6 ms·
These jokes are definitely inflammatory. It is a brand of humour that identifies things other people think are important then points out that they are ridiculou
by roenxi 3y ago
These jokes are definitely inflammatory. It is a brand of humour that identifies things other people think are important then points out that they are ridiculous. His colleagues could be quite upset. I would expect being fired from most tech companies for making the observations in the "Kind of Racist" routine; although I have the wrong skin colour for it so the ice is presumably thinner for me than for him. There is some real girl from HR that was doing that in his company who is probably quite committed to the work.
- blairbeckwith 3y agoIt’s certainly believable that there actually was a real girl who was doing that at his work, but we should also probably stop taking comedic storytelling as truth without question. See: recent Hassan Minhaj controversy, etc.
- master-lincoln 3y agoOne could argue the steps the HR person did in the "Kind of Racist" sketch are inflammatory themselves... At least in Germany I think it would be unacceptable for an HR person to ask if somebody considers themselves a person of color in an official context.
- op00to 3y agoYou are asked to self identify race as a part of US employment. I think it’s important to ask people how they view themselves.
- hobs 3y agoUsually in the USA its for employers who want to get in on EEOC things is it actually tracked, otherwise its usually right out.
- scotty79 3y agoIt sounds racist.
- andsoitis 3y agoAnswering is optional, isn’t it?
- edgyquant 3y agoIn theory, yes. In practice Is it really though?
- lokar 3y agoI have declined at least once, never heard anything about it
- barry-cotter 3y agoIf you refuse to answer your employer must by law give their best guess.
- brabel 3y agoWhy? Who cares about this and what's the reason they must care?? Affirmative action? Race "quotas"?? How do you know it will not be used in the exact opposite manner? It's simply better to treat everyone equally (I know, radical notion) and stop this madness.
- ezrast 3y agoWhat's better is largely unknowable if you're not collecting statistics to measure the impact of policy changes.
- op00to 3y agoReally? That’s hilarious!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- busterarm 3y agoBut that's to collect statistics for the US Government. If you as an employer were to take _any_ actions based on that information it would be illegal. So after you get hired and provide that information for government statistics collection, why would your employer ever need to ask you for it afterwards?
- davidgay 3y ago> So after you get hired and provide that information for government statistics collection, why would your employer ever need to ask you for it afterwards? Because your employer wants to collect statistics too.
- busterarm 3y agoThat's the point. Why allow them to? They're barred from any action so there's no good purpose served by having them.
- davidgay 3y agoThey aren't "barred from any action", they can, e.g., publish reports on those statistics - it sounds like you don't even want the questions to be answerable...
- ajhurliman 3y agoHot take: it’s not actually important, and dwelling on our differences decreases human well-being
- rayiner 3y ago> At least in Germany I think it would be unacceptable for an HR person to ask if somebody considers themselves a person of color in an official context. I’m regularly asked that question in official contexts in the last few years. American companies make hiring decisions now based on racial identification. Big companies even require their vendors and service providers to factor race into staffing decisions. It’s illegal under American law, but in the last decade or so corporate HR departments have gotten some funny ideas.
- Anthony-G 3y agoAgree. I just submitted a thoughtful - and entertaining – article on this subject by computer scientist, Les Earnest. From the sixties onwards, he identified himself as a mongrel rather than allow himself to be classified by any one meaningless and not-very scientific concept of “race”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38907226 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38907226 > in 1966 I discovered that something very good had happened: the race question had disappeared from the security clearance form. In fact, this question disappeared from nearly all government forms then. I liked to think I helped that change along. > I have argued that all historical and present racial and ethnic classification systems for individuals are nonsensical and so are the laws, court decisions, computer applications, and bureaucratic superstructures that have been built on top of them.
- tptacek 3y agoThe HR person that got him fired was a dude.
- StanislavPetrov 3y ago>These jokes are definitely inflammatory. Virtually every good joke could be considered, "inflammatory" by someone.