from Hacker News

Republican Rep. William Hurd disinvited from Black Hat conference

by avinium on 6/21/19, 10:45 AM with 112 comments

  • by nmstoker on 6/21/19, 12:28 PM

    Seems an unfortunate state of affairs

    Here's what the conference said on the matter: https://www.blackhat.com/latestintel/06142019-black-hat-usa-...

    It creates a healthier society if we can listen to people even when we don't agree with their views, thus I am not be in favour of this becoming the norm. It's also deeply impolite to withdraw an invite in this manner when no new information has come to light, merely a change of mind. If he'd been discovered to be dishonest or a criminal that's one thing, but "meh, thinking about it, we don't think we want you to come any more, even though we asked you before, when we did want you to come" doesn't cut it.

    Will be interesting to see if they stick to the apolitical line consistently with others.

  • by kylnew on 6/21/19, 12:17 PM

    The amount of downvoting on opinions you disagree with in this thread is disappointing. It’s funny that the discussion is about listening to others we disagree with, but simultaneously valid ideas/comments are being grayed out and pushed down into obscurity

  • by finnthehuman on 6/21/19, 12:08 PM

    If hackers want to get involved with government policy, they’re going to have to learn to have a conversation with elected reps when they disagree on policy. Doubly so if the policy in question gets them hot under the collar.

  • by finnthehuman on 6/21/19, 12:22 PM

    This kind of power move works when you’re disinviting bloggers nobody has heard of. Disinviting a sitting representative just looks like burying your head in the sand and expecting everyone to adapt to your point of view just because you let it be known you’re cross.

    How do you think lobbyists get the policy changes they’re after? By giving the cold shoulder to any rep not already predisposed to voting in their preferred direction?

  • by RickJWagner on 6/21/19, 11:55 AM

    Shameful and counter-productive.

    We have to return to free speech and the exchange of free ideas. Banning people for having opposing viewpoints is a big step backwards. If you disagree with someone, hear them out and then explain why your idea is better.

  • by smt88 on 6/21/19, 11:52 AM

    Why is this controversial? Black Hat is a private business that needs to decide how best to make attendees happy and convince them to return. Hurd's beliefs/votes are (as far as I can tell) uniformly in the minority[1][2][3][4][5], which means his presence is likely to make most of the attendees angry, perhaps to the point of boycotting the event.

    The majority of Republicans want businesses to have the right to refuse gays[5], so it seems logical that they (and Will Hurd) would support the right to refuse to include someone based on ideology.

    1. https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-ga...

    2. https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-gun-control-belief...

    3. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/yc...

    4. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx

    5. https://www.prri.org/spotlight/most-americans-oppose-religio...

  • by rndmize on 6/21/19, 12:54 PM

    What a joke. Another conservative politician calling for people to work together, for "real debate". I suppose the eight years of Republican stonewalling the Obama administration on literally everything, from legislation to judges to executive branch appointees, to an unheard of degree - is just supposed to be forgotten?

    Perhaps we should have a look at where he stood on the ACA - I don't suppose he was part of the Republicans that sought to repeal it for years and then didn't actually have any real policy ideas to replace it when they took control in 2016, exemplifying their bad-faith approach to politics?

    > He favors repealing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.[41] In 2017, when House Republican leadership introduced the American Health Care Act (a bill to repeal the ACA), Hurd was faced with a political quandary.[42] Hurd did not say whether he supported or opposed the legislation.[41][43] Ultimately, after the measure was declared dead and withdrawn from a planned vote due to insufficient support, Hurd "released a statement in which he appeared to oppose the overhaul."

    Pathetic. The use of the ACA by Republicans for campaigning for nearly a decade and then their utter failure to repeal or replace it once they had full control of the federal government will stain them forever in my eyes (or at a minimum, the ones in federal office at the time).

    It would be great to have a government that focused on policy problems and policy solutions, that had reasoned, evidence-based debates on issues. Unfortunately, the Republican party has done more than any other force to destroy that (Office of Technology Assessment, anyone?). The fact that today, in 2019, we have a Republican president who refuses to admit global warming is a thing, is another exemplar of Republican policy and strategy - which is not to debate, but to avoid it; to hide and ignore and defund evidence when inconvenient; to focus on emotions instead of logic and reason.

    There's nothing useful to discuss with such people, and for them to complain on such grounds is hypocrisy of the highest order.

  • by youdontknowtho on 6/21/19, 11:45 AM

    He seems self-aware enough to realize that he was disinvited because of his conservative voting record. That's the point. The things he's voted for a bad for the country and its people.

    He is exhibiting a common tactic for right-wingers. Break norms, assault liberal republican democracy and then cry foul when someone calls them on it. Some of the people that will be at black hat are threatened by the policies they advocate.

  • by moomin on 6/21/19, 12:16 PM

    Conservatives don't want freedom of speech. They want freedom from consequences. Everyone knows what Will Hurd thinks. That's why he got disinvited.

    Call me back about the chilling effects of this when he can't get onto Fox News with those views.

  • by netsharc on 6/21/19, 12:00 PM

    I don't know what his viewpoints are, but what if the person's viewpoint is "climate change is fake" and "the earth is flat". Wouldn't hearing them out just be a waste of time?