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> I despise this kind of actions taken > based on the colour of the skin Are you sure you aren't applying a rule, on this occasion, without thinking it th

> I despise this kind of actions taken > based on the colour of the skin Are you sure you aren't applying a rule, on this occasion, without thinking it through? Skin-colour is relevant to the job here: it's a guarantee that the board member will have first-hand experience dealing with the issues Alexis thinks Reddit has mishandled.

fakename11 6y ago
Not necessarily guaranteed, not every person with a certain skin color has experienced the same thing... but you can probably find someone that has if that is what you are selecting for.
- uniqueid 6y ago
  True. I actually considered clarifying that. But if we're being pragmatic, the chances are awfully good that a new "black" board member will understand the issues. Have to say, unless the board member is also a prickly character, there's a high likelihood, even with an understanding, that he or she won't really rock the boat anyways.
- Dahoon 6y ago
  >not every person with a certain skin color has experienced the same thing True, but try finding an Afro-American that haven't faced racism.
kepler1 6y ago
The notion that only representatives from those who suffer racism or oppression can be the ones to get us out of it, is an attitude that hinders all of us from making progress against it.
- 8note 6y ago
  Putting people that don't have an intimate understanding of the problem sounds like a great recipe for success. Sure, a plumber might have the solution to the halting problem, but I'd trust someone who's spent a good deal of their life interacting with the problem instead
  - Darmody 6y ago
    Having suffered racism doesn't qualify you for fighting it. If all black have suffered racism why there's racist black people out there? Would those who look down at Asians or South Americans have the solution for racism?
  - kepler1 6y ago
    You defeat your own cause by insisting that only people of the same race can help solve it. "Would you refuse to be treated by a doctor for cancer, unless he himself has had cancer?"
    - uniqueid 6y ago
      I would far prefer, other factors being equal, treatment from the doctor who has first-hand experience of my malady.
      - kepler1 6y ago
        I guess doctors who treat end stage dementia need to have had it too? The wish to have a person of the same race solve the problems of race are understandable. But I would encourage you all to hope for the better situation which is that anyone with good ideas, regardless of race, should be considered as equally as someone else to solve our problems. Because, I have the feeling that your position leads to bad side effects. Like having very fragile victories. Like black voters (or young people) being very fickle and not turning out to vote because the person who might have good ideas doesn't look like them. Like not engaging or believing what someone says just because of their skin color. The very things you're fighting against. Take a longer term sustainable position and you will be better for it.
        uniqueid 6y ago
        > I guess doctors who treat end stage > dementia need to have had it too? I did specify "other factors being equal." A brain disease is clearly a special case, since the real advantages bestowed by first-hand experience (eg: better empathy, fuller understanding of symptoms) are negated by the doctor also becoming a mental vegetable. Further, unless you equate being "black" with having brain damage, how would that example even apply to the original issue? The remainder of your comment rails against a position I do not hold, and did not claim to hold. My best guess is that you were thinking of Affirmative Action? Affirmative Action, as I answered someone else in this thread, is its own issue.
Darmody 6y ago
I am sure and I think we shouldn't fall into this kind of traps. First of all it doesn't guarantee anything. They will pick someone black with the same line of thought that they already have on the board. They won't be selecting, let's say, a black conservative. So in the end, their skin colour would be less important than their ideology but at the same time it'll be the decisive factor, which is stupid. Just as stupid as it would be to fire someone not white to hire a white person. I'm saying this as an immigrant and hence a minority. I wouldn't even think about taking a job where they want me because of where I come from. It would make me feel like if I had some kind of disability or special needs and I couldn't do the same thing as others. Race problems won't stop until people understand that the more emphasis you put into race, the more you'll divide people.
- thu2111 6y ago
  Yep, nominate Thomas Sowell to the Reddit board and see what happens!
thefz 6y ago
You are assuming that: 1. a nonwhite has SURELY experienced racism first-hand at least once in his life 2. a nonwhite cannot be racist 3. a white cannot have the required sensitivity with the subject Wow. A selection criteria based solely on a person's skin color is what racism is all about.

fakename11 6y ago

Not necessarily guaranteed, not every person with a certain skin color has experienced the same thing... but you can probably find someone that has if that is what you are selecting for.

uniqueid 6y ago
True. I actually considered clarifying that. But if we're being pragmatic, the chances are awfully good that a new "black" board member will understand the issues. Have to say, unless the board member is also a prickly character, there's a high likelihood, even with an understanding, that he or she won't really rock the boat anyways.
Dahoon 6y ago
>not every person with a certain skin color has experienced the same thing True, but try finding an Afro-American that haven't faced racism.

kepler1 6y ago

The notion that only representatives from those who suffer racism or oppression can be the ones to get us out of it, is an attitude that hinders all of us from making progress against it.

8note 6y ago
Putting people that don't have an intimate understanding of the problem sounds like a great recipe for success. Sure, a plumber might have the solution to the halting problem, but I'd trust someone who's spent a good deal of their life interacting with the problem instead
- Darmody 6y ago
  Having suffered racism doesn't qualify you for fighting it. If all black have suffered racism why there's racist black people out there? Would those who look down at Asians or South Americans have the solution for racism?
- kepler1 6y ago
  You defeat your own cause by insisting that only people of the same race can help solve it. "Would you refuse to be treated by a doctor for cancer, unless he himself has had cancer?"
  - uniqueid 6y ago
    I would far prefer, other factors being equal, treatment from the doctor who has first-hand experience of my malady.
    - kepler1 6y ago
      I guess doctors who treat end stage dementia need to have had it too? The wish to have a person of the same race solve the problems of race are understandable. But I would encourage you all to hope for the better situation which is that anyone with good ideas, regardless of race, should be considered as equally as someone else to solve our problems. Because, I have the feeling that your position leads to bad side effects. Like having very fragile victories. Like black voters (or young people) being very fickle and not turning out to vote because the person who might have good ideas doesn't look like them. Like not engaging or believing what someone says just because of their skin color. The very things you're fighting against. Take a longer term sustainable position and you will be better for it.
      - uniqueid 6y ago
        > I guess doctors who treat end stage > dementia need to have had it too? I did specify "other factors being equal." A brain disease is clearly a special case, since the real advantages bestowed by first-hand experience (eg: better empathy, fuller understanding of symptoms) are negated by the doctor also becoming a mental vegetable. Further, unless you equate being "black" with having brain damage, how would that example even apply to the original issue? The remainder of your comment rails against a position I do not hold, and did not claim to hold. My best guess is that you were thinking of Affirmative Action? Affirmative Action, as I answered someone else in this thread, is its own issue.

Darmody 6y ago

I am sure and I think we shouldn't fall into this kind of traps. First of all it doesn't guarantee anything. They will pick someone black with the same line of thought that they already have on the board. They won't be selecting, let's say, a black conservative. So in the end, their skin colour would be less important than their ideology but at the same time it'll be the decisive factor, which is stupid. Just as stupid as it would be to fire someone not white to hire a white person. I'm saying this as an immigrant and hence a minority. I wouldn't even think about taking a job where they want me because of where I come from. It would make me feel like if I had some kind of disability or special needs and I couldn't do the same thing as others. Race problems won't stop until people understand that the more emphasis you put into race, the more you'll divide people.

thu2111 6y ago
Yep, nominate Thomas Sowell to the Reddit board and see what happens!

thefz 6y ago

You are assuming that: 1. a nonwhite has SURELY experienced racism first-hand at least once in his life 2. a nonwhite cannot be racist 3. a white cannot have the required sensitivity with the subject Wow. A selection criteria based solely on a person's skin color is what racism is all about.