Attempting to Start from the Finish
The disease is spreading. And it is endemic with a pattern of reappearance including bouts of fever and delirium. Google seems to be the newest site but as one of the planet leading technology behemoths it is more frightening. We desperately want to see our hopes supported by the technology companies that are about all we have to left to save us from ignorance and stupidity. But, of course, we know there is no escape from ignorance and stupidity and the exact definitions of ignorance and stupidity are slippery eels indeed. Do we know it when we see it? Apparently not clearly enough to avoid falling into the the pits of outrage or the slough of despond.
The newly infamous Google anonymous screed attempting to cover traditional racist and sexist attitudes with the tattered cloth of freedum has inspired hundreds of response and posts. Many of the the most strident are from sorely afflicted sexists and racists who have to face continuous pressure to change the very ideas they learned at their father’s knee. That, of course, sums up what passes for the ethos of the modern US conservative. My father was a bigot and if it will help me to get ahead I want to be a bigot, too. By god, those people are different and you can’t deny it. It’s not fair having to learn new words to describe what people are and dealing with all of this empathy shit. Why can’t I be the boss just like my father. He didn’t have to worry about microaggression; he went for the full on big time aggression stuff. While reading the rant, I was hearing that this would make America great again.
Having read through the document that caused this relapse it did work hard to maintain the appearance of reasonable questioning. Within that vein there is definitely the need to make the adjustment of all forms of bigotry a topic of open conversation. But in this case it appears to be a complete facade. The assumptions of unjustified social corrections are not the starting point for that discussion. The best means within an organizational culture to achieve equality of opportunity is the starting point. That will deliver the moral message that no bigotry is acceptable while recognizing that this is a massive process correcting ancient problems. In the end you have every opportunity to be with it but if you are not you must leave.
The position that you start from is critical. The direction is not in question as it is toward diversity and open opportunity. With one direction you cannot begin from the wrong finish and go to where we desperately need to be to win.
