[sanity31415]

I believe that people should be treated as individuals, not collectivized into groups based on immutable characteristics like ethnicity.

I believe that while "reverse-discrimination" has become commonplace in the name of diversity, it is unfair, divisive, counterproductive, and illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I'm not accusing you of making this argument, but the assumption that a particular ethnic group can't compete on a level playing field is deeply condescending towards those groups. It's "the soft bigotry of low expectations".

[jms55]

I don't entirely disagree with you. But by the same token, trying to treat everyone as an individual without acknowledging disadvantages due to race, gender, etc isn't a good idea either.

For instance, I'm trans. I'm not openly out when searching for jobs / at work, because I fear I will be discriminated for it. If I saw a company already had several trans people, and they were seeking trans people out and asking them to apply, I would maybe change my mind.

Should companies treat everyone as individuals, and say "if trans people wanted to work here, they need to apply"? Because that's how you get no trans people applying, and that perpetuates the cycle of "I can't come out, no one else in the world is trans". Sure, it would be better if companies didn't have to advocate for diversity, but until society doesn't have stigmitism, real or imagined, against minorities, then I don't think it's wrong to help them on the basis of their identity.

[sanity31415]

I'm sorry to hear that you are fearful of discrimination and it has discouraged you from seeking employment. That's wrong and unfair.

I have no problem with companies going out of their way to advertise that they are welcoming to all, whether black, trans, white, gay, young, old, etc, and that candidates will be judged on merit.

But I do have a problem with holding people to a different standard because of their ethnicity, gender, gender identity, or any other inborn characteristic that's irrelevant to their ability to do the job.

[shadowgovt]

The issue is the statistics show fairly consistently that the playing field starts non-level, at multiple points.

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-06-24...

[sanity31415]

As Damore explains at length in his memo, statistical disparities in representation don't prove discrimination.

For example, 74% of NBA players are black - compared to just 13% of the US population.

Is this disparity evidence that the NBA is discriminating against non-black players?

[tolbish]

If that is the line of thinking, that certain races are naturally predisposed to playing basketball, then I could see why Google took issue with insiuating that certain genders are naturally predisposed to be engineers.

[sanity31415]

I didn't claim that certain races are naturally predisposed to playing basketball, I just quoted an uncontroversial statistic and asked whether it could only be explained by discrimination.