7 ms·

Which actually really boils down to what the word "white male privilege" really means. If you think politics is annoying, then it's because you're privileged en

Which actually really boils down to what the word "white male privilege" really means. If you think politics is annoying, then it's because you're privileged enough for it to not matter. ^^^ privileged white male

icelancer 7y ago
>> If you think politics is annoying, then it's because you're privileged enough for it to not matter. I felt this way as a poor minority. This statement people keep bandying about that white people are forced to repeat lest they seem racist is absurd.
ggreer 7y ago
I've worked at a company that heavily encouraged discussion of politics at work, and it was a nightmare. The things management sponsored (at the request of employees) included: - A women-only Slack channel. - Women-only events, such as a free screening of Wonder Woman. The men at the company were expected to work during that time. - An "ally skills workshop"[1], which attempted to indoctrinate us with an explicitly racist and sexist ideology. - A Diversity Council that had the explicit goal of increasing the number of non-white non-men in engineering. One time when I was invited to a meeting of the council, I said that their goal should be to eliminate bias in the hiring process (such as by blinding resumes, replacing phone screens with text-only mediums, etc). I was taken aside and chastised for my statements. If I had actually said my opinions, I have no doubt I would have been fired for my beliefs. If that's what happens when people are encouraged to bring their politics to work (especially in SF), I will gladly take the "no politics" option. 1. Slides from the workshop: https://files.frameshiftconsulting.com/Ally%20Skills%20Workshop%20slides.pdf https://files.frameshiftconsulting.com/Ally%20Skills%20Works... Edit: the slides have been updated since I last saw them. The slides presented to me were closer to this version from 2017: https://web.archive.org/web/20170911021528/https://files.frameshiftconsulting.com/Ally%20Skills%20Workshop%20slides.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170911021528/https://files.fra... Though even that version is more toned down than what I saw.
- fwip 7y ago
  Sounds like a nice place to work. Believing that the teaching you how to be a good ally is racist and sexist (against white men, I assume) is probably why you didn't fit in great there. I read that whole slideset and there's nothing racist in there - unless you're counting the scenarios of "what not to do."
  - ggreer 7y ago
    The slides didn't have the explicitly racist and sexist bits. Basically if you were a white guy, you weren't allowed to interrupt anyone and anyone was allowed to interrupt you. There were also implications that one should discriminate against white men when choosing who to hire, who to promote, and who to have speak at conferences.
    - fwip 7y ago
      Then why'd you link the slides?
  - friendlybus 7y ago
    So if the white male has some important information for the bottom line of the company, should he wait 2hrs for wonder woman to stop playing or go and 'interrupt' 10 women not working and be a bad ally? What a joke.
    - fwip 7y ago
      Yeah, people have meetings. People go to lunch sometimes, or have appointments outside the workplace. If it's "stop the world" important and absolutely needs to be dealt with right now, interrupt it, same as you would any other break. Otherwise, deal with it like you would any other situation.
  - DATACOMMANDER 7y ago
    The slide set is a big can of crazy.

icelancer 7y ago

>> If you think politics is annoying, then it's because you're privileged enough for it to not matter. I felt this way as a poor minority. This statement people keep bandying about that white people are forced to repeat lest they seem racist is absurd.

ggreer 7y ago

I've worked at a company that heavily encouraged discussion of politics at work, and it was a nightmare. The things management sponsored (at the request of employees) included: - A women-only Slack channel. - Women-only events, such as a free screening of Wonder Woman. The men at the company were expected to work during that time. - An "ally skills workshop"[1], which attempted to indoctrinate us with an explicitly racist and sexist ideology. - A Diversity Council that had the explicit goal of increasing the number of non-white non-men in engineering. One time when I was invited to a meeting of the council, I said that their goal should be to eliminate bias in the hiring process (such as by blinding resumes, replacing phone screens with text-only mediums, etc). I was taken aside and chastised for my statements. If I had actually said my opinions, I have no doubt I would have been fired for my beliefs. If that's what happens when people are encouraged to bring their politics to work (especially in SF), I will gladly take the "no politics" option. 1. Slides from the workshop: https://files.frameshiftconsulting.com/Ally%20Skills%20Workshop%20slides.pdf https://files.frameshiftconsulting.com/Ally%20Skills%20Works... Edit: the slides have been updated since I last saw them. The slides presented to me were closer to this version from 2017: https://web.archive.org/web/20170911021528/https://files.frameshiftconsulting.com/Ally%20Skills%20Workshop%20slides.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170911021528/https://files.fra... Though even that version is more toned down than what I saw.

fwip 7y ago
Sounds like a nice place to work. Believing that the teaching you how to be a good ally is racist and sexist (against white men, I assume) is probably why you didn't fit in great there. I read that whole slideset and there's nothing racist in there - unless you're counting the scenarios of "what not to do."
- ggreer 7y ago
  The slides didn't have the explicitly racist and sexist bits. Basically if you were a white guy, you weren't allowed to interrupt anyone and anyone was allowed to interrupt you. There were also implications that one should discriminate against white men when choosing who to hire, who to promote, and who to have speak at conferences.
  - fwip 7y ago
    Then why'd you link the slides?
- friendlybus 7y ago
  So if the white male has some important information for the bottom line of the company, should he wait 2hrs for wonder woman to stop playing or go and 'interrupt' 10 women not working and be a bad ally? What a joke.
  - fwip 7y ago
    Yeah, people have meetings. People go to lunch sometimes, or have appointments outside the workplace. If it's "stop the world" important and absolutely needs to be dealt with right now, interrupt it, same as you would any other break. Otherwise, deal with it like you would any other situation.
- DATACOMMANDER 7y ago
  The slide set is a big can of crazy.