Apple diversity chief apologizes to staff for statements made at summit - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE]Smith provided key insight into the subject from the standpoint of a technology industry insider. Apple, Google and other major Silicon Valley firms have in recent months come under fire from investors and activists alike for an acute lack of diversity, especially in upper management and leadership positions. "Diversity is the human experience," Smith said. "I get a little bit frustrated when diversity or the term diversity is tagged to the people of color, or the women, or the LGBT." That particular comment went over well with the assembled crowd, but Smith caught flak for a follow up. "There can be 12 white blue-eyed blonde men in a room and they are going to be diverse too because they're going to bring a different life experience and life perspective to the conversation," Smith said. Media outlets pounced on the statement, while diversity advocates decried Smith's words as contradictory to the fight for workplace equality. As noted by TechCrunch, which procured a copy of Smith's letter, the statement appeared to suggest diversity of thought is a suitable stand in for proactive hiring practices adopted by a variety of tech firms, including Apple, to foster racial and gender diversity. "I regret the choice of words I used to make this point. I understand why some people took offense," she said in a letter to employees. "My comments were not representative of how I think about diversity or how Apple sees it. For that, I'm sorry."[/QUOTE] [URL="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/13/apple-diversity-chief-apologizes-to-staff-for-statements-made-at-summit"]Source[/URL] Alternate title: [sp]apple diversity chief apologizes for not being racist enough[/sp]

When will people realize that "[i]diversity[/i]" is a happenstance, it's not something you're meant to actively stride for. Trying to artificially put everything into everywhere just fucks things up and it's pointless.

I've said this many times before, and I'll do it until the end of time itself: Diversity isn't a bad thing. Not at all. But it should not happen for the sake of it. You should have the brightest and best people around, regardless of sex, race, or whatever.

Legitimately curious about what happened to people being judged on the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.

[QUOTE=RearAdmiral;52782243]Legitimately curious about what happened to people being judged on the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.[/QUOTE] That uhh...that still happens. I mean, I understand why you might not think it happens if all you do is hang around 4Chan or Reddit all day. But in the real world people are still hired largely on merit, diversity factors in in some places when they're comfortable that candidates are all capable at the job. A software company (for example) isn't going to hire a black dude just because they're black, they're going to hire that dude because they are a fitting candidate for the role they applied for. [editline]15th October 2017[/editline] Though nepotism is going to get you a job before merit ever will. The world runs on nepotism primarily.

So he said something perfectly logical and was shat on for it and forced to say sorry. :disappoint:

[QUOTE=hexpunK;52782253]That uhh...that still happens. I mean, I understand why you might not think it happens if all you do is hang around 4Chan or Reddit all day. But in the real world people are still hired largely on merit, diversity factors in in some places when they're comfortable that candidates are all capable at the job. A software company (for example) isn't going to hire a black dude just because they're black, they're going to hire that dude because they are a fitting candidate for the role they applied for. [editline]15th October 2017[/editline] Though nepotism is going to get you a job before merit ever will. The world runs on nepotism primarily.[/QUOTE] Not going to deny that, and going to ignore the 4chan/reddit snub, I'm just of the opinion that race shouldn't factor into hiring practices at all. I was more commenting on the concept of a diversity QUOTA, rather than allowing diversity to happen via fair hiring practises, as well as the narrow-minded concept that diversity only relates to things like race and sexual orientation. And yeah, nepotism and networking will get you way further than merit ever will.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;52782253][...] A software company (for example) isn't going to hire a black dude just because they're black, they're going to hire that dude because they are a fitting candidate for the role they applied for. [...][/QUOTE] Small caveat to that: If your software company makes facial recognition software, there probably should be a black person on the team.

[QUOTE=jonu67;52782261]So he said something perfectly logical and was shat on for it and forced to say sorry. :disappoint:[/QUOTE] [url=https://www.apple.com/leadership/denise-young-smith/]she[/url]

Silly Apple exec, white people can't come from differing and unique backgrounds!

The only thing that matters is diversity of values and walks of life. That's what powers innovation and stimulates people. This enforced diversity of races, genders, etc. not only paradoxically reinforces the existence of these social constructs, but it turns employment and admission into a zero-sum game for groups because of discriminatory practices. It denies that we have meritocratic hierarchy and chalks up all disparities and achievements to oppression, and stands against liberal values on institutional blocks and social engineering. The diversity phenomenon is truly an ideological excess coming from one side getting too much power, and gaining track in the business world because of globalization impacting us economically and culturally, fear of costly lawsuits, and well paying jobs becoming increasingly only found in cities, on the coasts, and in industries that require college to enter and work in.

