1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

For all the oppressed white males out there....

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by dream job, Jun 28, 2006.

  1. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    that's fucking bullshit and you know it hate. the reception would be chilly squared, don't act as though it would be anything else.

    this thread is getting fucking pathetic with misrepresentation.
     
  2. Riddick

    Riddick Active Member

    Tom, you'd be suprised how much of a mixed crowd it is. Especially considering most editors are white, in case you haven't heard. ;D
     
  3. broadway joe

    broadway joe Guest

    OK, this whole job fair tangent is indicative of the problem. You want to know when there'll be a job fair for white guys? When they make up 10 or 12 percent of the sports journalism population, the way minorities do now. When virtually all the people in position to hire are black and Hispanic, instead of white, as they are now. The idea that its somehow unfair that there are job fairs and professional organizations geared toward minorities and not toward whites is silly. The reason these job fairs came about was because minorities and women didn't have access to the kind of networking and connections that white men did for so long. The whole world of journalism was a white job fair, and to a slightly lesser degree, it still is. It's like the old joke about why there's a Black History Month and not a White History Month. Because every month is White History Month!!!

    But some white males seem unwilling or unable to acknowledge that the deck has been stacked so much in their favor for so long that its going to take some time to correct those inequities. If that means employers are on the look out for promising minority candidates, so be it. The statistics cited at the beginning of this thread prove that white men haven't exactly been kicked to the curb, no matter what individual sob stories have been put forth on this thread. They're actually still dominating the profession. Look back at the stats on the first page of this thread and tell me they're not.

    As long as that's the case, editors have a legitimate interest in creating more diversity on their staffs -- because different backgrounds and perspectives can enrich a sports department and lead to a better product, because it can draw in readers who might not otherwise buy the paper, and because it's just the right thing to do. Sometimes they have to look a little harder to find those people and take a chance on some of them, because historically minorities haven't had the same advantages or access that white men have had. But some white men don't want to consider any of that. They just want the playing field to be even from here on out, as though it doesn't matter that they've had a huge head start in the race.
     
  4. JME

    JME Member

    I agree with a lot of that. Most of the people who talk about what it would be like if there were white job fairs or white history are ignorant to the unfairness others have fought through.

    At the same time, I guess it becomes a question of how far do the people hiring go out of their way to bring in someone with their preferred profile? You seem to be very much in favor of diversifying regardless of ability in invidual cases.

    That makes is quite disheartening for those us who do not offer that diversity they want, who are trying to build a career. This jobs are already incrediby scarce, probably more so every day, so knowing decisions will frequently be made against you for reasons other than talent or drive makes you wonder whether it's really worth it.

    I can see both sides.
     
  5. Riddick

    Riddick Active Member

    excellent post
     
  6. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    hence your own point griz.
     
  7. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    some black males refuse to admit who gets the better job out of college and who goes to the 15,000 papers to earn their stripes. this is bullshit. i'm all about diversity, but when you attempt to say the weight of the world is on your shoulders, i say bullshit.

    you can talk about diversifying all you want and i'll buy on. but if you attempt to say there isn't a concerted effort out there to hire young black males, well, kiss my ass because you're ignoring the obvious.
     
  8. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    ... and you're fucking hippocrates.
     
  9. blondebomber

    blondebomber Member

    Joe, you clearly haven't read the thread. Nobody's really bitching about minority job fairs. We've merely been saying it's a tool that would help the problem if there simply were more minorities in the marketplace. The report that started this thread indicated the business isn't trying to diversify. I strongly disagree.

    And by marketplace I mean potential job candidates.
     
  10. broadway joe

    broadway joe Guest

    I didn't say there isn't a concerted effort to hire young black males (and women, and Latinos, for that matter). What I'm saying is that: 1) That's not a terrible thing, given how under-represented minorities are in this business, and 2) it can't be as overwhelming as some have made it seem, because the number of white men still absolutely dwarfs the number of any other ethnic group. This concerted effort has been going on for a while, right? Then why is there still such a small percentage of minorities? Somebody said it's because there's a small pool of minority applicants. Well, if that's the case, why are white males complaining?

    I'm just calling bullshit on this whole idea that young white men are such victims because minorities are getting so many of the good jobs. I think it's more that white men don't have all the advantages that they used to take for granted, and some of them are having a hard time dealing with it. Look at the title of this thread -- "oppressed white males". How can you have 8 out of every 10 jobs and be oppressed?
     
  11. broadway joe

    broadway joe Guest

    I've read the thread. The first reference to job fairs was about imagining the uproar if there were a job fair for white men the way there are for minorities. I realize that it was partly in jest, but I think it represents a line of thinking that's problematic.
     
  12. JME

    JME Member

    Do you think it's problematic to base an indivdual hire strictly on race, regardless of talent/experience discrepancies between candidates?
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page