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Comment by bawolff | Hacker News Reader

I don't support internet mobs - they generally seem to hurt innocent people (or hurt the guilty in excess of what they deserve) - but i don't see those two as mutually exclusive.

Presumably the twitter mob is mad (rightly or wrongly - i havent watched the special) about transphobia by Dave in general. It is entirely possible that Dave could be a great friend to Daphne and be transphobic at the same time. You can be friends with a trans person and transphobic at the same time (just like you can be sexist and friends with a woman at the same time, etc). Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.

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Just because you disagree with someone — even about something as fundamental as the nature of their personal identity —doesn’t mean you’re bigoted or “phobic.”

My mom believes she has an immortal soul that is redeemed by Jesus Christ whose body and blood are present in the Eucharist. I disagree. Does this make me a soulphobe who hates Catholics?

If you publicly rediculed her when she was just trying to mind her own business, i'd go with yes.

[I'm not making any comment on how right the twitter mob is. Haven't seen the commedy special, no idea what's said in it]

It doesn't, but the social virus that is wokeism labels you as phobic and will make you PAY for being one.

Wokeness is a nasty social virus that has infected the USA, and it slowly but surely is causing the USA to implode.

It's just bullying. "Wokeism" gives bullies the opportunity to bully in socially acceptable ways. Note the comments in this thread defending the mobs.

If wokeism wasn't around, they'd find something else to oppress people. Ironically, these people would've been _great_ racists in a different time.

The problem is bullying. I don't know why it's so hard for people to recognize when they agree with the bully, but these sorts of tactics are never acceptable.

It's incredibly damaging to the cause of social justice. These assholes become the de-facto voice/face of the movement they claim to support, and destroy it.

"Woke" white bullies took over the movement, and are once again telling minorities what's good for them and how they should feel, all while alienating any potential converts. It's actually pretty darkly, depressingly hilarious.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2021/04/19/why-whi...

Being "woke" is black freedom fighter slang that described an understanding of the case for reparations and police reform. It is being bastardized by people with an agenda in the dominant white society with the help of the media to undermine and/or distract from that movement.

Understand that by misusing that slang, you are also assisting them in doing the same. People that understand the actual definition correctly expect there is malicious ulterior intent when it is wrongly invoked, like in your earlier comments.

Sorry to inform you this original meaning is lost.

The woke virus is everywhere now and the only thing it means, to people here in the Netherlands at least, is "being absurdly sensitive about anything that could possibly hurt any groups feelings".

My earlier comments?

Yeah, it sucks. Throughout the years I've witnessed many examples of the damage these people cause. It doesn't matter who the target is, only that it's socially acceptable to ruin their life. People have disagreements here on HN but I've literally never seen an instance where someone called up someone actually else's employer to demand that the person be fired because of online comments.

> It is entirely possible that Dave could be a great friend to Daphne and be transphobic at the same time

He says as much in the special, but the message that the hyper-offended mob seems to miss is that in the end of the special he realizes that Daphne’s trans identity was secondary and frankly unimportant to her identity as a human and comedian. Basically realizing he came to view Daphne pretty much as Daphne wanted to be viewed and how she viewed herself.

> just like you can be sexist and friends with a woman at the same time

The friendship will tolerate what it will, until it can't. I think situations like these occur all the time, but unless one side shows more empathy or understanding, the friendship doesn't tend to last. I believe Dave's friendship with Daphne changed him. I think this is further supported by him saying at the end of the special that he won't be making anymore jokes about LGBTQ+ people until he knows everyone's laughing together. That to me, sounds like someone who was changed by a friendship. Whether he stays true to his words, we'll have to see.

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