Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

newsweek.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 212 posts

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#71

Post by rayiner »

newmnhn wrote: post #56
treeman79 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insulting and demeaning racial groups is the opposite of inclusion. It breeds resentment and hatred. For a time there was a focus on treating people as human and not as [racial/sex/religion] Trend these days is to encourage openly being a bigot, just as long as it’s against certain people. Replace the word white with any other social group and perhaps you’ll see the problem.

"White" isn't a racial group. "White" as an idea to describe a group of (roughly) light skinned European people, came about in order to justify enslaving and subjugating other groups. Various groups worked their way into being considered white over time, in part by contributing to the subjugation of others. And various groups once considered white, later were not considered so. "White" as what you call a "social grou…

> "White" isn't a racial group.

I understand the academic underpinnings of that idea, but that's not how normal people understand the term "white." The Bureau of the Census, for example, certainly appears the believe that "white" reflects a racial category: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html.

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#72

Post by alea_iacta_est »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #58
sergefaguet wrote: post #20

As an international entrepreneur, I am delighted that large US companies spend their time and attention on inconsequential and toxic identity politics. More opportunities for us to exploit their weakness, create real value and shape the future And it goes without saying that the future we create and control will have no place for this drivel

It really is like watching an empire die. Hyperfocused on obscure artificially-inflated issues while basic utilities cease functioning.

It's a great way to divide people though.

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#73

Post by [deleted] »

newmnhn wrote: post #56
treeman79 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insulting and demeaning racial groups is the opposite of inclusion. It breeds resentment and hatred. For a time there was a focus on treating people as human and not as [racial/sex/religion] Trend these days is to encourage openly being a bigot, just as long as it’s against certain people. Replace the word white with any other social group and perhaps you’ll see the problem.

"White" isn't a racial group. "White" as an idea to describe a group of (roughly) light skinned European people, came about in order to justify enslaving and subjugating other groups. Various groups worked their way into being considered white over time, in part by contributing to the subjugation of others. And various groups once considered white, later were not considered so. "White" as what you call a "social grou…

[deleted]

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#75

Post by germinalphrase »

rayiner wrote: post #71
newmnhn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"White" isn't a racial group. "White" as an idea to describe a group of (roughly) light skinned European people, came about in order to justify enslaving and subjugating other groups. Various groups worked their way into being considered white over time, in part by contributing to the subjugation of others. And various groups once considered white, later were not considered so. "White" as what you call a "social grou…

> "White" isn't a racial group. I understand the academic underpinnings of that idea, but that's not how normal people understand the term "white." The Bureau of the Census, for example, certainly appears the believe that "white" reflects a racial category: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html .

I was trained as a census taker back in the day. We were instructed that “race and ethnicity” was explicitly ‘self identified/defined’ not based on any physical, cultural, or geographical origin. If a respondent wanted to write “Minnesotan” or “dog” in that box we were to accept it at face value.

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#76

Post by ceilingcorner »

rayiner wrote: post #69
ceilingcorner wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is like watching an empire die. Hyperfocused on obscure artificially-inflated issues while basic utilities cease functioning.

Racial inequality is not an "artificially inflated issue." Studies show that, despite reduction in de jure racism over the past 70 years, Black-white income gaps are large (with Black incomes being 19 percentile points below white incomes in the income distribution), and also persistent. Meanwhile, the incomes of other groups (Latinos, Asians) have or are in the process of converging with those of whites. So there is…

The fact that inequality exists in no way indicates that there is a society-wide conspiracy of white supremacy. That other minorities have rising incomes should make it obvious that the issue is very complex.

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#77

Post by Nacdor »

seneca wrote: post #59
gthtjtkt wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This probably sounds pedantic It doesn't just sound pedantic, it is pedantic. The topic is clearly about personality traits not medical conditions.

> The topic is clearly about personality traits not medical conditions. Contextualizing it would make sense if you had not said "literally no context". This is my point, black and white language like this repels nuance.

You're changing the subject. This topic is about personality traits, not medical conditions.

This statement is still true: "There's literally no context where attributing qualities to people based on their skin color is OK."

You wanted to be pedantic, so you ignored the context in which that statement was made. If you hadn't ignored the context, you would've known the statement was about personality traits and not medical conditions.

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#78

Post by inglor_cz »

rayiner wrote: post #69
ceilingcorner wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is like watching an empire die. Hyperfocused on obscure artificially-inflated issues while basic utilities cease functioning.

Racial inequality is not an "artificially inflated issue." Studies show that, despite reduction in de jure racism over the past 70 years, Black-white income gaps are large (with Black incomes being 19 percentile points below white incomes in the income distribution), and also persistent. Meanwhile, the incomes of other groups (Latinos, Asians) have or are in the process of converging with those of whites. So there is…

There are fairly massive income gaps within white and black groups as well.

Nigerian Americans have on average 10 % higher incomes than whites.

EDIT: It is 5 per cent, not 10 per cent. I was mistaken. They have 10 % more than an average American household.

Czech Americans have on average 20 % higher incomes than generic whites.

Given that I am a Czech, are we silently running Czech supremacy in the U.S.?

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#79

Post by rayiner »

inglor_cz wrote: post #78
rayiner wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Racial inequality is not an "artificially inflated issue." Studies show that, despite reduction in de jure racism over the past 70 years, Black-white income gaps are large (with Black incomes being 19 percentile points below white incomes in the income distribution), and also persistent. Meanwhile, the incomes of other groups (Latinos, Asians) have or are in the process of converging with those of whites. So there is…

There are fairly massive income gaps within white and black groups as well. Nigerian Americans have on average 10 % higher incomes than whites. EDIT: It is 5 per cent, not 10 per cent. I was mistaken. They have 10 % more than an average American household. Czech Americans have on average 20 % higher incomes than generic whites. Given that I am a Czech, are we silently running Czech supremacy in the U.S.?

Nigerian Americans are the most highly-educated demographic in the U.S., due at least in part to the filtering effect of immigration.

Re: Coca-Cola says 'Be Less White' learning plan was about workplace inclusion

#80

Post by germinalphrase »

throwaway803453 wrote: post #42

"In the U.S. and other Western nations, white people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white," one of the slides read. "Research shows that by age 3 to 4, children understand that it is better to be white." And the problem is these kids grow up and then one day have a female boss, or minority boss and if they aren't prepared they add subtle dysfunction to the team and it bruise…

For anyone curious, the “black doll/white doll” research on childhood development goes back to the 1930’s (and has been repeatedly researched since). Both white and black children alike will associate positive attributes (pretty/nice/good) with the white doll and negative attributes (ugly/mean/bad) with the black doll. It’s taken as an indication that even as toddlers, children can/will develop racial identities based on larger cultural stereotypes.
Post reply on HN