Equality - On The Basis of Merit

Equality - On The Basis of Merit

Redditor Psyladine wrote a fairly detailed idea about why the argument "The most qualified person should get the job" lacks a certain amount of understanding. I wanted to save and share widely this contextual view for consideration.

'most qualified' implies the 'most qualified' inherently seek out the position. What affirmative action seeks to address is that half of all available brain power, i.e. women, are not pursuing the industry.

Since men already pursue the industry disproportionately we'd have to rule out a common factor explaining this discrepancy, the remainder then seems to be a contentious choice between implicit bias in the industry on the basis of gender, hidden disincentives towards women, or a factor inherent in the women themselves independent of the industry. Given the prevalence of sexual discrimination laws and the very existence of the civil rights movement, the third, while convenient in placing the burden of evidence on the non-participating gender, seems a bit too convenient.

The reaction to even token participation of women in the industry as being contrary to a meritocracy is evidence of that bias itself. When there is a disparity, corrective action does seem heavy handed, but the disparity itself is the issue, not the beneficiaries of positive incentives.

Let's look at it from a different angle. Say there's a fascinating industry directly relevant to the interest of the 18-45 crowd, massive entertainment industry here, nearly 100 billion a year.

When you look at the employment in that industry, you find out out of 10 people, only 2 are white to the 8 black (maybe a sliver of one goes towards latino or other minority).
The very fact of its distribution creates a specific mental image and set of preconceived assumptions about that industry, assuming you aren't part of the 80%. Sure, you might get in edgewise, you might even make it, but you will always be an outlier, an exception, and possibly, god forbid, a token used by the industry to ward off possible discriminatory action by the state.

This isn't about a 50/50 distribution so much as it is assessing a disparity and critically weighing whether that disparity is innate, cultural, social, or even purposeful and self perpetuating.

For the white programmer in the gaming world, you are the 80%. To hear that someone doesn't feel included, well, what's it to you? It's your club, your environment. If they want to belong bad enough, they'll bend until they fit into yours.

But it doesn't seem right, does it? Or maybe it does, and you don't know why it should ever be different. After all, if they aren't already a significant corpus in the industry, maybe they just don't belong there, right? Culturally, of course.

Writing - Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - The Truth of Names

Writing - Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - The Truth of Names

Wizards posted this yesterday. When I read things like this, it reminds me that the world we knew of twenty years ago has changed, is changing, and is different. It's not changing perhaps as fast as we'd like, or without the growing pains...but it is getting better. It's a story about a woman, who holds equal footing in a fantasy setting as any male counterpart (perhaps in truth more than equal footing), and it's a story about strength.

Give it a read.

Politician - Nenshi on Bill 10

Politician - Nenshi on Bill 10

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi had the following, oustanding piece of oratory to say on the much derided Bill 10 of late:


“I pitch this city across Canada, and when I make that pitch, it may surprise you to know, I always get the same question. And I bet that question is going to surprise you, because you live here and you wouldn’t think this is a question.

“And the question I always get is: ‘Is Calgary welcoming? Is it homophobic? Is it racist? Is it diverse? Will not only I be accepted, but will my friends be accepted?’

“And, of course, I always say: ‘Look at me. I’m the mayor. We’re very welcoming, and for the vast majority of us, this place – our home – is the absolute epitome of meritocracy, of multiculturalism, of pluralism, of support, and of success.’

“But, I’ve got to tell you, the last couple of weeks in the provincial legislature have not made my job any easier.

“This damaging and hateful debate that we’ve been having in the provincial legislature around Bill 202 and Bill 10 does nothing but reinforce negative stereotypes.

“Two weeks ago, a member of the legislative assembly got up and proposed a bill that said any kid in school can set up a club and suddenly our provincial legislators – in a time when the price of oil is dropping, in a time when our infrastructure needs are extraordinary, in a time when we have urban and regional issues that we’ve got to get more done on – spent two weeks talking about what club a kid in school can join or not.
“How ridiculous is that?

“How additionally ridiculous is it that we know that these clubs help kids stay safe?
“We know that these clubs prevent suicide, among a group where one third of the kids attempt suicide, and we have the gall to say: ‘We have to balance off your rights.’ That your rights don’t include the right to be safe? To have support to prevent you from attempting suicide?

“What kind of a world do we live in here?

“So thank you very much to the premier – who is a good guy – for putting the brakes on this thing, and putting this thing on pause, because what was happening was dangerous. By saying not all rights are absolute, the government seemed to be saying that our children don’t have the right to be safe. That’s not right. That’s not fair.

“I could go on. OK, I will.

“If we say that we live in a city where we were thinking it would be OK for a 15-year-old to appear before a judge to ask the judge if the 15-year-old can start a club in his school that no one would be forced to belong to, well folks, that would the Scopes Monkey Trial of Alberta.

“We would end up having international attention toward what kinds of hillbillies we are. None of us need that.

“Today is the day for us to say, straight out, that we are indeed welcoming, that we are indeed working hard to make sure that every single person can succeed here, because that is the core of our strength.

“And I’m going to say something else to you, and I’m going to get political for a second, and I rarely get political, as you know. And, by the way, I hate it when the province talks about municipal issues, and so I’ve been holding my tongue on this for a while, but in the end we have to talk about humanity, and we have to talk about human-rights issues and what makes our place successful.

“We often hear people talk about why they vote, and sometimes we vote because we don’t believe or we do believe in a certain tax. Sometimes we vote to protect our narrow self-interests.

“But this conversation that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks gives us a very interesting reason to vote, because sometimes, we’ve got to vote just for what’s right. We’ve got to vote for the kind of community we want. We’ve got to vote for our dreams.

