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Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by m1el on Thursday January 11, 2018 @12:55PM (#16125997)
Do you find the opening statement "With more than 50 percent of the population estimated to be a minority by 2044" ridiculous? When did we start ignoring what words mean? That's not what the word "minority" means.

There's many ways you can rephrase it and still be correct, mind you.

Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by blaurenceclark on Thursday January 11, 2018 @12:58PM (#16126019)
No single group that is currently a "minority" would overtake the white population, therefore every other population in the US would still be considered a Minority until there is an equal or more number of a single minority than there are white Americans.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by pacala on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:10PM (#16126150)
Mathematically, if no population is a majority, then the country is 100 percent minority.

You might be hang up on the additional narrative attached to the word “minority”. Consider using “underpriviledged ethnic group", as a. not even today all ethnic groups are equal and b. it is entirely possible some other ethnic group to raise to demographic majority status, and still exhibit the socioeconomic characteristics of a poor population.

Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by yannyu on Thursday January 11, 2018 @03:52PM (#16127725)
Or maybe words are imprecise and fluid and the majority of people understand the intended message even if it's "technically incorrect".

>You might be hang up on the additional narrative attached to the word “minority”.

You can't separate words from their "additional narratives" and expect all people to understand what you're attempting to convey. The context and connotation around words is absolutely necessary for communication, and to eschew it leads to poorer communication.

Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by happyrock on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:15PM (#16126202)
All of these semantic games miss the point of the term "minority". It's not meant to mean "numerical minority"; it's meant as a euphemism for "non-white person". When you read it that way, all of these terms make sense.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by scott_s on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:05PM (#16126099)
It’s not ridiculous. It means that by 2044, estimates are that over 50% of the population will be part of a minority group, and the largest single group (whites) will no longer be a majority of the population. The minority groups will individually still be smaller than the largest group.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by burfog on Thursday January 11, 2018 @11:26PM (#16130395)
This is a very US-centric view of things. Worldwide, whites are the smallest minority, and they are the only group to be shrinking. The largest group is of course Asian.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by scott_s on Friday January 12, 2018 @09:26AM (#16132987)
Yes, it is a very US-centric view, because we're talking about the US.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by m1el on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:07PM (#16126122)
And I agree with all of those statements, but phrased as it is now, it's blatantly wrong.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by scott_s on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:21PM (#16126283)
I read the quoted statement as I wrote it. So I strongly disagree that it is wrong. And: please be more civil. See the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by blaurenceclark on Thursday January 11, 2018 @12:56PM (#16126007)
Incorrect, the actual definition is "Majority minority" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_minority and yes those of us that are currently Minorities, would still be considered minorities in such a case.
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by m1el on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:30PM (#16126405)
According to the definition, the term applies when local majority is country's minority.

If you're no longer country's minority, you cannot be majority-minority.

Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by wavegeek on Friday January 12, 2018 @07:01AM (#16132242)
This reminds me of a man in the UK, or African ancestry, but who had never been to Africa (or to the US). Americans repeatedly insisted on calling him an "African American".
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by blaurenceclark on Thursday January 11, 2018 @01:56PM (#16126633)
When you're main concern is "What is a minority" rather than "minorities are dying" that is very indicative of the problem still existing
Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by m1el on Thursday January 11, 2018 @02:05PM (#16126731)
I agree with your mission statement.

It's important to match the demographics of the population with the demographics of trial users. It's important to prevent as many deaths as we can.

It's important to account for differences between groups when you're developing healthcare.

But please, don't mangle mathematical terms.

Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by BeetleB on Thursday January 11, 2018 @03:50PM (#16127708)
>When you're main concern is "What is a minority" rather than "minorities are dying" that is very indicative of the problem still existing

You have just demonstrated what is called "attribution of intention" (as in you attributed an intention to the other person), which is a good indicator of a conversation going south.

(More general bias is "attribution bias")

HN guideline:

>Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

Re:How Neglecting Minorities in Medical Research Has Led to ... by BigChiefSmokem on Thursday January 11, 2018 @03:39PM (#16127619)
I would of said it this way, "No racial group is predicted to be over 50% of the overall population in 2044"