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Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

siliconvalley.com

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Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There are only four things (US) do better than anyone else: music, movies, microcode (software), and high-speed pizza delivery. - Neal Stephenson

Reading this piece right now. better late than never!

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hence the quotation marks: "native" - you're just derailing a legitimate line of reasoning. > I don't see a reasonable basis for concluding that European-American culture should be the "native" or "default" culture in the US Like it or not, it is the dominant culture especially in professional environments. If you want to have a conversation about why that is the case, what else it could be, etc. thats fine! But it's…

> Like it or not, it is the dominant culture especially in professional environments. At least sometimes it's not, which is why the OP feels so excluded and is asking for tips on how to navigate the clearly unfamiliar feeling of not being able to just "fit in" as part of the dominant culture. The reality is that the US is a melting pot with a lot of subcultures, and you should learn to navigate those subcultures inst…

Shouldn't the members of the enclave proactively reach out themselves, then? As the host country has tried to make things more comfortable for them to start with.

That seem to be the major difference between Western and non-Western countries; we're more cognisant of things like racism/being excluded and have taken steps to try to resolve it - you do not get the same in many other countries at all.

It seems it's much more acceptable to be exclusionary and racist if you're non-white, sometimes.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#215
post #54

How to fight back when you see this happening at line management level, but not yet proliferated to upper management? Indian product owner taking mostly to Indian peer developers, bypassing normal communication channels. Indians being friendly with each other and stone cold with the rest. Indians bringing Indian jokes to the table, with no outsider hoping to understand these. Indians bonding to go to Indian restauran…

Now imagine being a minority. You're white colleagues making white jokes. Hiring only white people. Going to white restaurants. Etc... I like when a privileged class gets a contact high of the real world for so many and can't handle it. Employment discrimination is one thing. Having friends and going to lunch is another. For the record, as a white man I've never met, in my entire life, a single Indian person who refu…

I think thats an unfair reading of the comment you replied to - racist and exclusionary behaviour is rightly no longer tolerated in policy intent (if not always in actuality) at professional corporations.

The issue highlighted here is that it seems at times that there are exceptions that people are afraid to call out and criticise, especially at lower levels.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean "allows them"? Whatever happened to the ideals of freedom and liberty and whatnot in the US?

American States have their own culture and identity. The ideals of America was never being an economic zone to house the entire third world, who think the only utility of a state should be to fly over it.

Are you aware that the US ranks below Romania, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba and Thailand on the UN's sustainable development report from 2024?

It might be appropriate to update your picture of the place to reflect the reality. Your views here seem to be predicated on some notion of the US as a place the entire "third world" wants to move to - perhaps you should consider the fact that it's not really top of everyone's list anymore?

With some notable exceptions where it may well be top of the list - the obvious example being some third-level institutions there who have prestige and networking opportunities which are hard to beat, if you can afford it.

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#218
post #11

[flagged]

As a casual observer, their culture seems to include considerable classism; to the degree that 'where are you from?' appears to be an extremely common and loaded question [saved for the locals] . I only recognize it because it exists in mine, not a judgement.

Indian society can be pervaded by a grotesque shadow practice of caste which still exists today.

And it's been used in the US by Indians who practice caste-centric Hinduism who feel they are at a certain step of the caste ladder to those below them, or non-Hindus.

https://www.google.com/search?q=silicon+valley+caste+system

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a casual observer, their culture seems to include considerable classism; to the degree that 'where are you from?' appears to be an extremely common and loaded question [saved for the locals] . I only recognize it because it exists in mine, not a judgement.

Don't tiptoe around the topic. By class you mean caste. As a white guy who has worked in tech for 25+ years and has made many Indian friends, I continue to be astounded by how fixated many (obviously not all) of them are on caste. In particular, how much time and effort gets spent trying to suss out each others' caste by asking questions like you noted. Every time we get a new Indian team member and the existing ones…

Caste is a disease for sure. Divides people for the benefit of dividers and the few..

Re: Cognizant found guilty of discriminating against non-Indian employees

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think the word "Flyover" means? You live in it now, they let you in so you're not flying over it. It's obviously derogatory, and even your link says it's derogatory. That'd be like me going to India, and then complaining "As an American living next to untouchables..."

Here's the relevant quote from the wikipedia that you're misusing: > The origins of the phrases and the attitudes of their supposed users are a source of debate in American culture; the terms are often regarded as pejoratives, but are sometimes "reclaimed" and used defensively.[1] So no, it is not "obviously derogatory", and the link does not say that.

I'd identify it as self deprecation as a form of social ingratiation, just have to be careful with that as self deprecation can go beyond the boundary of self.
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