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Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#81
post #56

Quoted post unavailable.

Not sure I understand the usage of the term radioactive here? Did you mean toxic?

I guess toxic is an adjective with a similar meaning, but a worse connotation in my view. Both words imply that she is to be avoided, and she will probably have some difficulty finding a new job after her very-public departure from Google.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#82
post #24
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have to weigh in. But, if few Indian managers discriminate against Dalits, how are their non-Indian peers and managers supposed to correct that discrimination if they don't even understand what are castes? This isn't political, it's professional: US laws and Google policies forbid discrimination, and so people need to be trained in understanding what discrimination looks like. You don't categorize "securit…

> But, if few Indian managers discriminate against Dalits, how are their non-Indian peers and managers supposed to correct that discrimination if they don't even understand what are castes? Shouldn't the managers and decision makers be aware of the local customs, cultural issues and employment laws in the region they manage? You really think it's appropriate for some white American manager to lecture his Indian subor…

> You really think it's appropriate for some white American manager to lecture his Indian subordinates after spending a few hours in training?

If he/she sees a clear violation of discrimination laws/policies, then yes! Although "lecture" wouldn't be the best start. Asking questions to the alleged discriminator would be a better way forward. Find out what happened and why, and ask multiple people for their input. Start by assuming innocence and let evidence prove otherwise, not the other way around.

The truth about a given situation is not completely inaccessible to people without "lived experience". That's why words are so powerful - when used truthfully and in good faith, they enable to bridge gaps where we lack that personal experience, and make accurate judgments.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#83

Quoted post unavailable.

> importing ethnicities means importing their ethnic conflicts too, always Is there evidence for this? Couldn't null be valid: those choosing to emigrate are most likely to be willing or wanting to leave that nonsense behind? Caste has no place in America. It's antithetical to our founding values. Plenty of Indians emigrate while leaving their caste identity, and any will to act on it, behind. There may remain implic…

No post body was provided.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#84
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A weak argument is a weak argument. Or are you saying brahmins and confederates have a lot in common and ought to spend more time together?

Quoted post unavailable.

Good thing they've all been dead for close to a hundred years then.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote from the article gave me pause. It sounds like an admission that they wanted the good PR from having a caste bias speaker, but when having a conversation on a difficult topic actually became difficult, they backed down. Maybe, Google, instead of just giving up you should be asking why a speaker on Dalit rights and inclusion is causing "division and rancor" in your community? Or is that also a difficult con…

> Maybe, Google, instead of just giving up you should be asking why a speaker on Dalit rights and inclusion is causing "division and rancor" in your community? Or is that also a difficult conversation you'd rather not have? The same reason speakers on Palestinian rights often can. While they may be on the right side of the issue, it's also very easy for closed discussion spaces to rapidly devolve into pretty viciousl…

Do you demand this strict moderation and sensitivity also when it's white people that are being accused of discrimination?

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote from the article gave me pause. It sounds like an admission that they wanted the good PR from having a caste bias speaker, but when having a conversation on a difficult topic actually became difficult, they backed down. Maybe, Google, instead of just giving up you should be asking why a speaker on Dalit rights and inclusion is causing "division and rancor" in your community? Or is that also a difficult con…

> Maybe, Google, instead of just giving up you should be asking why a speaker on Dalit rights and inclusion is causing "division and rancor" in your community? Or is that also a difficult conversation you'd rather not have? The same reason speakers on Palestinian rights often can. While they may be on the right side of the issue, it's also very easy for closed discussion spaces to rapidly devolve into pretty viciousl…

> The same reason speakers on Palestinian rights often can. While they may be on the right side of the issue, it's also very easy for closed discussion spaces to rapidly devolve into pretty viciously anti-semitic tropes.

I agree. Maybe a more precise way to think about this is that they’re only on the “right side” of the issue to the extent that “the other side” is “Israeli settlement policy” rather than “Jews” or “the existence of Israel as a state”.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#87
post #32

Is there a Wikipedia list of obscure 'race'-isms? I find reading about other cultures or other time period's biases to be informative and wonder what the common elements might be. Off the top of my head, issues I can think of where an outsider may be oblivious between the "sides" are: Indian caste Japanese Barukumin caste Protestant/Catholic in Europe Jewish people in Europe/US/USSR English Class System, or Southern/…

Regional elitism in the USA is definitely a form of soft caste system. If you are from the upper East coast or the West coast you are a member of a higher caste than if you are from the interior, and inside the US there are definitely smaller caste differences. The South gets it the worst. When I was in college (University of Cincinnati) engineering students from the South were sometimes encouraged to lose their Sout…

This is maybe the strongest out-group bias in elite circles in the US currently. I believe that is largely because it is acceptable, or even required, in the current elite ideologies that dominate corporate and academic entities currently. And they hate to have it pointed out.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#88
post #46

Is there a Wikipedia list of obscure 'race'-isms? I find reading about other cultures or other time period's biases to be informative and wonder what the common elements might be. Off the top of my head, issues I can think of where an outsider may be oblivious between the "sides" are: Indian caste Japanese Barukumin caste Protestant/Catholic in Europe Jewish people in Europe/US/USSR English Class System, or Southern/…

In Europe, you can always reliably find a massive amount of racism against the Romani people ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people ).

Not to be confused with the Romanian people - i.e, people from Romania. (Though some of the Roma people can obviously also be Romanians!).

EDIT: I absolutely condone discrimination, but I think for the people that live in areas with very visible Roma people, it's kind of obvious why.

At best, you'll just see them begging on the streets. At worst, you'll experience getting hounded down by them, getting robbed, or your property looted. Mostly just an issue in larger cities, and it used to be much worse 10 years ago.

We had this one older Roma guy that would have his usual spot, and he'd sit there and beg all day long. Rain, snow, or wind - he'd always sit there. In the end, he became a fixture in the city scenery.

But one particular winter got really bad, and some senior citizen offered him their apartment (rent-free) for a couple of months, as they were away for the winter. He passed away a couple of years later.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#89
"rather than bringing our community together and raising awareness — was creating division and rancor"

Insert every social movement in the last 10 years. Absolutely hilarious that a company that goes out of it's way to participate in the US culture war identifies an actual systemic issue in the country where the CEO just happens to originate from, it is suddenly a divisive action to make half baked hyperbolic social statements.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#90
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have to weigh in. But, if few Indian managers discriminate against Dalits, how are their non-Indian peers and managers supposed to correct that discrimination if they don't even understand what are castes? This isn't political, it's professional: US laws and Google policies forbid discrimination, and so people need to be trained in understanding what discrimination looks like. You don't categorize "securit…

> US laws and Google policies forbid discrimination Does U.S. law have precedent for discussing caste? There is a case for typing the lowest-caste Indians, the Dalits this cancelled talk was meant to discuss, as a race and thus protected class under U.S. and Californian law. But I don't know if this is legally precedented.

CA brought a civil rights case against Cisco for caste discrimination. I believe its still in progress.

https://thewire.in/caste/cisco-case-caste-discrimination-sil...

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