Twitter Article (stevemartin.com)

Exactly this. A favorite local morning DJ of mine likes to call this the "gotcha society." The whole Duck Dynasty thing being the news of the week I think is proof enough of that - no one would even know who the guy was if it wasn't for some silly reality TV show, why should we care what he thinks?

Someone on Hacker News doesn't understand the emotions of people who aren't him!? Now that's a surprise!

On a thread like this there's always someone who says pretty much these exact words. And then someone else who has to start a comment with "This." because that shows emphatic agreement and has not become in any way trite.

The level of arrogance required to hear/read someone say "what was said hurts me" and then respond with "no it doesn't, you're not hurt" is just stupefying. Yet it happens routinely around here.

I absolutely agree. As the US has become vastly more tolerant over the last 50 years, many groups that have historically been targets of bullying and prejudice have gone too far the other direction and are now doing the bullying. More and more, even innocent mistakes made in public are used by these groups as rallying cries to further promote divisive and destructive behavior and attitudes. GLAAD and NAACP have both been repeatedly guilty of this.

What none of these groups realize about these over-the-top reactions to relatively minor PC infractions is that they are painting themselves as huge liabilities. No one wants to do business with or employ someone that is just waiting to pounce on any perceived slight against them. That will unfairly cost members of the groups economic opportunities, which is the exact opposite of their stated goals.

Seems relevant to me. I'm fascinated by the way the internet has created a medium that is simultaneously an intimate chat and publishing to the entire world. We are, collectively and individually, learning how to handle it.

The HN relevant bit is "How to write an apology". Which comes under PR, which is part of startup knowledge.

I agree it's less interesting than very many other articles.

Feels relevant given that the drama du jour is the Rap Genius screw-up (and the non-apology apology that followed). Plus it's an old-school comedian who has stayed current and is trying to navigate his way through the jungle of new media -- while demonstrating the class that people love him for.