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Comment by evnix

9 days ago

[flagged]

Try replacing it with Germans, and now it sounds like a praise, because the stereotype around Germans and Germany is that way.

Is your problem that their phrasing invites stereotyping, or that the stereotype it invites happens to be negative? Because if it's the latter, do you really think that's the semantic intention here?

I’ll add that I’ve heard this before. And it was from an Indian guy and he thought it was absolutely hilarious.

I told this AI joke to my Indian friends and they all laughed and said "true". Get a life, stop being a tone policing hall monitor, IRL people off Twitter aren't as easily offended by innocent jokes as you might think.

  • That sounds a lot like the classic “I have lots of black friends” line. But even if you do have Indian friends, there is a big difference between joking with friends vs what is suitable for publication in the public sphere.

    I would also note that OP merely posited a thought experiment. They’re not policing anyone. “Get a life” is perhaps a little harsh?

    Here’s another thought experiment. If you had a job interview for a senior position at Microsoft and your interviewer was Satya Nadella, would you make this joke?

    • >what is suitable for publication in the public sphere

      That's why the persons, intent and context makes all the difference between something being funny and something being ofensive. And you could tell that statement wasn't in bad faith or meant to be derogatory.

      >If you had a job interview for a senior position at Microsoft and your interviewer was Satya Nadella, would you make this joke?

      Please don't move the goalposts to bad faith arguments, The casualness of the HN comment sections very different than the context of a job interview, hence my comment above on context mattering. Do you talk to your friends the way you talk to HR at work?

      And yes, I'm sure graybeard Microsoft employees who worked with Nadella for a long time also make such jokes and banter with him behind closed doors and they all laugh, people are still people and don't maintain their work persona 24/7 or they'd go crazy.

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