undefined | Better HN

0 pointsa_shovel7mo ago0 comments

> His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies [cause] looser standards

These ideas are equivalent. The belief that employers are lowering their standards in order to include more black people is based on the idea that any additional black person hired must necessarily be less competent than a hypothetical white person who could have been hired instead of them; that is, white supremacy. In Kirk's words: "You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously."

They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified but weren't hired because of, for example, discrimination, because they don't believe "discrimination" exists per se, they just think of not hiring black people as logical meritocratic decision-making.

0 comments

exolymph7mo ago

No they are not equivalent. This came up with James Damore too.

Let's say there's a pool of 20 candidates, 10 male and 10 female. Since more men than women have an abiding interest in engineering, let us posit that 40% of the men are top prospects for the job, and 20% of the women are equally high-quality workers. The company is trying to fill 6 roles and has an internal mandate to hire 50% women. To serve that mandate, 1 unqualified woman will be hired, at the expense of 1 of the qualified men.

You can apply the exact same logic w/r/t race. Yes, there are legacy-of-slavery reasons why fewer blacks than whites are qualified for any given technical credential, but those are upstream of hiring decisions, and are not the job of e.g. airlines to solve, especially not at the expense of lowering standards for a crucial position like pilot.

a_shovelOP7mo ago

This response is very confused. Lack of interest in the field would result in fewer female applicants, but you're describing equal numbers of applicants. This situation where women are half as likely as men to be qualified is just sexism.

The idea that airlines are passing on qualified white candidates to hire unqualified black candidates to fill a diversity quota, because there aren't enough qualified black candidates to fill it honestly, is a white supremacist conspiracy theory. Real life DEI programs don't let them do that. To a white supremacist, any number of black pilots is "just a few too many" to have hired honestly, and so there must be some hypothetical white people being "stolen" from. See GP.

exolymph7mo ago

> Lack of interest in the field would result in fewer female applicants

Anyone in a hiring position would tell you, lack of intrinsic interest, or expertise, does not stop people from applying to an open position.

anthony_d7mo ago

> > His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies [cause] looser standards > These ideas are equivalent…

You’re grossly failing at basic logic here. One case is describing racism and one being racist. Those things are not the same.

> They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified…

Again, you’re failing at basic reading comprehension but now it looks intentional.

muddi9007mo ago

Or maybe you are twisting yourself to avoid the text as it is.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

exolymph7mo ago

No they are not equivalent. This came up with James Damore too.

a_shovelOP7mo ago

exolymph7mo ago

> Lack of interest in the field would result in fewer female applicants

Anyone in a hiring position would tell you, lack of intrinsic interest, or expertise, does not stop people from applying to an open position.

anthony_d7mo ago

> > His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies [cause] looser standards > These ideas are equivalent…

You’re grossly failing at basic logic here. One case is describing racism and one being racist. Those things are not the same.

> They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified…

Again, you’re failing at basic reading comprehension but now it looks intentional.

muddi9007mo ago

Or maybe you are twisting yourself to avoid the text as it is.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse