David Heinemeier Hansson: Difference between revisions

 

== "As I remember London" ==

David's article relies on allusions to indirectly support racist views. For example, the second paragraph reads:<blockquote>London is no longer the city I was infatuated with in the late '90s and early 2000s. Chiefly because it's [[wikipedia:Ethnic_groups_in_London|no longer full of native Brits]]. In 2000, more than sixty percent of the city were native Brits. By 2024, that had dropped to about a third. A statistic as evident as day when you walk the streets of London now.</blockquote>The paragraph cites the Wikipedia article "[[wikipedia:Ethnic_groups_in_London|Ethnic groups in London]]", which explains that 59% of London residents were born in the UK, but only 36% are white.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethnic groups in London |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_in_London |url-status=live |access-date=6 April 2026 |website=Wikipedia}}</ref> David's article can be shown to exclude the non-white people who make up the difference between these figures. The article uses classic [[fascist]] argumentation tactics, relying on an emotional appeal to white readers who experience discomfort due to racist perceptions of the everyday makeup of people one may encounter in London, and evokes nostalgia for a past where non-white people were less visible, and plays up British [[Nationalism|nationalist]] myth-making by relating symbols such as [[wikipedia:Big_Ben|Big Ben]] and [[wikipedia:London_Underground|The Tube]] to British (white) identity. David addresses "native Britons" in heroic, galvanizing terms, calling them to action against opponents he describes as "barbaric", and calling for [[Ethnocracy|organizing states across ethnic lines]]:<blockquote>You can rest assured that I'd be in the streets waving a Danish flag if these were my conditions in my native country. I think that's a pretty universal sentiment. There's absolutely nothing racist or xenophobic in saying that Denmark is primarily a country for the Danes, Britain primarily a united kingdom for the Brits, and Japan primarily a set of islands for the Japanese.</blockquote>David's arguments rely primarily on emotions and manipulating facts to stoke those emotions, for example disingenuously citing immigration as the cause of the demographic shift, though a majority of London residents were born in the UK. The article's coverage of the "[[wikipedia:Grooming_gangs_scandal|Grooming gangs scandal]]" appeals to racist fears over the rape of innocent white women by racialized and de-humanized caricatures of the out-group:<blockquote>I really feel for the Brits because it's not obvious how they get themselves out of this pickle. They're still reeling from the Pakistani rape gangs that were left free to terrorize cities like Rotherham and Rochdale for years on end with horror-movie-like scenes of the most despicable, depraved abuse of British girls.

 

 

=== Response from the Ruby on Rails community ===

 

{{Quote box

|source = Rails Needs New Governance

|quote = “As I remember London” should be a wake-up call for everyone in the Ruby and Rails communities. This is not a man who wants to keep going. This is a man who romanticizes a past that was predominantly good for white men. This is a man who has spent years railing against diversity, equity and inclusion and who spreads anti-trans rhetoric. This is a man who is deeply afraid of immigration changing countries’ cultures and “national identities”, despite this kind of change being a constant for the whole of human history. This is a man who is a white nationalist. And he is in sole control of Rails, this framework we all love.