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I guess non-racist layoffs would mean not disproportionately laying off minority groups. So anti-racist layoffs would mean disproportionately laying off majorit

I guess non-racist layoffs would mean not disproportionately laying off minority groups. So anti-racist layoffs would mean disproportionately laying off majority groups? So then it would be anti-racist in the sense of rolling back historical racist impacts. In reality it's probably just empty talk since they know they'd get sued for actually doing anything beyond making promises.

rimunroe 4y ago
> I guess non-racist layoffs would mean not disproportionately laying off minority groups. So anti-racist layoffs would mean disproportionately laying off majority groups? No, it almost certainly just means trying not to disproportionately lay off minority groups. You don't have to swing ist the neutral point and to immediately discriminate against the other side, you just need to stop discriminating. I don't know why so many commenters assume that the only options are to be racist towards non-whites or to be racist against whites. There is a middle ground of just trying to not be racist at all. I imagine you could even come up with a term for it which would really clarify what the thing we're fighting against is, because otherwise people might think that it's trying to push whites down rather than stop pushing other people down. Maybe "anti-racist" would work.
- alangibson 4y ago
  To be clear, I was just trying to figure out what an nonsense phrase like "anti-racist layoffs" could mean. > Maybe "anti-racist" would work Clearly not, because it's an easily and frequently misunderstood term. Anyway, the problem with anti-racism isn't terminology. It's an individualized solution to a structural problem, and so is doomed to fail just like conscious capitalism et. al.
  - rimunroe 4y ago
    >> Maybe "anti-racist" would work > Clearly not, because it's an easily and frequently misunderstood term. To be clear, that second paragraph was mostly me being frustrated with the fact that a term which seems like it's so straightforward in its meaning is such a source of confusion and outrage for so many people. It's baffling to me that someone would assume "anti-racist layoff" meant "we're going to decide who to fire based on their race". At the very least that's clearly much more of a legal nightmare, and would be an extremely bizarre thing for a company to say out loud.

rimunroe 4y ago

> I guess non-racist layoffs would mean not disproportionately laying off minority groups. So anti-racist layoffs would mean disproportionately laying off majority groups? No, it almost certainly just means trying not to disproportionately lay off minority groups. You don't have to swing ist the neutral point and to immediately discriminate against the other side, you just need to stop discriminating. I don't know why so many commenters assume that the only options are to be racist towards non-whites or to be racist against whites. There is a middle ground of just trying to not be racist at all. I imagine you could even come up with a term for it which would really clarify what the thing we're fighting against is, because otherwise people might think that it's trying to push whites down rather than stop pushing other people down. Maybe "anti-racist" would work.

alangibson 4y ago
To be clear, I was just trying to figure out what an nonsense phrase like "anti-racist layoffs" could mean. > Maybe "anti-racist" would work Clearly not, because it's an easily and frequently misunderstood term. Anyway, the problem with anti-racism isn't terminology. It's an individualized solution to a structural problem, and so is doomed to fail just like conscious capitalism et. al.
- rimunroe 4y ago
  >> Maybe "anti-racist" would work > Clearly not, because it's an easily and frequently misunderstood term. To be clear, that second paragraph was mostly me being frustrated with the fact that a term which seems like it's so straightforward in its meaning is such a source of confusion and outrage for so many people. It's baffling to me that someone would assume "anti-racist layoff" meant "we're going to decide who to fire based on their race". At the very least that's clearly much more of a legal nightmare, and would be an extremely bizarre thing for a company to say out loud.