4 ms·

Representative of what? London is one of the most diverse cities in the world.

by jplrssn 2y ago

zamadatix 2y ago
London has a population over half white, it's not really all that for a large population center.
- m_a_g 2y ago
  White doesn't mean anything in Europe. It's very much an American concept that's only valid there. If you subdivide the "white" population in London by their culture, you'll see what I mean. Of course, if you measure diversity by the color of people's skin, then that's different. Otherwise, London might be the most diverse city on Earth, sharing the number one spot with New York.
  - lwansbrough 2y ago
    Americans struggle deeply with their axiom of whiteness. Whiteness in America comes from the unification of caucasians from broad cultural and economic backgrounds against the black slaves that were being raped, tortured and dehumanized systematically over generations. And instead of rectifying the problem by dismantling the concept of whiteness (because it reenforces the power of racial division & hierarchy), it gets promoted as truth and vilified in the name of equality. From an outside perspective, even as close as Canada, this appears regressive. As for the choice to highlight black and brown people in this project that others in the GP are complaining about.. maybe they’re under represented in these fields in the UK and the government wants to fix that? I have to say if you get upset about minorities being over-represented you need to find a better use of your limited time on Earth.
    - wizzwizz4 2y ago
      > maybe they’re under represented in these fields in the UK and the government wants to fix that? Or maybe they're not, and this is a representative sample? Academics move around a lot: seemingly half the faculty at my local university are immigrants, and a good chunk of the graduates become emigrants. You might be right, but I get unreasonably annoyed when people insist that the existence of women or members of minority groups must be a diversity initiative. The mere existence of people is not a political statement.
      - lwansbrough 2y ago
        Fair point, that was indeed a biased assumption. Cheers.
    - pvaldes 2y ago
      > As for the choice to highlight black and brown people in this project that others in the GP are complaining about.. maybe they’re under represented in these fields in the UK and the government wants to fix that? This is not the real problem here. Black scientists are perfectly okay.
- threeseed 2y ago
  It is just 53.8% white / white-other which can mean many things: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-popula... And diversity means more than just white people.
  - zamadatix 2y ago
    My point is a city of world class diversity doesn't have an obvious simple majority from a single category. My point is not "white people are there" or "London is extremely uniform". Bringing this back around to the original topic, none in the photos from the article are from the simple majority category. N is small, so that's not necessarily astounding, but the n=50 photo set also follows a similar pattern. I don't disagree with it, I think it's more than fine to highlight that the modern split is very different than the typical historical split , but it is there and London is perhaps more bland than the photos suggest.

Representative of what? London is one of the most diverse cities in the world.

zamadatix 2y ago

London has a population over half white, it's not really all that for a large population center.

m_a_g 2y ago
White doesn't mean anything in Europe. It's very much an American concept that's only valid there. If you subdivide the "white" population in London by their culture, you'll see what I mean. Of course, if you measure diversity by the color of people's skin, then that's different. Otherwise, London might be the most diverse city on Earth, sharing the number one spot with New York.
- lwansbrough 2y ago
  Americans struggle deeply with their axiom of whiteness. Whiteness in America comes from the unification of caucasians from broad cultural and economic backgrounds against the black slaves that were being raped, tortured and dehumanized systematically over generations. And instead of rectifying the problem by dismantling the concept of whiteness (because it reenforces the power of racial division & hierarchy), it gets promoted as truth and vilified in the name of equality. From an outside perspective, even as close as Canada, this appears regressive. As for the choice to highlight black and brown people in this project that others in the GP are complaining about.. maybe they’re under represented in these fields in the UK and the government wants to fix that? I have to say if you get upset about minorities being over-represented you need to find a better use of your limited time on Earth.
  - wizzwizz4 2y ago
    > maybe they’re under represented in these fields in the UK and the government wants to fix that? Or maybe they're not, and this is a representative sample? Academics move around a lot: seemingly half the faculty at my local university are immigrants, and a good chunk of the graduates become emigrants. You might be right, but I get unreasonably annoyed when people insist that the existence of women or members of minority groups must be a diversity initiative. The mere existence of people is not a political statement.
    - lwansbrough 2y ago
      Fair point, that was indeed a biased assumption. Cheers.
  - pvaldes 2y ago
    > As for the choice to highlight black and brown people in this project that others in the GP are complaining about.. maybe they’re under represented in these fields in the UK and the government wants to fix that? This is not the real problem here. Black scientists are perfectly okay.
threeseed 2y ago
It is just 53.8% white / white-other which can mean many things: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-popula... And diversity means more than just white people.
- zamadatix 2y ago
  My point is a city of world class diversity doesn't have an obvious simple majority from a single category. My point is not "white people are there" or "London is extremely uniform". Bringing this back around to the original topic, none in the photos from the article are from the simple majority category. N is small, so that's not necessarily astounding, but the n=50 photo set also follows a similar pattern. I don't disagree with it, I think it's more than fine to highlight that the modern split is very different than the typical historical split , but it is there and London is perhaps more bland than the photos suggest.