I've stated this multiple times on HN. As a minority, I've not witnessed any discrimination in my 12+ years in the US/SV. While my experience might be an anecdote, I still find claims of discrimination based on minority status a little hard to believe in silicon valley, taking the experience of my friends and family into consideration.
However, I do find women, regardless of race/religion, to be more subjected to discrimination and harassment.
Additionally, the response to [1] in the FAQ by the site author is the most unadulterated form of (reverse) racism that continues it's meteoric rise in acceptance in the media. Tragic!
[1]: "I AM A STRAIGHT WHITE MAN AND I FEEL EXCLUDED BY THIS. CAN YOU MAKE YOUR SITE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ME, ME, ME?"
Same here. 9 years in the industry; not once have I experienced outward racism or discrimination (that I know of). I do believe that some get discriminated against, however. I also believe that some use discrimination as an excuse when none really exists.
So, yes, this is a joke. Obviously. You can stop getting angry now. Or get angry, but get angry at what Rent-a-Minority is angry about. The site is a #satire on a type of tokenism that is particularly rife in the tech and media world.
One who see's corporations only disingenuously adopting formal policies to hire minorities, only doing it in marketing and for public appearance to appease other white people, rather than offering minorities meaningfully positions of power.
And the other who see these policies as ineffective and bowing down to special interests groups without providing any meaningful benefit to the minority group while simultaneously harming the parent company by hiring people based on their appearance rather than intrinsic value they provide the company.
Attempting to eliminate biases by force or social pressure is always going to be fraught with risk and aversion.
Some of the stories on the stories page [0] are pretty egregious, but some of them are just how the brain works.
When you meet or see someone, you automatically try to categorize people. For now at least, that includes trying to figure out gender and ethnicity. Many of our parents or grandparent had very distinct prejudices. Also, for better or for worse, ethnicity still has a huge impact on someone's circumstances.
It was only a couple years ago that someone finally pushed back on the question "where are you from" to me. Before that, I would never have thought of it being objectionable. I also think context is important here. There's nothing wrong with finding out the ethnic ancestry of your friends, but maybe it's not an appropriate question when you first meet someone.
I'm sad to say that I don't actually know many of my Indian coworkers full names, simply because they are so different from people I was raised around.
I've gotten the "where are you from?" question a few times - I'm multiracial, so I look ethnically ambiguous and talk with a slight accent that isn't possible to place. I just answer "Boston".
If they want to drill into it more, I say "Well, my mom's from NYC, my dad is ethnically Cantonese but was born in the Philippines, and I grew up in Boston. My maternal grandfather was Irish Catholic and my grandmother was a WASP." Usually at that point their eyes start to glaze over though.
>I AM A STRAIGHT WHITE MAN AND I FEEL EXCLUDED BY THIS. CAN YOU MAKE YOUR SITE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ME, ME, ME?
> I'm sorry that your feelings are hurt. I have listened to your feedback and, in response, am currently working on rentamajority.com. Stay tuned. In the meantime, thank you for your interest in maintaining the status quo. I mean, 'equality', it's overrated, right?
This part seems uncool to me. It's posturing straight white men as very self-absorbed, and precluding any concerns or opinions they might have about this, dismissing them merely for being a straight white man. Which seems quite hypocritical, right?
My read on it is that is it anticipating this kind of response or reaction in advance and telling you up front "Yeah, no." It is actually pretty common for white men to come in and derail conversations in a really terrible way and make it all about their feelings. (Not all white men do this, but it is a thing and it causes a lot of problems in internet discussions.)
Though I think the way women and POC typically respond is part of the problem. They often fully cooperate with the derail by all piling on to reply to him rather than sending the message that "the entire world does not revolve around you" by refusing to let the entire discussion revolve around that one guy.
I disagree. Its referring to a very specific kind of white man who tends to flock to these things like moths to a flame and very much does try to reframe things to make white men look like the real victims.
I say this as a white man who calls out racism regardless of whether its directed at minorities or the cis white man.
I think I understand where you're coming from: feels a bit ironic that a site devoted to equality is marginalizing a group of people.
At the same time, I think you've hit on the crux of the point the site is making. You might find it interesting to explore the idea at one level deeper.
