| I think the diversity-conscious will look at a statistic such as "80% white men, 20% everyone else" and see that as a problem to be corrected rather than as the natural outcome of a complex series of events compounded throughout many generations. Absolutely. Straight white american males are so boring, so standard, so unremarkable in their appearances and their backgrounds that people can't help but focus on what they are saying instead of who is saying it. These diversity play's that highlight people's status as minorities inevitably fail because they can't divorce who a person is from what they want to say. By making us pay attention to who a person is and making us self-conscious about who we follow and don't follow we ultimately distract ourselves from what matters: content. It would be incredibly grating if I had to be reminded someone was part of an underrepresented group every time I interacted with them, to the point that I would just stop interacting with them because of it. Real diversity is not a conscious effort. I've seen it. A bunch of people of different backgrounds come together, work on something, and go home, and no one even realizes or comments how diverse the group is. Nor do they even care. That would be weird. As weird as being in a conference room of white men and blurting out "Hey guys! We're all straight white males!" I'm curious what the impact on your site would be if you removed all language of diversity and simply presented the people there as interesting people to follow, not even giving the user a chance to realize you are over representing minorities and playing into their guilt of following mostly straight white males. Would your site still receive such acclaim, or would it fold like a house of cards? We'll never know. You'll never know. |