Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Black at Google’

Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by eli_gottlieb on Friday August 16, 2019 @11:13AM (#20715959)

Am I the only one completely unsurprised? This sort of thing has been the ideology of the American professional-managerial class for decades: that diversity in the identities and freedom in the lifestyles of professionals themselves are profoundly important, worthy of celebration and extension into infinite new domains, but that those who simply don't reach the material station (ie: income, wealth, and accreditation) of professionals (ie: Googlers) deserve only contempt. "Political correctness" to defend the ingroup, but with an explicit celebration of doing material damage (ie: homelessness, gentrification, regional depopulation) to the outgroup.

It's a classic instantiation of the California Ideology[1]. The only bizarre or disagreeable bit is how it ever got passed off as somehow altruistic or progressive.

[1] -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Californian_Ideology

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by dqv on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:21PM (#20717992)

>Am I the only one completely unsurprised?

No. I noticed the same thing hearing the drum of intersectionality beaten so often.

Crenshaw's foundational piece[1] on intersectionality lacks any meaningful analysis of class (except for the class who is party to a lawsuit)! The part about entry into the country club is revealing: it's not about equality in society, it's about equality in the professional-managerial class.

Adolph Reed, Jr (despite maybe going too far in wholly rejecting identity politics) really gets the point across[2]:

>...the burden of that ideal of social justice is that the society would be fair if 1% of the population controlled 90% of the resources so long as the dominant 1% were 13% black, 17% Latino, 50% female, 4% or whatever LGBTQ, etc.

Re:

>The only bizarre or disagreeable bit is how it ever got passed off as somehow altruistic or progressive.

My take is that the left holds similar liberal viewpoints, so there is just enough overlap to wear the progressive (and therefore altruistic) cloak.

[1]: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?arti...

[2]: http://nonsite.org/editorial/how-racial-disparity-does-not-h...

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by kajecounterhack on Friday August 16, 2019 @01:18PM (#20717277)

In my experience the same people who are clueless about gentrification and make jawdropping comments are the same folks who ignore or decry PC.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by dqv on Friday August 16, 2019 @04:04PM (#20719160)

I think it's unfair to make this association. It is both possible to be cognizant of gentrification and make valid critiques of political correctness.

It turns out that most people in the US decry PC[1]:

> 83 percent of respondents who make less than $50,000 dislike political correctness

There is a burgeoning movement on the left to be more lax about political correctness because the academic dialect (pedantry) required repels a lot of well-meaning people.

[1]: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majo...

Link to the study cited in [1]: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a70a7c3010027736a227...

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by seattle_spring on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:17PM (#20717943)

I see a lot of tech workers demonized for gentrifying neighborhoods in NYC, Chicago, Bay Area and Seattle, among other places. In my personal experience though, those people are buying the places they can afford as close to their work as possible. It's not that they're choose to displace people, it's that they're doing the best they can. They can't stay where they're from because there aren't actually good jobs for them there.

What would you suggest the alternative to be?

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by kajecounterhack on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:22PM (#20718007)

I think it's more about attitudes, like if you're cracking jokes about being a gentrifier as if it doesn't negatively affect other peoples' lives, then that's not good.

The other part is voting -- gentrifiers tend to vote for their own interests and may overlook or vote against efforts the people they're outclassing care about e.g affordable housing.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by eli_gottlieb on Friday August 16, 2019 @05:08PM (#20719726)

The alternative is the rising YIMBY movement. When population increases, the housing supply should increase to compensate.

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