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ktizo commented on I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.   imperfectwriting.tumblr.c... · Posted by u/blackhole
Jach · 13 years ago
> So you would, I guess, also suggest that Sikhs should stop wearing turbans, Jews should stop wearing a kippah, nuns should stop wearing habits, pagans should stop wearing pentangles, etc.

Only if said individuals of the group are uncomfortable with their experience of discrimination. Others have thicker skins and ignore it, and some don't face any discrimination at all. Some want to rebel against society like a teenager and knowingly do stuff that gets them disapproval. My advice is an obvious solution to a specific problem, it does not generalize to "all members of X".

ktizo · 13 years ago
So you are saying that if you are uncomfortable with your experience of discrimination then you should change your appearance to appease your persecutor?

Do you make this crap up yourself, or does it get sent to you through the mail as part of your subscription to Batshit Monthly?

ktizo commented on I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.   imperfectwriting.tumblr.c... · Posted by u/blackhole
YuriNiyazov · 13 years ago
Would you care to come up with such a "perspective on life"? I bet that for any actual, constructed perspective (rather than an a-priori incompatible one like "a perspective on life such that it doesn't admit a utility function") a utility function can be defined.
ktizo · 13 years ago
Just because a utility function can be defined for a given perspective doesn't mean that it automatically makes sense from within that perspective, given that defining a utility function is choosing to view things from an economic perspective and even in economics there is a difference of opinion of what that actually means, with some economists viewing it as something abstract that is only used to discuss more fundamental things and with others saying that utility functions are in themselves fundamental.

Saying that utility functions are the "what there is to life", is a bit like 42 being the answer to life, the universe and everything in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. What meaning you can draw depends totally on what question you are asking, or what perspective you are looking at it from.

For instance, if you are a squirrel, then an economist might be able to calculate a utility function for your behaviour, however the concept of utility functions themselves have no bearing (as far as we know) on "what there is to life" from the squirrel's perspective.

ktizo commented on I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.   imperfectwriting.tumblr.c... · Posted by u/blackhole
potatolicious · 13 years ago
An exercise more people should partake in. Sometimes on HN I find it shocking just how completely clueless some of our prolific commentators are re: prejudice, whether by race, gender, creed, orientation, or anything else. The number of times I've seen people in privileged positions try to downplay, trivialize, and belittle those struggling with prejudice has made me want to quit HN more than once.

Walking a mile in someone else's shoes requires some walking, not reading about it on the internet and making armchair theories.

[edit] Seeing the other replies on this post is definitely way too depressing for Saturday night - a lot of loud, moralistic victim-blaming without understanding. For my own sanity I'm going to take myself out of this post entirely.

ktizo · 13 years ago
If you have walked a mile in someone else's shoes, you can then say whatever you like. For one thing, you are now a mile away, and for another, you also have their shoes.

(Not meaning to make light of what was an excellent post. Is just that I read your edit, and I thought you might be cheered up by sillyness.)

ktizo commented on I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.   imperfectwriting.tumblr.c... · Posted by u/blackhole
YuriNiyazov · 13 years ago
No there isn't. That's the beauty of a 'utility function' - it _is_ the "what there is to life".
ktizo · 13 years ago
Only from a very narrow set of perspectives. There are many perspectives on life and for many of them a 'utility function' would seem nonsensical at best. Economics is not as all-encompassing a discipline as some people would like to make out.

u/ktizo

KarmaCake day3987March 1, 2012View Original