[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;52782324][url=https://www.apple.com/leadership/denise-young-smith/]she[/url][/QUOTE] Forcing a black woman to apologize for not agreeing with diversity quotas? 🤔

[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;52782324][url=https://www.apple.com/leadership/denise-young-smith/]she[/url][/QUOTE] Well holy shit that's ironic. :v:

[QUOTE=Dr. Evilcop;52782421]Forcing a black woman to apologize for not agreeing with diversity quotas? 樂[/QUOTE] Making a distinction there would be racist :v: In all seriousness though, it's not like people can't be sexist or racist to their own detriment. I also think her wording was poor, even if only by a technicality. (She should have said 'they [B]can[/B] be diverse too' instead.) I'm glad that appears to be what she apologised for. That said, I doubt much of the criticism is aimed at that issue rather than her disagreement with diversity hiring.

[QUOTE=RearAdmiral;52782243]Legitimately curious about what happened to people being judged on the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.[/QUOTE] you can start with Regents of California V Bakke.

"Diversity Chief" I don't think I could come up with a more bullshit title if I tried.

[QUOTE=Spetsnaz95;52782224]I've said this many times before, and I'll do it until the end of time itself: Diversity isn't a bad thing. Not at all. But it should not happen for the sake of it. You should have the brightest and best people around, regardless of sex, race, or whatever.[/QUOTE] The problem is the preference towards hiring white males because that is the culture that already exists in upper management in some countries. In the business I am in, I have been to our workplace conference 4 years in a row and only this year out of the 250 other managers I was 1 of 2 brown people. The skills needed in my job are not high at all.

[QUOTE=triplej05;52782904]The problem is the preference towards hiring white males because that is the culture that already exists in upper management in some countries. In the business I am in, I have been to our workplace conference 4 years in a row and only this year out of the 250 other managers I was 1 of 2 brown people. The skills needed in my job are not high at all.[/QUOTE] There's that age old study that comes up in these threads a lot about racial biases in hiring processes. The simple version is: if you're not white you're gonna have a bad time getting hired. The reasons are quite varied, but even something as benign as your name sounding "foreign" greatly impacts your chances of even getting to the interview stages. If you can't even get to interviews fairly without anonymous applications, how in the almighty shit are you meant to be given opportunities to climb the management ladder? This is in part what diversity (and alleged "quotas") aim to tackle; representational issues. Because of centuries of bigotry becoming somewhat embedded into the mindset of a culture it's quite hard to convince the older members of that culture who likely hold those biases more strongly that the minority group they have this bias against (concious or otherwise) could ever be good at their job. By taking some of that minority group into your workplace in favour of a member of the majority group (of similar skill of course) you give that group representation and show the surrounding culture that they are actually capable of doing the same jobs as everyone else. Consider how much racist propaganda (particularly historical stuff) relies on showing black people as savages from tribal lands, the Irish/ Mexicans as lazy, gays as hyper-sexual rapists, etc. These mindsets are not removed simply over time, you have to get the minority and majority group to interact in day to day life so that majority group actually understands the minority group.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;52783440]Consider how much racist propaganda (particularly historical stuff) relies on showing black people as savages from tribal lands, the Irish/ Mexicans as lazy, gays as hyper-sexual rapists, etc. These mindsets are not removed simply over time, [B]you have to get the minority and majority group to interact in day to day life so that majority group actually understands the minority group.[/B][/QUOTE] And the best way to remove that stigma is to promote a system which instills the idea of "diversity hires". Because if there's one thing that unites people it's artificially increasing/decreasing the hiring of people based on race/sex. [QUOTE=hexpunK;52783440]By taking some of that minority group into your workplace in favour of a member of the majority group (of similar skill of course) you give that group representation and show the surrounding culture that they are actually capable of doing the same jobs as everyone else.[/QUOTE] What a complete joke. This has been a complete undermining of inter-racial cohesion. All it really does is make people question whether or not people were hired based on merit or quota.

Diversity of thought is the only kind of diversity that matters, and skin color is a pretty horrible indicator of that.