I don't know if you identify as a straight, white male, but if you do, you can see how frustrating it feels to be categorized in this way.
Now imagine the majority of panel discussions you attend, board members you see, politicians, etc. all in minor ways, perpetuate that same level of marginalization.
A panelist always seems to be making jokes about how brogrammers are unconsciously racist, the boards of companies are all wearing Muslim garb (with a token white guy thrown in every once in a while), and the number of "people in power" who are supposed to represent you never seem to have the same skin color you do.
If we (I'm a straight, white male) are able to tap into the frustrating that FAQ generates in us, it may help us understand the perspectives of others better; which I personally believe, is the key to doing something about it.
Trying to pretend we're all equal hasn't worked, because we're not all equal - the ecosystems we live in are never a level playing field. Trying to pretend they are exacerbates the problem.
If instead we try to empathize, and understand the experiences of others though, maybe we can be open to making the changes in ourselves necessary to making the playing field a bit more level.
Which is why I appreciate your comment - it represents your true perspective, which makes intuitive sense. I think if you're willing to take the author's argument the next logical step, you might find her/his perspective some makes sense as well.
You're totally misrepresenting the point of that item. It's referring to the knee-jerk yellers. We have them here on HN as well. Look at any article regarding women's experiences, for example, and you'll find a few comments trying to shift the topic to how hard men have it.
I'm a straight, white man and the FAQ item makes total sense to me. I don't do that, but enough of my 'brothers in arms' do. It's derailing and annoying.
I hear that this is totally a real thing in China with white people. Supposedly you can make pretty good money just putting on a suit and going around pretending to be an American business partner at meetings.
"booth babes". what is wrong with women with a sex positive attitude profiting from their hard work?
Perhaps the question is: why are there no booth bros. Well, there are, they're just not in a booth. They're standing bare chested in front of Abercrombie tries to get the lady folk through the door.
Sexiness is sexiness, it is human nature to be attracted to the physically fit, millions of years have literally hardwired our brains to act a certain way. It is nothing to be ashamed of.
[+] [-] mankash666|8 years ago|reply
However, I do find women, regardless of race/religion, to be more subjected to discrimination and harassment.
Additionally, the response to [1] in the FAQ by the site author is the most unadulterated form of (reverse) racism that continues it's meteoric rise in acceptance in the media. Tragic!
[1]: "I AM A STRAIGHT WHITE MAN AND I FEEL EXCLUDED BY THIS. CAN YOU MAKE YOUR SITE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ME, ME, ME?"
[+] [-] analogmemory|8 years ago|reply
* People ask "What are you" (As my ethnicity isn't super obvious).
* If they don't believe me I'll next get, "No really, where are you from" .
* Been asked if I speak Korean and Spanish (two separate occasions) because they needed a translator (not Korean or Hispanic at all) .
* Been on a few dates where they've said "Normally I'm not attracted to Hispanic men" (Not hispanic!) .
* Went to a bar (that served normal bar food). After sitting down, overheard from a group nearby "Does it smell like rice in here?"
[+] [-] nunez|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Mz|8 years ago|reply
So, yes, this is a joke. Obviously. You can stop getting angry now. Or get angry, but get angry at what Rent-a-Minority is angry about. The site is a #satire on a type of tokenism that is particularly rife in the tech and media world.
[+] [-] aphextron|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jlg23|8 years ago|reply
Absolute brilliant :)
[+] [-] dmix|8 years ago|reply
One who see's corporations only disingenuously adopting formal policies to hire minorities, only doing it in marketing and for public appearance to appease other white people, rather than offering minorities meaningfully positions of power.
And the other who see these policies as ineffective and bowing down to special interests groups without providing any meaningful benefit to the minority group while simultaneously harming the parent company by hiring people based on their appearance rather than intrinsic value they provide the company.
Attempting to eliminate biases by force or social pressure is always going to be fraught with risk and aversion.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] csours|8 years ago|reply
When you meet or see someone, you automatically try to categorize people. For now at least, that includes trying to figure out gender and ethnicity. Many of our parents or grandparent had very distinct prejudices. Also, for better or for worse, ethnicity still has a huge impact on someone's circumstances.
