
Dear White People, You Suck at Diversity - kevindeasis
http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/13/dear-white-people-you-suck-at-diversity/
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bko
The problem with promoting diversity as a goal is that you can define
diversity however you want. The author mocks others for including women but
not "women of color". Similarly, I've heard other argue that diversity of
socio-economic class is more important than other definitions. Because are you
really promoting diversity by including only those with that went to the same
school and had the same upbringing as everyone else? Who gets to define what
should be promoted?

Depending on the organization, diversity can be a key driver of success but
when it's forced upon society as a moral imperative, it brings out those that
choose to use social constructs and recent history as a means of consolidating
their own power. Be wary of those who claim to speak for any one group of
people, especially if you never got a ballot.

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panglott
'“In fact, we just hired a young woman from Stanford who’s every bit as good
as her peers,” Sequoia Capital investor Mike Moritz said in an interview with
Bloomberg, titled Sequoia’s Moritz: Looking for Women to Be Partners. “And if
there are more like her, we’ll hire them. What we’re not prepared to do, is to
lower our standards.”'

Pro tip: don't brag about how great you are at diversity by starting from the
assumption that women are inferior.

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Spivak
I honestly didn't read that into what he said, am I missing some context that
alludes to this meaning? It seems like he's trying to call out those people
who would demand he hire a less qualified woman simply _because_ of her sex.

Isn't holding the belief that there exist qualified women putting them on
equal standing? And then because there are qualified women wouldn't hiring
without concern for sex the fairest hiring method? If he believed that women
were inferior and wanted to promote diversity then wouldn't he would be making
the exact opposite claim?

If he truly holds the beliefs he claims to in the quote then the problem of
diversity could be solved at the educational level by encouraging more women
to go into tech. Assuming merit is uniformly distributed throughout society,
if 10% of your applicants are qualified but 90% of your applicants are men
then you would expect your staff to be 90% men assuming no bias whatsoever.

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panglott
Mostly I think it's simply a boneheaded comment. Because it implies that
hiring women means lowering your standards, except for a few exceptional
individuals.

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lucozade
I'd be relatively happy if diversity in tech had progressed sufficiently that
second order effects like intersectionality were the most important issues
remaining.

Pretty sure we're not there yet. I'd argue that focusing on the big first
order problems still has the most upside in general if not for everyone.

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endrebak
Which races should we emulate to get better at diversity?

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serge2k
As those who control we (white men) have the responsibility to fix the issue.

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aikah
> As those who control we (white men) have the responsibility to fix the
> issue.

White men don't control anything , rich men who happened to be white do (in
US). Making everything about race IS racist. The article is certainly racist.

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jackjeff
Not the only one sucking at it, considered the title...

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peterwwillis
Oh, the irony of an article asking people to become more sensitive to the
social issues facing diverse peoples by using a racist generalization in the
title.

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littlegreenb18
Racism toward the people in power can't exist, is the usual argument. But
ultimately I can't see how this helps the cause. They are brow beating the
only people that are trying.

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serge2k
Only people in a position to try, and doing a lousy job so far.

The title is pure clickbait. The article is about the challenges faced by
women and trans people of color when they attempt to enter the tech industry.
It raises some good points.

~~~
peterwwillis
> Only people in a position to try, and doing a lousy job so far.

This doesn't justify or excuse racist generalizations, and it doesn't qualify
the idea that you "can't be racist" towards some people.

> The title is pure clickbait.

They generalize about "white people" multiple times in the article.

> It raises some good points.

It does it using racism and classism and with a lecturing tone. Any good it
was supposed to do is completely nullified, not the least of which because it
insults the people it purports to educate.

