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Rails World 2026 Opening Keynote [video]

447 points · 508 comments · an0malous

  1. tnolet · · focus · HN ↗

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    1. xdennis · · focus · HN ↗
      Okay, I'll bite. What did he do that's racist and fascist. And please provide receipts.

      For reference, here are the definitions:

      racist: a person who believes that a particular race is superior to others, or who discriminates against other races

      fascism: any right-wing, authoritarian, nationalist ideology characterized by centralized, totalitarian governance, strong regimentation of the economy and society, and repression of criticism or opposition

      1. omnimus · · focus · HN ↗
        Read some of his latest blog posts. Like <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;world.hey.com&#x2F;dhh&#x2F;wolves-sheep-and-gypsies-ba44af6a" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;world.hey.com&#x2F;dhh&#x2F;wolves-sheep-and-gypsies-ba44af6a
        1. TheAlchemist · · focus · HN ↗

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          1. heartbreak · · focus · HN ↗
            At the risk of promoting his views by sharing them here, this is not something he is at all quiet about.

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;world.hey.com&#x2F;dhh&#x2F;as-i-remember-london-e7d38e64" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;world.hey.com&#x2F;dhh&#x2F;as-i-remember-london-e7d38e64

          2. rtpg · · focus · HN ↗
            &gt; When wolves get out of control, you shoot them. When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them. This isn&#x27;t hard, it isn&#x27;t cruel. It&#x27;s the basic logic of self-preservation.

            Think about why he compares gypsies to wolves, and talks about &quot;self-preservation&quot;.

            You might want to be pedantic and try to say he&#x27;s not comparing them to wolves. He is the one who put those two sentences next to each other. You can choose to ignore the thing that feels obvious to others.

            I know a lot of people are decently close to DHH in their feelings on this issue. I think that being publicly loud about these opinions that most people keep to themselves simply leads to wondering what his _actual_ deep opinions are. Think about what you say in private compared to what you say in public, and consider that he is writing in public.

            A sentiment being common or not is a bit besides the point about whether it&#x27;s authoritarian or fascistic or whatever.

            If you remove the context and the implication from his post, you can make the argument that it&#x27;s &quot;just&quot; a post saying &quot;enforce immigration laws&quot;.

            The problem is that the context and the implications are part of his post. He is communicating who he is and what he believes, and for you it&#x27;s mostly a question of whether you&#x27;re going to listen to it.

            This whole line of discussion is had about DHH in particular decently often, and I find it kinda funny because even beyond all of this I&#x27;ve always heard that he&#x27;s just kind of a disagreeable person anyways. But I suppose this industry pulls in a certain kind of annoying person.

            1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗

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              1. enraged_camel · · focus · HN ↗
                Because, in the context he is describing, humans hunt and kill the wolves:

                &gt;&gt; There&#x27;s a reason why the last known wolf in Denmark didn&#x27;t just wander off, but was shot dead in 1813.

                &gt;&gt; When wolves get out of control, you shoot them.

                1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗
                  Yeah, but then in the very next sentence, he says what you do with humans. He&#x27;s explicit about it, so we don&#x27;t have to guess.

                  &gt; When wolves get out of control, you shoot them. When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them.

                  So no, he&#x27;s not talking about hunting and killing the humans.

                  1. preisschild · · focus · HN ↗
                    No hes just talking about denying them human rights, much better.
                    1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗
                      It&#x27;s not &quot;human rights&quot; to get to move into other folks&#x27; countries.
              2. wrs · · focus · HN ↗
                So in your mind there’s absolutely no subtextual message here in choosing wolves. It would have meant exactly the same thing if he’d chosen raccoons, or pigeons, or deer, or rabbits?
                1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗
                  Uh, no? I didn&#x27;t even make a statement, I asked a couple questions.

                  But no, those words you made up don&#x27;t speak to an idea I have.

              3. culi · · focus · HN ↗
                idk, maybe the &quot;you shoot them&quot; part?? FFS did no one learn anything about the crucial role of dehumanization in the rise of the Nazis?
                1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗
                  &gt; When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them.
                  1. culi · · focus · HN ↗
                    Roma people (&quot;gypsy&quot; is a racial slur for them) were also targets of the Holocaust. As many as 500,000 people may have been put in death camps—justified by views like those expressed here.