It was only a couple years ago that someone finally pushed back on the question "where are you from" to me. Before that, I would never have thought of it being objectionable. I also think context is important here. There's nothing wrong with finding out the ethnic ancestry of your friends, but maybe it's not an appropriate question when you first meet someone.
I'm sad to say that I don't actually know many of my Indian coworkers full names, simply because they are so different from people I was raised around.
0. http://rentaminority.com/stories/
[+] [-] nostrademons|8 years ago|reply
If they want to drill into it more, I say "Well, my mom's from NYC, my dad is ethnically Cantonese but was born in the Philippines, and I grew up in Boston. My maternal grandfather was Irish Catholic and my grandmother was a WASP." Usually at that point their eyes start to glaze over though.
[+] [-] dsfyu404ed|8 years ago|reply
As someone who absolutely hates the place I am "from" and pretty much everything about it this questions always made me uneasy.
[+] [-] haxton|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] personjerry|8 years ago|reply
>I AM A STRAIGHT WHITE MAN AND I FEEL EXCLUDED BY THIS. CAN YOU MAKE YOUR SITE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ME, ME, ME?
> I'm sorry that your feelings are hurt. I have listened to your feedback and, in response, am currently working on rentamajority.com. Stay tuned. In the meantime, thank you for your interest in maintaining the status quo. I mean, 'equality', it's overrated, right?
This part seems uncool to me. It's posturing straight white men as very self-absorbed, and precluding any concerns or opinions they might have about this, dismissing them merely for being a straight white man. Which seems quite hypocritical, right?
[+] [-] Mz|8 years ago|reply
Though I think the way women and POC typically respond is part of the problem. They often fully cooperate with the derail by all piling on to reply to him rather than sending the message that "the entire world does not revolve around you" by refusing to let the entire discussion revolve around that one guy.
[+] [-] livingparadox|8 years ago|reply
I say this as a white man who calls out racism regardless of whether its directed at minorities or the cis white man.
[+] [-] rharris|8 years ago|reply
At the same time, I think you've hit on the crux of the point the site is making. You might find it interesting to explore the idea at one level deeper.
I don't know if you identify as a straight, white male, but if you do, you can see how frustrating it feels to be categorized in this way.
Now imagine the majority of panel discussions you attend, board members you see, politicians, etc. all in minor ways, perpetuate that same level of marginalization.
A panelist always seems to be making jokes about how brogrammers are unconsciously racist, the boards of companies are all wearing Muslim garb (with a token white guy thrown in every once in a while), and the number of "people in power" who are supposed to represent you never seem to have the same skin color you do.
If we (I'm a straight, white male) are able to tap into the frustrating that FAQ generates in us, it may help us understand the perspectives of others better; which I personally believe, is the key to doing something about it.
Trying to pretend we're all equal hasn't worked, because we're not all equal - the ecosystems we live in are never a level playing field. Trying to pretend they are exacerbates the problem.
If instead we try to empathize, and understand the experiences of others though, maybe we can be open to making the changes in ourselves necessary to making the playing field a bit more level.
Which is why I appreciate your comment - it represents your true perspective, which makes intuitive sense. I think if you're willing to take the author's argument the next logical step, you might find her/his perspective some makes sense as well.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cbryn|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] vacri|8 years ago|reply
I'm a straight, white man and the FAQ item makes total sense to me. I don't do that, but enough of my 'brothers in arms' do. It's derailing and annoying.
[+] [-] douche|8 years ago|reply
"Booth babes" are still a thing, stupid and sleazy as that is.
[+] [-] mikeash|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] viggity|8 years ago|reply
Perhaps the question is: why are there no booth bros. Well, there are, they're just not in a booth. They're standing bare chested in front of Abercrombie tries to get the lady folk through the door.
Sexiness is sexiness, it is human nature to be attracted to the physically fit, millions of years have literally hardwired our brains to act a certain way. It is nothing to be ashamed of.
[+] [-] skyrw|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] usuallybaffled|8 years ago|reply
EDIT: Instead of downvoting, why not provide your view of how this is helping anything?
[+] [-] CharlesW|8 years ago|reply
Because humor is a good mechanism for talking about topics we might not otherwise talk about, but should be.
By "adversarial discourse", do you mean the site or the HN comments?