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For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

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Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#601
post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live? I have no idea what it's like to be Jewish but I have Jewish friends and have had Jewish bosses. I couldn't tell them apart from any other white people in the area. If they hadn't told me they were Jewish I'd never have known nor cared. I certainly didn't treat them different. At what point are we all just different? I can't meet people that are into my particular hobby. I also go to clubs and bars…

Christmas feels weird to me -- It feels vaguely exclusive.

Christmas is really for everyone, it is about Santa Claus bringing gifts and Coca Cola polar bears. No need to feel excluded.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#602
post #520
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am Jewish. This gives me no insight into what it is to be black in America. But it does give me some insight into what it is to be a minority in America. I have an inkling of your loneliness and you have my profound sympathy. I wish everyone could experience what it is to be a minority in some, any, aspect of their identity to the extent that it might provide them some empathy for others. (I also never realized wha…

I'm a white British guy living in the Netherlands. I'll never forget shortly after moving here, I was sat in the garden with our Dutch neighbours and my Dutch girlfriend, and the man started complaining about "immigrants" and all the problems they brought to the Netherlands. My girlfriend said "you know Dave is an immigrant?" and he just waved it away, "Not you, you're not like them". Obviously he wasn't talking abou…

If you're from Britain you should know it is about stereotypes, not race. The Asians make your food, the Polish fix your pipes and the Romanians build your houses.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#603
This is the sort of issues that some kind of "unconscious bias" training should help you overcome. It is really frustrating for the victim but those who are perpetuating are not racists or evil. It is a social mental conditioning that they will overcome if they realize how much damage they are doing.

My wife joined an ecomm company recently. Since entire joining was remote, it was little hard for her to get onboarded with the team and her manager would assign her documentation and testing issues. Few weeks later when she told her manager that she would like to write some real code he was surprised. Because of her gender he had thought she was a tester.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#604
post #418

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I'm skeptical about Robin Diangelo, I read her book a few months ago, and it only seems to be an advertisement for her services as an anti-racist instructor. Her entire argument frames race relations within the context of the workplace which is problematic because her approach is coercive, not educational. It's more a guide on "how not to get fired for being racist" than anything. There are much better books for foun…

It's really telling how during this entire BLM revival, white people have been recommending this particular book - written by a white author. Even in the midst of a racial awareness campaign, black voices are muffled.

Your post highlights something I can't grasp; your post is explicitly and openly racist, yet you are complaining about racism. Why is that?

"People are recommending a book by an author." Fixed that for you.

I'll give you the BLM, that's an instance of necessary discrimination. The rest ... if the authors advice is wrong, criticise it, if the book or person does something bad, criticise it. Don't just pick out the skin colour of the author, or of someone recommending the book, and use that as a reason why it's bad. That's racist.

[Please note I haven't read the book, and do not know the author, and am categorically not promoting either.]

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#605
post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I feel you, I have worked in the valley for 10 years and am yet to work closely with a black developer. I have felt the loneliness at times - I seem to oscillate between all white teams and teams with many Asians (I am Indian). When you are a minority in a group, I think you tend to overthink things, feel very judged, and may be put in to an uncomfortable position to speak for your community. It can be weird and…

> When you are a minority in a group, I think you tend to overthink things, feel very judged, and may be put in to an uncomfortable position to speak for your community. why do you feel judged?

When you have more people, it gives everyone more data points to separate the individual from the group.

But when you are a single data point that represents a group, any personal characteristic can be easily construed/extrapolated as a characteristic of the group you are supposed to represent.

This leads to the feeling of "Am I being judged for myself or for my group?". This cuts for both the good and the bad stereotyping that your group might have.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#606
post #357
post #338

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Your skepticism is well warranted. Unfalsifiable theory, dogma you can't question, purity tests, good vs evil, original sin, heresy, excommunication, self-flagellation and so on... It's a religion and Kafkatrap, but not yet widely recognized as such. Further explanation: https://newdiscourses.com/2020/06/intellectual-fraud-robin-d... https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/why-third-... https://www.wsj.com/…

I find it interesting you choose the word 'explanation' as opposed to 'counter argument'

He also chose the word "kafkatrap", a word coined by a notorious racist.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#607
post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christmas feels weird to me -- It feels vaguely exclusive.

Christmas is really for everyone, it is about Santa Claus bringing gifts and Coca Cola polar bears. No need to feel excluded.

Well, it's about the Messiah being born, be it was culturally appropriated (ceded?).

Despite what social media and talk radio says, most Christians are fine others enjoying a non-Christian Christmas as long as it's being used in an uplifting way. Definitely no need to feel excluded.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#608

I usually choose to believe in "the honest mistake". It happens, two people walk in, one of them is the CEO, you assume it is the one on the right. And then when you realize it is a mistake, you apologize. We are only human. But when it happens over and over and over, you can't help but feel frustrated. You realize that people natural instinct is to think you are the subordinate. One second your are on stage at Techc…

> You wouldn't believe how lonely it is. In my team of 150 people, we were two black people.

Why do you find this lonely? Do you not like the company of people unless they are black?

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#609

I usually choose to believe in "the honest mistake". It happens, two people walk in, one of them is the CEO, you assume it is the one on the right. And then when you realize it is a mistake, you apologize. We are only human. But when it happens over and over and over, you can't help but feel frustrated. You realize that people natural instinct is to think you are the subordinate. One second your are on stage at Techc…

As another black developer I can only relate to this.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you realize that Abraham Lincoln was a racist? Did you realize that almost everyone who hasn't undergone a lifetime of "anti-racist" propaganda is a racist? Anyway, as to the subject of the article, I think it was covered in an episode of "The Jeffersons".

> Did you realize that Abraham Lincoln was a racist? I think signing the Emancipation Proclamation, prosecuting the Civil War, and ultimately paying for it all with his life, give him a pass for his personal views that would be considered "racist" by today's standards. In Lincoln's case, actions really spoke far louder than words.

Wasn't one of his primary motives to cripple the Confederacy by signing the Emancipation Proclamation? In other words, he didn't simply do it because it was the right thing to do.
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