“And this would be a wonderful opportunity for you to let your MLAs know that your vote is available, that your vote is available for people who are committed to making Calgary and Alberta welcoming to everyone, to make sure that everyone – no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, no matter whom they worship, no matter how they love – has the opportunity to live a great life right here.

“And that we will vote for that community. And that we will vote for that community that we want. And tell your MLA to do the right thing by these kids.”

Writing - Pizza The Great Equilizer

Writing - Pizza The Great Equilizer

A neat piece of writing from muddyescapeartist:

One of the things I love about pizza besides it's deliciousness is that it levels the playing field. Everybody eats pizza. Well, ok, not EVERYbody, but damn near. As a driver, you are welcomed to people's homes - poor homes, rich homes, your run-of-the-mill upper lower middle class homes, hotels, businesses - and greeted by all types of people - drunk people, happy people, stingy bastards, students, the elderly, the insane, the kindred spirits, animal lovers, athletes, the infirm, and those people that always try to get a chuckle out of you in their two-minute window at the front door.

So often these people get reduced down to a number, specifically the dollar amount that they tip, but these people are beautiful! Even the shitty ones, the ones that pay in exact change, the sad ones that are trying to fill a void in their soul with a tasty midnight pie.... these people are just a microcosm of our society, a near perfect statistical representation of the world that we live in, and yes, I love them! I still bitch about them at times (who doesn't?), but without all the crazies, wouldn't our lives be a whole lot duller?

Perhaps not all delivery areas are as diverse, but I've had the pleasure of taking pizzas into lakeside mega-mansions, ethnically populated trailer parks, backwoods cabins, sprawling apartment complexes and the ticky-tacky houses of working-class suburbia. I am humbled to be given a glimpse into how the other sort live. Sometimes I am frightened, other times awed, by my experiences on the road. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have never felt as connected to a town as I do after I have delivered there for a while. You get to know the best and worst of your community. You get to feed the hungry masses. You get to have funny, awkward, creepy, angry, and drug-induced interactions with people that you would never have chosen to socialize with otherwise. You may never be 'equal' to your customer, but you are given a small window, a few minutes, to prove your worth in some seemingly insignificant but potentially positive way.

Don't miss your chance!

Rant - Trolling

Rant - Trolling

Let's declare a cessation on the word 'trolling' and call it like what it is. Criminal harassment. Verbal Abuse. This frontier of digital assault should be in the twilight of its days now, not becoming worse and worse with every passing day. Let us get the names of these people, who hide behind monikers and anonymity. Let us have their faces, and let them stand trial for their actions. Let them speak in a public forum and defend themselves, and let the rest of the world know that there is no defense for these terrible actions.

"In the name of a joke, or Just Kidding" is no longer a defensible excuse for not being an upright human being.

Events - World Theatre Day 2014

Events - World Theatre Day 2014

Happy World Theatre Day Everyone!

Reblog - A Gay Dad's Requiem on the Death of Fred Phelps

Reblog - A Gay Dad's Requiem on the Death of Fred Phelps

This is a reblog from http://evolequals.com/2014/03/16/a-gay-dads-requiem-on-the-death-of-fred-phelps/

I have been fighting for LGBT rights for a long, long time.  Fred Phelps was not always in that fight, but it feels like he was.  It feels like he has always been and always will be anti-gay hatred personified.

Soap Box - Ford

Soap Box - Ford

I'm not defending Ford by any means, but every time someone points out the fact that he is fat, as though that is somehow the core reason for his main failing as a politician I somewhat want to throw up.  Our society has made it alright to lampoon him based on his appearance, his level of physical fitness (or apparent lack thereof).

Society - Wesly Hall

Society - Wesley Hall

Wesley Hall wrote the following...rant?  Essay?  Reflection?  I don't even know, but it's incredibly eye-opening.  A part of it is of course in response to the Zimmerman/Trayvon racial controversy that has been taking the states by storm.  But it also provides a deep and somewhat chilling look at how our society views itself, and what we need to grapple with.

Thoughts - The Problem With Records

Thoughts - The Problem With Records

We live in a strange age, this internet era of ours.  What we have come to realize is that everything, everything and anything you say or write can be recorded.  For that matter, not only can be, but usually is.  Your emails, your blog posts, your facebook status, your tweets, your text messages.  They all exist in time (and sort of space, somewhere).

Gaming - Feminism

Gaming - Feminism



Yesterday, my friend Elizabeth Ludwig and I had a long conversation over facebook about feminism and video games. Sort of touched off by a particular event in relation to E3, but also in a broader sense about the misconceptions we had with each others' perceptions. In the end, I pretty much talked myself into capitulating with her position, but it makes for interesting reading.



Be warned, it IS a facebook conversation, and therefore very ill-written, at least on my part.

Death - Aaron Swartz

Death - Aaron Swartz

Cory Doctorow wrote this about Aaron Swartz, whose passing 3 days ago has shocked much of the internet community, and yet is essentially unreported by worldwide news.  Swartz, who championed, wrote, and contributed to an almost inarticulate number of internet, freedom of speech, and freedom of information projects was only 26 when he committed suicide on Jan 11th. 

A more detailed reading of Aaron Swartz, a remarkable young man my age can be found here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

Life - Slowly Better

Life - Slowly Better

My niece, 8, today was playing around with a photo-booth arcade game, where it takes your picture and then you select boy or girl and it prints you out an ID card. She printed two, the boy one, she printed by accident and it's her photo next to a "Pro Skateboarder" ID. The girl one, she prints and shows me proudly. It doesn't say seamstress, or waitress, or homemaker, or secretary, or princess. It reads "CSI". The battle is being won folks, slowly, but surely.