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A lot of racist statements can be hidden in an obscure arrangement of facts, observations and generalization. In this case, the statement that cheap programmers

A lot of racist statements can be hidden in an obscure arrangement of facts, observations and generalization. In this case, the statement that cheap programmers are less likely to deliver good results isn't inherently problematic. What is problematic is the following sentence: > Now, competitors in India, the former Soviet bloc, and elsewhere can just as easily use the same tools and techniques at lower cost. The author implicitly generalizes that all Indian and post-Soviet programmers are cheap and all cheap programmers are Indian/post-Soviet.

azangru 7y ago
> The author implicitly generalizes that all Indian and post-Soviet programmers are cheap and all cheap programmers are Indian/post-Soviet. Respectfully, the generalization that includes the word ALL happens in the mind of the reader. The authors CANNOT have meant that all cheap programmers are Indian/post-Soviet. Indeed, in the previous paragraph the author talks about "barely-out-of-high-school whiz kids", whom he also doesn't hold in high esteem; and those kids are likely imagined as American. The claim that the original text makes is probabilistic. It may even turn out to be true (as in, it is not unimaginable that it's more likely than not to get bad programmers on the project when outsourcing to cheap companies in e.g. India or post-Soviet countries).
- t0astbread 7y ago
  I'm still not convinced that that sentence wasn't meant to imply this generalization. (Whether the author has deliberately written the sentence like that or subconsciously, I can't say.) Besides that, bringing in nationalities was completely useless. The author had already established that low cost contractors yield bad results, so why tie that to nationalities needlessly? It adds nothing to the text except for a slightly racist undertone and a bash on engineers of these nationalities.
raxxorrax 7y ago
They are cheaper because of different development level of countries. I doubt this can be classified as racist.

azangru 7y ago

> The author implicitly generalizes that all Indian and post-Soviet programmers are cheap and all cheap programmers are Indian/post-Soviet. Respectfully, the generalization that includes the word ALL happens in the mind of the reader. The authors CANNOT have meant that all cheap programmers are Indian/post-Soviet. Indeed, in the previous paragraph the author talks about "barely-out-of-high-school whiz kids", whom he also doesn't hold in high esteem; and those kids are likely imagined as American. The claim that the original text makes is probabilistic. It may even turn out to be true (as in, it is not unimaginable that it's more likely than not to get bad programmers on the project when outsourcing to cheap companies in e.g. India or post-Soviet countries).

t0astbread 7y ago
I'm still not convinced that that sentence wasn't meant to imply this generalization. (Whether the author has deliberately written the sentence like that or subconsciously, I can't say.) Besides that, bringing in nationalities was completely useless. The author had already established that low cost contractors yield bad results, so why tie that to nationalities needlessly? It adds nothing to the text except for a slightly racist undertone and a bash on engineers of these nationalities.

raxxorrax 7y ago

They are cheaper because of different development level of countries. I doubt this can be classified as racist.