                    Where do you propose to &quot;deport&quot; Roma people who have been present in most of Europe since the 13th century?

                    This isn&#x27;t a matter of &quot;political&quot; correctness. This is a matter of scientific correctness. There is not scientifically correct way to express this view because it is simply baseless racism.

                    1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗
                      It&#x27;s not a racial slur:

                      &gt; &quot;The historically common term &#x27;Gypsy&#x27; is based on the myth that they came from Egypt. In reality, the ancestors of the Romani migrated out of India in the 1st millennium CE.&quot;

                      Egypt isn&#x27;t a race.

                      &gt; Where do you propose to &quot;deport&quot; Roma people

                      I don&#x27;t propose anything, I asked a couple questions. But if you want me to interpret the position for you: you deport Roma people, and any other foreigners, back to the country they have citizenship in. Their origin is somewhere, and it&#x27;s -ist of you to treat all gypsies as one group.

                      For any that are citizens of the country in question: well, you don&#x27;t deport them anywhere. That&#x27;s not what it means.

                      1. culi · · focus · HN ↗
                        <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.state.gov&#x2F;defining-anti-roma-racism" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.state.gov&#x2F;defining-anti-roma-racism

                        &gt; Anti-Roma racism is a manifestation of individual expressions and acts as well as institutional policies and practices of marginalization, exclusion, physical violence, devaluation of Roma cultures and lifestyles, and hate speech directed at Roma as well as other individuals and groups perceived, stigmatized, or persecuted during the Nazi era, and still today, as “Gypsies.” This leads to the treatment of Roma as an alleged alien group and associates them with a series of pejorative stereotypes and distorted images that represent a specific form of racism.

                        &gt; Anti-Roma racism did not start with or end after the Nazi era but continues to be a central element in crimes perpetrated against Roma. In spite of the important work done by the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other international bodies, the stereotypes and prejudices about Roma have not been delegitimized or discredited vigorously enough so that they continue to persist and can be deployed largely unchallenged.

                        ---

                        &gt; Sending people home is not the same as genocide

                        Home to where? Roma people have been widespread in Europe since the 13th century

                        1. sejje · · focus · HN ↗
                          &gt; Home to where? Roma people have been widespread in Europe since the 13th century

                          The country they are a citizen of

          3. culi · · focus · HN ↗
            &gt; When wolves get out of control, you shoot them. When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them. This isn&#x27;t hard, it isn&#x27;t cruel. It&#x27;s the basic logic of self-preservation.

            This isn&#x27;t even his personal blog. It&#x27;s the company blog of Hey that he&#x27;s using to push his views. Do you really wanna work with a company whose professional blog references &quot;[insert ethnicity] rape gangs&quot; and &quot;the decline of Europe&quot;. He could go full Kanye at any point.

            1. TheAlchemist · · focus · HN ↗
              I agree it&#x27;s quite weird to put it on a company blog, but it used to be that companies and their owners do express their views. As opposed to for example Big Tech, who doesn&#x27;t express their views, but work very closely with Trump...

              Gypsies are a major problem in a lot of cities in Europe... What would be a politically correct way to say that today ?

              1. microsoftedging · · focus · HN ↗
                This is not his company&#x27;s blog, it&#x27;s his own personal one. IIRC anyone with a HEY address can post blogs publicly with HEY World

                Edit: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hey.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hey.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;

              2. culi · · focus · HN ↗
                &gt; Gypsies are a major problem in a lot of cities in Europe... What would be a politically correct way to say that today ?

                What is the &quot;politically correct&quot; way to say &quot;Jewish people are a problem&quot;? Roma people (&quot;gypsy&quot; is a racial slur for them) were also targets of the Holocaust. As many as 500,000 people may have been put in death camps—justified by views like those expressed here.

                Where do you propose to &quot;deport&quot; Roma people who have been present in most of Europe since the 13th century?

                I don&#x27;t think there is a &quot;correct&quot; way to say &quot;[insert ethnicity] are a major problem&quot;. It is simply scientifically&#x2F;historically&#x2F;objectively incorrect.

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