody should be expected to be always tuned in on this sort of stuff, much less so to, and this is something I specifically think is very wrong, to forget that whatever one may have learned, he was once ignorant of it that this is absolutely natural and normal and should be treated as such, inclusive to those that think they've gotten the absolute unquestionable knowledge.

So, any kind of moralism is just bullshit to me, and this just goes back to the "charity gap" I meant. Ppl going overboard with sermons, that is completely misguided, I don't think that was specifically the case here but I know what you're talking about.

To me this comes from insights I had from philosophy & stoicism, for the whole it's a much more complicated matter.

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