Hacker News with Generative AI: Social Issues

A cryptocurrency scam that turned a small town against itself (nytimes.com)
Jim Tucker could hardly believe what he was hearing. It sounded like fiction, a nightmare too outlandish for an unassuming town like his.

Cryptocurrency, Crime, Community, Social Issues

166 points by lxm 1 day ago | 119 comments

America stopped caring how poor kids do in school (slowboring.com)
My local government here in DC celebrated the release of new national test score data in late January, with the District’s state superintendent of schools telling the Washington Post, “We’ve got momentum happening here in the District of Columbia, and we’re committed to building on that momentum and excited about all the work that we have yet to do.”

Education, Politics, Social Issues

34 points by JumpCrisscross 2 days ago | 56 comments

GameStop CEO decries 'wokeness and DEI' (thehill.com)
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen derided “wokeness and DEI” as the video game retailer giant seeks to sell operations in France and Canada.

Business, DEI, Social Issues, Video Games

20 points by jarsin 3 days ago | 34 comments

San Francisco homelessness: Park ranger helps one person at a time (sfstandard.com)
To watch park ranger Amanda Barrows is to be faced with a disturbing question: If this is what it takes to help one unhoused person, how can we manage thousands?

Homelessness, San Francisco, Social Issues, Community Action

377 points by NaOH 5 days ago | 700 comments

The Hidden Costs of Men's Social Isolation (scientificamerican.com)
Men are struggling—at least, that’s what many headlines suggest. Compared with women, they report having fewer and less supportive friendships. Men lag behind dramatically in achievements such as higher education attainment. Suicide rates, too, reveal a grim gender disparity: women attempt suicide more often, but men are far more likely to die by it.

Mental Health, Gender, Social Issues

35 points by timbilt 7 days ago | 5 comments

The Loneliness Epidemic Is a Security Crisis (wired.com)
Loneliness has never been more urgent. On top of the significant mental health concerns, the idea that people are now lonelier and having fewer social interactions is fueling very real threats to security. Foremost among these is one of today’s most pernicious digital frauds: romance scams, which exploit targets’ feelings of isolation and net fraudsters hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

Social Issues, Cybersecurity, Romance Scams

87 points by lxm 7 days ago | 74 comments

Centrefolded: Japan's 'porn disposal' boxes phased out amid rise of the internet (theguardian.com)
For more than a decade Kazuhide Inoue has played an understated part in protecting the morals of adolescents in Fukuoka. Several times a year, the 73-year-old visits eight white “post boxes” installed in the city in western Japan, turns a key and empties their contents. On a recent visit, his haul totalled 16 books and 81 DVDs in a single day.

Social Issues, Japan, Culture, Censorship, Pornography

8 points by c420 8 days ago | 0 comments

Do We Need a Department of Education? (themerrowreport.com)
“Don’t you agree that it’s time to get rid of the Department of Education?” My good friend Joe asked me that question at the end of an evening recently. Before I could answer, he added, “The Department has been around for about 45 years, and public schools have just gotten worse and worse.”

Education, Politics, Social Issues

8 points by jschveibinz 9 days ago | 1 comments

Codeberg Down (codeberg.org)
Codeberg is currently suffering from hate campaigns due to far-right forces, and so are our users. First and foremost, we apologize for everyone who has recently received a notification email from our system containing offending and potentially traumatizing content. We are working hard on containing the effects on our users and systems.

Cybersecurity, Social Issues, Community

67 points by dsm9000 9 days ago | 39 comments

Google Calendar removes Black History Month, Pride and other cultural events (theguardian.com)
Google’s online and mobile calendars are no longer including references to Black History Month, Women’s History Month and LGBTQ+ holidays, among other events.

Google, Calendar, Cultural Events, Diversity, Social Issues

8 points by edward 9 days ago | 1 comments

The Billionaire Blueprint to Dismantle Democracy and Build a Digital Nation (reddit.com)
I recently came across this video which discusses how the tech leaders may be using the new US administration to achieve their own agenda.

Politics, Technology, Social Issues

6 points by doener 17 days ago | 0 comments

Gandhi's List of the Seven Social Sins (openculture.com)

Ethics, History, Social Issues, Philosophy, India

6 points by geox 23 days ago | 0 comments

Working Americans Turn to Food Banks as Fed Inflation Battle Drags On (msn.com)

Inflation, Economy, Food Banks, Social Issues

31 points by xivzgrev 25 days ago | 30 comments

NASA moves swiftly to end DEI programs, ask employees to "report" violations (arstechnica.com)
NASA's acting administrator is moving swiftly to remove diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility—or DEIA—programs from the space agency.

