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Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

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Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#371

The most unmeritocratic job filling I’ve seen. He got the job for being black. They should have just employed the Rooney Rule to make things seem fair. This will just spurn the opponents of Affirmative Action that much harder, myself included. Weird that the NFL has the better idea here.

He got the job because he is friends with powerful people. He is friends with powerful people because he worked hard to be in situations with opportunity and proved himself repeatedly by delivering extraordinary results. The only reason his race is coming into play is that people realize that this self selection of white men will continue as long as the decision makers are white and chose to hire people from their ow…

>I’m quitting

>Hire a white guy to replace me

If the roles were swapped, everyone would (rightfully) say he only got the job for being white. If your argument is that blacks don’t get jobs because a strict majority of whites harbor secretly racist attitudes and don’t hire blacks for non-meritocratic reasons, I’d say there’s no evidence to support that theory. In fact, Affirmative Action has made the opposite true. Above all, blacks remain 11% of the population and even less than that in many areas. Only 1/10 workers should be black, in most (but not all) ideal scenarios.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#372
post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non American I don't know how you label things, but can this guy even be considered black? He looks like a regular person from southern Europe. https://news.yale.edu/sites/default/files/styles/horizontal_...

"... can this guy even be considered black? He looks like a regular person ..." This subtly dehumanizing idea that certain races are normal while others are irregular is the root of many problems.

Oh stop it. You know full well what he meant.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#373
post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> can form a majority and remove the entire C suite. Having this power doesn't give them any authority over strategy, it just means that with proper paperwork they can remove someone. But boards don't put someone in the pilot seat unless they expect them to fly. CEO's are given a considerable amount of latitude (remember Adam Neumann?).

This is splitting hairs. Being able to fire the execs very much guarantees your voice is more than advisory.

[deleted]

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He got the job because he is friends with powerful people. He is friends with powerful people because he worked hard to be in situations with opportunity and proved himself repeatedly by delivering extraordinary results. The only reason his race is coming into play is that people realize that this self selection of white men will continue as long as the decision makers are white and chose to hire people from their ow…

> He got the job because he is friends with powerful people. > The only reason his race is coming into play is that people realize that this self selection of white men will continue as long as the decision makers are white and chose to hire people from their own limited social circle, peer group, college, previous employer etc. It feels like you need to make up your mind whether he has been hired because he's part o…

It can be both. Humans are complex as are human institutions.

Increasing representation won’t happen if we ignore human nature to hire people we know.

Alexis knows Michael, he trust him from a shared history of working together.

Unfortunately, there have not been as many minorities in the settings where these types of relationships are formed. But steps like this will increase that over time.

So yes. I am clear. 1. People hire friends and people they have a history with. 2. Many people’s social circle looks more like them than the rest of society. 3. The funnel of qualified people will be smaller if we lean into that reality. 4. Increasing the diversity of decision makers at all levels will instead leverage that tendency to broaden the funnel and provide opportunities to more people thus strengthening meritocracy.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#375
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. A director looks more like an employee post-AB5, so it could be employment discrimination in California. 2. Independent contractors are protected against some race-based mistreatment in California. 3. The Unruh Act prohibits California businesses from race discrimination in offering “advantages” and “privileges” to non employees. 4. The next employee fired will have a much better case that their employment was ter…

Section 2750.3 of the California Labor Code was added by AB5, and specifically excludes board members as employees.

[deleted]

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#376
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure they’ll argue whatever they can. AB5 makes it more difficult to not be an employee in California. And there are far more non-discrimination laws than “employee.”

If you think some specific, non-employment nondiscrimination law is relevant here, please cite it. But note that this is a shift in your previous position, which is that this is a job.

[deleted]

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He got the job because he is friends with powerful people. > The only reason his race is coming into play is that people realize that this self selection of white men will continue as long as the decision makers are white and chose to hire people from their own limited social circle, peer group, college, previous employer etc. It feels like you need to make up your mind whether he has been hired because he's part o…

It can be both. Humans are complex as are human institutions. Increasing representation won’t happen if we ignore human nature to hire people we know. Alexis knows Michael, he trust him from a shared history of working together. Unfortunately, there have not been as many minorities in the settings where these types of relationships are formed. But steps like this will increase that over time. So yes. I am clear. 1. P…

> It can be both. Humans are complex as are human institutions.

I mean, yes, sure, but really not if you're reducing everything into very simple explanations like "it's the white heterosexual men". You can't claim "well, things are complex" when your explanation runs head first into the wall, your explanation claimed that they are not, that they are simple: that was the explanation. It's a problem when this explanation falls apart on the very example it was used to explain.

> Many people’s social circle looks more like them than the rest of society.

Yeah, but not because of race, but because of class. Yale graduates will know more Yale graduates than mechanics. Race is probably somewhere on the list, but I'm quite sure that whatever they study, their political opinions/worldview and taste in music come before that, because that's what creates their social circles. This "we think the same, we talk the same, we have the same worldview, we grew up in similar environments, we're interested in the same stuff, we are in the same income-percent, but our skin tone is different, we are so diverse" thing just doesn't compute for me.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Curation"? By five totally unaccountable mods, all pushing brands for money? https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/gitwbo/p... That curation is "The good that comes from inside Reddit"???

Dramatics aside, the best subreddits tend to be the ones that are strongly curated. /r/AskHistorians, /r/neutralpolitics, etc.

The reason those subs are some of the best is not just because they are strongly curated, but also because they are fairly curated based on well defined, sensible rules.

The unaccountable, power-abusing moderators that are being discussed in this thread remove posts and ban users completely arbitrarily. If these mods had a rule system like r/AskHistorians and applied them as fairly, there wouldn't be nearly as much concern over the issue.

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#379
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. A director looks more like an employee post-AB5, so it could be employment discrimination in California. 2. Independent contractors are protected against some race-based mistreatment in California. 3. The Unruh Act prohibits California businesses from race discrimination in offering “advantages” and “privileges” to non employees. 4. The next employee fired will have a much better case that their employment was ter…

Section 2750.3 of the California Labor Code was added by AB5, and specifically excludes board members as employees.

Like many things around AB5, that's not straightforward. They'd have to severely limit his actual involvement to avoid employee status.

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/do-directors-avoid-empl...

Re: Reddit Welcomes Michael Seibel to Board of Directors

#380
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure they’ll argue whatever they can. AB5 makes it more difficult to not be an employee in California. And there are far more non-discrimination laws than “employee.”

If you think some specific, non-employment nondiscrimination law is relevant here, please cite it. But note that this is a shift in your previous position, which is that this is a job.

Had to go back and check, given the bold assertions of others in the thread.

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/do-directors-avoid-empl...

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