[Eisenstein]

A bias just means looking at things in a skewed way because of experience or mental conditioning.

The fact is that demographics have a lot to do with bias because people from the same demographics have similar life experiences. Having someone else with a different set of experiences can help to mitigate bias by giving their perspective in the group. It is a simplistic way to determine 'tendency towards bias' by focusing on demographics, but it is also a pretty good indicator that when you are in a group of all the same demographic then there is going to be some bias that will go unnoticed.

To answer your question -- the race part is incidental. A 30 year old college educated white male from an urban/suburban US upbringing is more than just 'white'. This is why it is not racist -- because race is one aspect of a demographic.

Hope this helps.

[unpopular42]

She didn't complain about the panel members being exclusively educated people (which does affect how you think). But she did complain that they are all white (which doesn't). So yeah, go ahead, dig in.

[Eisenstein]

She mentioned demographics and one aspect of that was skin color. You are the one focused on race.

[unpopular42]

Please explain how skin color is relevant in the interview context and why it was specifically mentioned in the original post. Please explain how skin color is different from race for the purpose of this discussion.

[Eisenstein]

The specific term was 'demographic', your quote did not include the word race.

EDIT: Upon re-reading... are you really asking me to explain why skin color is part of a demographic? I guess I glossed over that because it doesn't make sense unless youwant to imply that mentioning 'white' in the context of other demographic variables like age and location is racist...in which case, census forms are racist.

[unpopular42]

> are you really asking me to explain why skin color is part of a demographic

No, I didn't ask that.