What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft

Re:What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft by pedrosorio on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @05:12PM (#33169326)

> What we have here is not explicit racial segregation, but a system operating via capital and clout that has elevated a small group of mostly white men into positions of extreme power and influence over the most vibrant segment of the American economy

Microsoft - Satya Nadella

Google - Sundar Pichai

Twitter - Parag Agrawal

None of these men is white or even born in the USA, and somehow they managed to arrive at positions of extreme power and influence through this system of "capital and clout".

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Re:What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft by omegaworks on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @06:06PM (#33169862)

All Brahmin, members at the top of a caste system established by British colonizers[1]. A system causing its own set of problems in Silicon Valley[2].

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48619734

2. https://slate.com/technology/2022/07/caste-silicon-valley-th...

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Re:What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft by pedrosorio on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @07:18PM (#33170536)

So, what's the mechanism here? The white Americans in power are fans of the caste system established by the British colonizers and decided to make an exception to their white supremacy to allow some Brahmins to control some of the most important US tech companies?

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Re:What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft by omegaworks on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @07:31PM (#33170653)

I'm simply pointing out that your three examples don't negate the fact that we have a system here that taken whole rewards and uplifts whiteness. White colonialism literally crafted the system that elevated those three non-white people. Do you think that that influence is not relevant just because those three people are not white?

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Re:What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft by pedrosorio on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @07:51PM (#33170813)

Working in tech, I don't see a system that rewards and uplifts whiteness. Asians (both East and from the subcontinent) are greatly overrepresented relative to their fraction of the US population in SWE jobs. Their skin color was never a factor. Most of the ones I've worked with/interviewed, were hired due to merit, not the color of their skin.

That richer and more well educated Indians are over-represented in tech jobs and as CEOs of major tech companies relative to those with fewer resources and less well educated is not surprising.

I am not sure what's the relevance of the skin color of those who allegedly imposed the system that led to this particular group being at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy in India today. How did that result in "uplifting whiteness"?

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Re:What diversity and inclusion means at Microsoft by omegaworks on Wednesday October 12, 2022 @02:10PM (#33180751)

> I don't see a system that rewards and uplifts whiteness.

What you see is little more than your own personal anecdote. Who are the voices centered in the conversations around funding? Why is it easier for some people to secure investment? Who is considered important in the conversations around what tech is developed and who is ignored? Who reaps the rewards and who shoulders the costs?

> with fewer resources

Think a little deeper: why were resources allocated in this way?

>How did that result in "uplifting whiteness"?

The people put in charge of these companies have little interest in critically examining the race and caste-based resource allocation mechanisms that helped to get them there.

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