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Comment by danssig | Hacker News Reader

If we're going to jump out there with wild speculations do we also have to pick the most cynical ones [1]? I mean, from what I've read, this guy does indeed sound like a douche bag but that doesn't mean his every thought and action is sexist in nature.

If nothing else, didn't she still have the phone in her hand? Or maybe she was in a difficult spot to place a good throw. I mean she couldn't get the bottle to him, maybe he didn't think he could get it to her? Did the author say that he never did it again? Rather then this horrible kind of arm-chair sleuthing it's probably just easier to ask him why.

[1] funny enough, you suggesting this makes it more apparent that you think this way. I mean, this never occurred to me.

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Just because you can understand someone's line of thinking doesn't mean you think like that.

The poster was making a joke based on a period when women were not considered capable of playing sports (among other things). The fact that that is no longer true and thinking like that is anachronistic is why the joke is funny (or is a joke at all). I can laugh at a joke that puts someone or a group down and still not be a bigot.

I think people who don't adjust their definitions of words/idioms to reflect modern connotations should stop holding grudges (or whatever the appropriate term is) and move on. That's obviously too simple a solution to work since it causes words to be less offensive over time and thus some parts of what they represent may become acceptable. For example, the word rape might be a bad one to get desensitized to because it might also lead to desensitization to the act of rape.

>Just because you can understand someone's line of thinking doesn't mean you think like that.

But when you make assumptions about what someone is thinking based on one action then you are not "understanding someone's link of thinking", you are projecting.

>The poster was making a joke based on a period when women were not considered capable of playing sports

If it was a joke then obviously I overreacted. The usual clues and context ("how does the parent usually talk/joke?") are missing in text, so it's easier to miss.

> I can laugh at a joke that puts someone or a group down and still not be a bigot.

Totally agree. Somethings are funny precisely because they're ridiculous.

>I think people who don't adjust their definitions of words/idioms to reflect modern connotations should stop holding grudges (or whatever the appropriate term is) and move on.

Not sure what you're addressing here.

> If we're going to jump out there with wild speculations do we also have to pick the most cynical ones [1]?

Of course we have to. Cynical sarcasm is way funnier than, say, throwing around hot sauce.

Totally missed that you were joking here. Touché.

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