Discrimination, still alive?

I'm a blond hair blue eye white male. I cant find work anywhere. They gave my job to the people who where complaining about not getting jobs.

Mybe you should complain

Discrimination is definately still alive, in fact sometimes the pendulum - or backlash - from one form of discrimination can swing the other way and back-fire on those who were discriminating in the first place. I'm not going to cite any examples for fear of opening a can of worms though!

It's an interesting and very open-ended topic, in your case demonhale I would complain as vibins suggested. What has actually happened, have they ignored your applications?

I have a job now, but you see, I a have friend that I know have mad skillz in the job his applying into, better than the other applicants (I know them too coz I get around)...
Since the other applicants have better background (came from high profile families) as well as they are better looking, they get the job...

Another point in case... I have a friend who went overseas to work... He was hired because of his impressive track record, as well as the papers to back it up... But when they noticed they came from a certain country they changed their mind upon arrival...

Thats why I want people to give their opinions on this, and in case some of us here will be the bosses someday...

Yes, disrimination does still exist, in all areas of life (to open a can of worms, look at which race of people are mainly suffering because of Hurricane Katrina and few provisions were made for them to get away because they didn't have cars). But, on the net, there is less discrimination than in the 'real' world, I'm sure.

I myself have hired freelancers of all races and nationalities to work for me. There have been people who have had political views I fundamentally disagree with, but I've still employed them because I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions and the internet should be a discrimination-free environment.

I'm a Muslim and my parents originated from Pakistan. Whereas I've experienced serious discrimination offline, can't say I've been conscious of much negativity towards me because of who I am online. Only twice in the last seven years, which is not bad.

Maybe I don't get contracts because of my name and background, but there's nothing I can do about it and so I just get on with my life. (Was a news article recently about a highly-educated British-Pakistani accountant who applied for job after job in the City of London with his own name and didn't even get invited to interviews. When he used a Jewish name on his CV, he started getting invited to interviews from the same firms.)

I know it's frustrating when you suffer discrimation 'cos of your background or skin colour, but you have to keep struggling... the reason many people set up their own businesses is to overcome discrimination and the web is a great environment to set up your own enterprise.

I think very few people are discriminated. I think that the person “being discriminated" makes the claim of discrimination because s/he doesn’t understand the real meaning behind not getting the job or promotion etc. Being discriminated is just an easy excuse why you didn’t get something.

A reporter got on the TV yesterday and was saying how the relief effort for Katrina was delayed because a lot of the people were black. That is the type of bull**** I am talking about. “Discrimination”

This is one of my pet peeves “discrimination”, so I am very skeptical of “discrimination” claims

That's an interesting point, Matt. I think a lot of the times what people see as discrimination might not be entirely discrimination alone. Like women often feel like they're being held back from top postiions in business etc. but at the same time they don't have the kind of confidence men do. So maybe that's part of it. You could say the same about looks - good looking people are usually more confident. That impresses people. At the same time it can be really hard for women (or minorities etc.) to crack all white male cultures.

One of the things that does bug me a little is that people seem to assume that men know more about technolgoy than women. In my office they'll often go to the guys in the group with a hard technical question rather than to ask one of the women.

It is interesting on the web though because you can't see a lot of these things. Often you don't even know who is male or female. So yeah, the lines are blurred a lot.

ETA: although I will say that I am a middle class non-overweight white female and have probably never experienced real discrimination

ETA2: But then again, it's a certain type of culture that values confidence (arrogance) and isn't able to see through to peoples' real value.

This thread turned out to be enlightening... Keep it coming Gals/Guys...

Maybe I'm thick, but I never seem to notice when/if I'm discriminated against, by whatever means. I think I realise most times when I do discriminate, though.

What strikes me is that, IMO, things have become too Politically Correct and as a result minorities are given too much because employers, etc are scared that if they don't they will be seen as distriminating. Don't get me wrong I'm not racist, agest, sexist, etc at all but I just wish that we could get to a point where everyone is classed as the same, human! That way the best person would get the job because they are the best person for the job, no matter what sex, age, colour they are.

I think it's only people who've had to spend their entire lives facing prejudice - usually exacted in a discreet and subtle nowadays - who would appreciate how much discrimination exists in society. Yes, there are people who cry wolf before looking at their only qualifications, experience or lack of work ethic, and then use the easy option of screaming 'racism' whenever they don't achieve what they want, but for the majority that is not the case.

