831–840 of 1001 posts
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I am not sure I understand why people are downvoting / disagreeing with this. The pevasiveness and permanence of racism- indeed, the use of the term "whiteness" as a proxy for all social ills- is basically the core tenant of CRT.
"Tenet", please, not "tenant".
> according to a new Harris poll commissioned by Paradigm, a diversity consultancy, more than two-thirds of adults in America want to be able to discuss racial-justice issues at work I just plain do not believe this poll.
Source is at https://www.paradigmiq.com/2021/05/19/nearly-7-in-10-america... . First off, note the wording (which is actually "we should be able to discuss racial justice issues at work"). This question is a bit open to interpretation, but I'd interpret as "employees should not be prohibited from discussing racial justice issues". Which I certainly agree with... I would not want my employer censoring private conversa…
The software developer or marketing assistant or middle manager does not decide the strategic course of the organisation. This is not a democracy and those individuals (myself included for most of my life) simply do not get a vote.
Now, should work be an environment where we _can_ talk about social issues without repercussion? Sure! Should we be using significant chunks of that time to modify people's behaviour to be socially acceptable? Not in my opinion.
What this highlights is that we really haven't figured out a forum which is designed to discuss social issues. At the moment we've got the internet which guarantees maximal disagreement on all points and we've made the mistake of thinking the work environment is synonymous with the home environment and the social environment. Resulting in everyone being offended about everyone else's behaviour at all times.
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I agree with you, though it is still a little soul crushing. Obviously making big bucks and providing for your family is more important than debating some cancel culture social justice warrior at work who’ll never be convinced anyway, but listening to some eye rolling inducing faff every day and feeling like if you just told the truth you’d be fired makes you feel weak after a long time. Especially if you vehemently…
Agreed. It's important to find an outlet for expressing yourself outside of work. Be sure to keep it either local or anonymous.
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the one that gets me is adding race to emoji. they all used to be 'Simpsons yellow', a skin tone not found in any ethnic or racial group, and as such not representing or excluding any group but now we have black white and other various skin tones for our happy-faces. WHY? Does black happy face mean something different than white happy face isn't happiness universal? why bring race into something that was simply meant…
I don’t think everyone interpreted “Simpsons yellow” as race-less. Certainly the show didn’t - On the show, Homer identifies as a white male IIRC, and some characters (like Apu) are not yellow. You have to pick some skin tone for the default; just floating features would be off putting. Believing that the pan-white default of “simpsons yellow” is raceless because you feel represented in it excludes that others might…
IMHO This: :-) is an emoji. These new-fangled things on our phones are tiny pictures. As pictures they communicate differently than ascii characters because they are a different medium.
But that horse has left the barn...
;-)
Most political discussions fall apart due to people's inability to tolerate dissenting views. The inability to tolerate disagreement in a civil manner is likely just one cause. The amygdala hijack kicks in and suddenly people are frothing at the mouth shouting and are then soon reaching for their metaphorical pitchforks. Online its all about silencing that dissention. Shut up! You can't disagree! Steps are soon taken…
How’d you go from people not wanting open conflict and harassment to being anti-diversity? That’s a big leap. There is a place for civil discussion but if you get kicked out because you start screaming at people and flipping tables it’s not because you’re being oppressed, it’s because you’re being an asshole that no one wants to be around.
That "but" is the dividing line. As soon as you cross it you've left civil discussion. (And become the asshole who needs to be ejected because of it). Most times, especially in political debates, its caused by an inability to tolerate a diverse range of views, including those you don't agree with. Polarisation overwhelms this ability even further.
"Diverse" is an overloaded term. Its not always loaded with emotion or about oppression. Diversity of opinions is useful. Tolerance of that is important.
The weird thing is how it’s all seems so co-ordinated. As if the HR departments of every firm get their marching orders from some central advocacy group.
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How’d you go from people not wanting open conflict and harassment to being anti-diversity? That’s a big leap. There is a place for civil discussion but if you get kicked out because you start screaming at people and flipping tables it’s not because you’re being oppressed, it’s because you’re being an asshole that no one wants to be around.
"[...] a place for civil discussion but if you get kicked out [...]' That "but" is the dividing line. As soon as you cross it you've left civil discussion. (And become the asshole who needs to be ejected because of it). Most times, especially in political debates, its caused by an inability to tolerate a diverse range of views, including those you don't agree with. Polarisation overwhelms this ability even further. "…
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> This sounds like an emotionally abusive environment unless you happen to agree with the political agenda being pushed. Yeah, 100%. Were you in California last summer? “Silence is violence” was the phrase of the day. I’ve got about a gazillion stories from living in San Francisco for three years.
I'm curious if you could share some of your stories. Since last year, I've stopped using social media like FB. When the summer came around, my friends were posting political stuff online and noticed I wasn't interacting with it. My phone would then blow up with messages along the theme of: "are you showing your real self by not supporting x?".
So many stories.
My skip level manager had me in a 1-on-1 once and said something along the lines: “you probably got the green card because Trump likes your demographic”. (I have an EB-1 extraordinary ability green card, and I assume they were talking about me being straight and white). What the fuck am I supposed to say there? Was absolutely speechless. Moments like that are basically shit tests: “are you one of us?” Pretty sure I failed that test. Oh well.
One time quite recently I shared a Joe Rogan podcast on slack (Moxie from Signal was on there). I then went to sleep. Man, when I woke up the thread was popping with “I refuse to click on this link”, “Joe Rogan is a transphobe”. Someone posting stories about Joe Rogan being friends with Alex Jones and how problematic that is. Nothing to do with the actual podcast episode with Moxie. If anything, it was hilariously ironic because they were talking about how Signal provides privacy for people and how, if you don’t have privacy, people will scrutinise everything you’ve ever said and find ways to #cancel you. Just bizarre. I couldn’t even be bothered to respond.
Honestly most stories at work are just the accumulation of tiny comments here and there. Just the odd joke about conservatives or the implicit assumption you agree with them. One time some girl at work told me “I can tell you’re not as liberal as us”. I asked her why, because I definitely wasn’t but I also definitely didn’t bother arguing at work. She said she could just tell by my vibe. I mean it’s true. Fair play to her I guess.
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> One side is advocating to be more aware of systematic racism and the other tried to incite revolt while rejecting the validity of our last election. One is advocating for a large discussion and the other is working against democracy. On some level, you must be aware that the other side frames these issues differently than you do, but with the same ferver and honesty as you. I happen to believe you're both spouting…
Nytimes did an infograph on political bubbles, ie are your neighbors all Democrats or Republicans? Turns out Republicans are the ones who are less likely to live in a bubble of conservative beliefs.
That's not surprising, given that liberal beliefs dominant our cultural landscape (eg: mainsteam media, Hollywood, social media, tech companies, colleges+universities, primary+seconday education, most corporations, etc, etc).
It's pretty much impossible to live in a total bubble of conservative beliefs unless you live in a compound in a rural area. On the other hand, it's quite easy to live in a bubble of liberal beliefs in a typical large American city.