3 ms·

I worked as much as 200% more than some of my colleagues while having the lowest wage in the team. When I left, projects in my perimeter took 12x more time to d

by Xmd5a 2y ago

I worked as much as 200% more than some of my colleagues while having the lowest wage in the team. When I left, projects in my perimeter took 12x more time to develop (as assessed by a former colleague). I had a manager fired for failing to recruit me back. You're wrong in assigning the injustice you're going through to discrimination based on your ethnicity, especially in an academic context where the vast majority is pro-immigration.

Xmd5a 2y ago
There is no concrete example of racism in his testimony. He describes universal situations of professional rivalry ("opportunities vanish," "pressure amounts") but interprets them as implicit racism without tangible evidence. The intangibility of racism paradoxically makes it more powerful as an accusatory mechanism. Its very invisibility becomes proof of its omnipresence - the more impossible it is to prove, the more "obvious" it becomes. The vicious cycle is perfect: the absence of evidence strengthens the belief in a hidden evil. This structure mirrors the logic of primitive sacredness: an absolute but elusive evil that demands even more victims precisely because it defies empirical verification. The accused can neither defend themselves (since denial is seen as proof of guilt) nor confess (as the evil is portrayed as unconscious). Some relevant Proust: >"Miss Vinteuil might not have thought evil was such a rare state, so extraordinary, so exotic, such a restful place to emigrate to, had she been able to discern in herself, as in everyone else, that indifference to the suffering we cause which, whatever other names we give it, is the terrible and permanent form of cruelty."
- low_tech_love 2y ago
  Racism (if done in a “smart” way) is impossible to prove. Does that mean that we should then not try to detect it or speak up against it, simply because we will never be able to objectively back up our claims? And if yes, then does that not strengthen even more the case (and benefits) for being a racist? Also I believe it’s disingenuous to treat racism as such a concrete, objective term. Maybe they are preying on me (and other people like me, which there are objectively many) simply because I’m the weak link in the system? But if my weakness stems from me being an immigrant (because I have no safety net, no family around me or a shoulder to cry on, because I don’t know the system well enough and thus I’m more likely to accept injustice and stay quiet) is that “racism”? Or “prejudice”?
cropcirclbureau 2y ago
What do you assign the injustice you faced to? And who're you to deny GPs claims? There's nothing more rancid than someone leaping to downplay someone's complaint as "ah, they're just being sensitive. They're imagining it". If they were lodging a formal complaint at their firm, sure, due process is a must but people being shit to the Other is a well established and common human behavior. It sucks what happened to you but it has little to bear on GPs words. It's just confusing why you felt the need to defend these other strangers you've never met.
- Xmd5a 2y ago
  I'm not defending GP's colleagues, nor am I suggesting that the undeserved treatment he received was imaginary. However, the idea that this must be caused by racism is a cheap and comfortable narrative GP is telling himself and anyone who believes him. Should his colleagues read his post anonymously, they would probably agree with him. As for me, my story isn't unlike the rants often shared by open-source project maintainers. One never gives of oneself without keeping a secret ledger in their mind, known only to them: that can only lead to frustration and anger. The "solution" is to never give away your work without retribution—an ideal that, of course, isn't feasible within a company. Meritocracy exists only at the periphery, driven by market forces, however flawed they may be. I don't know how to "fix" this. To rise within a company (or academia), you also need charisma, connections, likability, and sometimes even resorting to flattery, ass-kissing, or bullying a pharmakos—all of which I took pride in refusing to partake in. These are the traits GP and I lacked. I can tell from the pathetic tone he used throughout his post—a tone that reminds me of myself.
  - low_tech_love 2y ago
    You got many points right, and I’m sure it’s true that there’s bullshit everywhere. But you also got wrong the whole idea of “racism”; I never actually mentioned that word or considered that as a part of my situation. The right word is “prejudice”, as in, “you’re weak here, you have no support, and you don’t know how to play the game. If someone needs to be screwed, it’ll be you.” If you go by what is in the surface, you’d expect that an incompetent native would be in more danger than a competent foreigner. That’s not the case.

by Xmd5a 2y ago

Xmd5a 2y ago

There is no concrete example of racism in his testimony. He describes universal situations of professional rivalry ("opportunities vanish," "pressure amounts") but interprets them as implicit racism without tangible evidence. The intangibility of racism paradoxically makes it more powerful as an accusatory mechanism. Its very invisibility becomes proof of its omnipresence - the more impossible it is to prove, the more "obvious" it becomes. The vicious cycle is perfect: the absence of evidence strengthens the belief in a hidden evil. This structure mirrors the logic of primitive sacredness: an absolute but elusive evil that demands even more victims precisely because it defies empirical verification. The accused can neither defend themselves (since denial is seen as proof of guilt) nor confess (as the evil is portrayed as unconscious). Some relevant Proust: >"Miss Vinteuil might not have thought evil was such a rare state, so extraordinary, so exotic, such a restful place to emigrate to, had she been able to discern in herself, as in everyone else, that indifference to the suffering we cause which, whatever other names we give it, is the terrible and permanent form of cruelty."

low_tech_love 2y ago
Racism (if done in a “smart” way) is impossible to prove. Does that mean that we should then not try to detect it or speak up against it, simply because we will never be able to objectively back up our claims? And if yes, then does that not strengthen even more the case (and benefits) for being a racist? Also I believe it’s disingenuous to treat racism as such a concrete, objective term. Maybe they are preying on me (and other people like me, which there are objectively many) simply because I’m the weak link in the system? But if my weakness stems from me being an immigrant (because I have no safety net, no family around me or a shoulder to cry on, because I don’t know the system well enough and thus I’m more likely to accept injustice and stay quiet) is that “racism”? Or “prejudice”?

cropcirclbureau 2y ago

What do you assign the injustice you faced to? And who're you to deny GPs claims? There's nothing more rancid than someone leaping to downplay someone's complaint as "ah, they're just being sensitive. They're imagining it". If they were lodging a formal complaint at their firm, sure, due process is a must but people being shit to the Other is a well established and common human behavior. It sucks what happened to you but it has little to bear on GPs words. It's just confusing why you felt the need to defend these other strangers you've never met.

Xmd5a 2y ago
I'm not defending GP's colleagues, nor am I suggesting that the undeserved treatment he received was imaginary. However, the idea that this must be caused by racism is a cheap and comfortable narrative GP is telling himself and anyone who believes him. Should his colleagues read his post anonymously, they would probably agree with him. As for me, my story isn't unlike the rants often shared by open-source project maintainers. One never gives of oneself without keeping a secret ledger in their mind, known only to them: that can only lead to frustration and anger. The "solution" is to never give away your work without retribution—an ideal that, of course, isn't feasible within a company. Meritocracy exists only at the periphery, driven by market forces, however flawed they may be. I don't know how to "fix" this. To rise within a company (or academia), you also need charisma, connections, likability, and sometimes even resorting to flattery, ass-kissing, or bullying a pharmakos—all of which I took pride in refusing to partake in. These are the traits GP and I lacked. I can tell from the pathetic tone he used throughout his post—a tone that reminds me of myself.
- low_tech_love 2y ago
  You got many points right, and I’m sure it’s true that there’s bullshit everywhere. But you also got wrong the whole idea of “racism”; I never actually mentioned that word or considered that as a part of my situation. The right word is “prejudice”, as in, “you’re weak here, you have no support, and you don’t know how to play the game. If someone needs to be screwed, it’ll be you.” If you go by what is in the surface, you’d expect that an incompetent native would be in more danger than a competent foreigner. That’s not the case.