It is not true that 'positive discrimination' or 'political correctness' is changing the way things are: the overwhelming number of top jobs in society are held by people of one colour and the jobs at the bottom by those of another. Do a empirical analysis yourself: next time you are there, just check out who cleans your local subway station - and observe which people get on the train with the shiny briefcases.

As regards the accusations of discrimation being spurious, why is that study after study has proven that job applicants with exactly the same qualifications have different prospects based on their name or background? Check out the following research, for instance:

'Shocking' racism in jobs market.

Care to comment? Is each and every study which proves that discrimination exists in the job market just fictitious?

discrimination is alive and well everywhere, here's one personal experience I've had.

First up, I am a 35 yr old male with long hair ... (am tidy), this is over a short period so bear with me and I'll try not to babble .
Flying from NZ to LA (USA) i wore my hair down, customs pulled me aside and drilled me for 1/2 hour (remember am cutting this short but had come from business meeting so was well dressed, tie in pocket thou), 3 months later flew from WA (washington DC) to Heathrow (UK) tied my hair up in pony tail and had no problem, several months later flew back from UK to DC with hair up and no problem, went into Canada with hair down got funny looks ... several months later flew back home from LA, figured my own country wear my hair down .... Land in NZ and customs take me aside and do the baggage check ... (no body search), I got talking to the guy and asked why I was pulled aside, basically because the way I looked, sheesh I was on holiday. So I told him if I was to bring drugs into the country I'd have short hair and be in a business suit and he agreed most drug are found on business men, mums, babys and old people (all the respectable ones) but I fitted the outdated "watch out for this type" category.

The internet is great, no one can see how long my hair is, how many tats I have, how much coffee I drink, how messy my desk is ...

I've been thinking about this a little more. I think it is just impossible for some of us to really understand how minorities actually feel. I did some work last fall on a native studies course. Now those are some people who have it bad. I'd really like to be able to understand how they feel.

I was in a situation last year that made me wonder if I was being treated differently because I am a woman. I was working with a prof who did not respect my ability to do my job (and if you know me at all you can probably imagine how ticked off I was about it!). I think that if I was a man he would not have treated me like he did. It also really ticks me off when nobody stands up to people like that. I wasn't exactly in a position to do so and the people who were just let him walk all over us.

There's some interesting things happening now with the hurricane (was it because they are poor? black? Or was it just straightup incompetence). In Toronto there's a big problem with gun violence now. Lots of (young black male) people getting killed. Hard to know how to handle things like that.

I think there is more discrimination between rich and poor people, and powerful people and those with no authority than with the standard black / white approach.

Discrimination in any form is unaccesptable, but employers have the b\ility to pick and choose nowadays and the personality of the company rep who is interviewing you is important.

In NZ it is very hard to sack someone so employers try to pick really carefully and I believe discrimination comes into it as an advantage to them. Why just pick anyone and get stuck with them when really they can end up costing you money, why not get the best of the best so they do what they are employed to do - make you money.
It's wrong sure, but if the govnerment and unions want to set the rules then someone has to pay the price, you can't have good without the bad.

sad but true

The other problem that women have is that we're expected to act a certain way. We're told basically from birth to be nice, polite, nurturing, don't raise a fuss and by all means, never get mad. So if women are more assertive they often get labelled a b!tch. A lot of behaviour that would be considered strong or asssertive for men would be described as bitchy for women.

I read about a book called "Nice Girls Don't Get Rich". But nobody wants to be the b!tch so what can you do?

(gotta take that word out of the banned words here... not necessary to block it as long as nobody's using it on me )

why not use biatch! instead? Sounds better too!!! LOL

nah, if I call a woman a B!tch for doing something or acting a certain way, and a guy does a similar thing he is a complete ba!tard.

Everyone has predjedous's and stereotypes, It might be all men are pigs or all canidians are as cool as Megan the trick is to keep them in your head and not let it spill over into dicrimanation

LMAO at that, vibins. Priceless I meant to say so sooner!

Discrimation is a part of human nature nand is esential for survival of the fittest... we are even taught to descriminate when we pick teams in school for sports.. I discriminate.. does'nt everybody..