NASA, DEI, Government, Politics, Social Issues

31 points by LinuxBender 30 days ago | 4 comments

Wealth Shown to Scale (mkorostoff.github.io)
Jeff Bezos may be insanely rich, but it is a drop in the ocean compared to the combined wealth of his peers. The 400 richest Americans own about $3.2 trillion, which is more than the bottom 60% of Americans.

Wealth Inequality, Economics, Social Issues

6 points by archagon 30 days ago | 1 comments

Too Many People Don't Value the Time of Security Researchers (soatok.blog)
It’s really not my place to ever command respect from anyone; and that’s not just because I’m a furry–which has always been towards the bottom of the geek hierarchy. I am well aware how little weight my words truly carry, even to other furries, as well as how little I really matter.

Security, Ethics, Social Issues

22 points by zdw 31 days ago | 5 comments

Japan's elderly are lonely and struggling. Some women choose to go to jail (cnn.com)

Japan, Aging, Social Issues, Crime, Women

45 points by Tomte 33 days ago | 36 comments

Ask HN: Is the American System Unraveling? (ycombinator.com)
I've been wondering this question for a while the last couple years but my non-conspiracy side would say that all systems/empires would go through turbulent times.

Politics, Social Issues, United States

15 points by csomar 33 days ago | 17 comments

'Homeless people given free lunch' to attend Trump Jr event in Greenland (theguardian.com)
A group of Greenlanders who attended a lunch hosted by Donald Trump Jr wearing Make America Great Again caps were not dedicated supporters of the US president-elect but homeless people enticed by the prospect of free food, it has been claimed.

Politics, Social Issues, Greenland

5 points by pera 35 days ago | 5 comments

Ask HN: Have any of you become homeless? (ycombinator.com)
If so, how was it like? What happened?

Social Issues, Personal Experiences, Housing, Homelessness

13 points by thatxliner 38 days ago | 11 comments

Bank of Mum and Dad: why we all now live in an 'inheritocracy' (2024) (theguardian.com)
Family wealth dictates our life choices. So is the Bank of Mum and Dad now behind so many of society’s growing inequalities?

Economics, Inequality, Family, Social Issues, Inheritance

26 points by herbertl 39 days ago | 28 comments

'It didn't use to be like this': woeful US healthcare system (theguardian.com)
Since the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, polarised discussions about the US health insurance system have not abated, with thousands of Americans continuing to share their struggles in having their healthcare covered.

Healthcare, United States, Social Issues

30 points by howard941 47 days ago | 28 comments

China's overqualified youth taking jobs as drivers, labourers and film extras (bbc.com)
China is now a country where a high-school handyman has a master's degree in physics; a cleaner is qualified in environmental planning; a delivery driver studied philosophy, and a PhD graduate from the prestigious Tsinghua University ends up applying to work as an auxiliary police officer.

China, Unemployment, Education, Social Issues

7 points by grugagag 49 days ago | 5 comments

How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness (theguardian.com)
The United States, with its enormous highways, sprawling suburbs and neglected public transport systems, is one of the most car-dependent countries in the world. But this arrangement of obligatory driving is making many Americans actively unhappy, new research has found.

Transportation, Social Issues, United States, Happiness, Research

53 points by doener 51 days ago | 54 comments

What I learned reporting in cities that take belongings from homeless people (propublica.org)
Some cities take people’s belongings — ignoring their own policies and court orders — and then fail to store them. Our reporting shows there are more effective and compassionate ways to deal with homeless encampments.

Homelessness, Journalism, Law, City Policy, Social Issues

73 points by bryanrasmussen 53 days ago | 128 comments

McKinsey, technocratic management, and structural inequality (theatlantic.com)
Technocratic management, no matter how brilliant, cannot unwind structural inequalities.

Management, Inequality, Business, Social Issues

40 points by lifeisstillgood 54 days ago | 13 comments

The Invisible Tsunami Kids (robertvanwey.substack.com)
When major natural catastrophes occur, the oft forgotten victims are the children.

Natural Disasters, Children, Social Issues

44 points by chmaynard 54 days ago | 0 comments

America in Two Headlines (kenklippenstein.com)
Homelessness in America has risen by 18 percent overall, according to the latest annual data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hardest hit were families with children, which experienced a staggering 39 percent increase in homelessness(!). Incredibly, in a press release accompanying the new data, the Biden administration says that it “has been tackling the nation’s homelessness crisis with the urgency it requires,” downplaying the data as not current enough.

Homelessness, Social Issues, Politics, United States

50 points by miles 55 days ago | 44 comments

U.S. homelessness jumps to record high amid affordable housing shortage (npr.org)
More than 770,000 people were living in shelters or outside in January, according to an annual federal report on homelessness by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.