Post by High Priestess on Aug 7, 2016 2:39:28 GMT
Well ....there's what you SHOULD do, and then there is what you DO do...because politics is what it is and we can't change the way the world works.
What do you do...if some random person walks up to you on the street and says "Hello! And by the way, you are racist and discriminatory!!!".....or well perhaps it's not quite so random.
Rather, some university or researcher walks up to you and says they did a "study" using 6000 fraudulent profiles and 6000 "fake" user names...and says that the results make you look...hmmm..perhaps racist? Or discriminatory? But mind you, the study didn't actually study race...it studied user names. Oh well, close enough!...we'll say you're racist! Why? Because they'll for sure believe us if we say it!
Or..... if some random person walks up to you on the street and says...I didn't get accepted into the Airbnb I wanted...so...you're racist! Discriminatory! Never mind that it was the host who rejected this guest and not Airbnb, never mind that the guest used a photo that...could have been better. It's just so easy to say...you're racist, you're discriminatory, Airbnb!! So we'll say it! FOr sure it will stick!
So the result is...one flawed Harvard "study", purportedly on race and Airbnb rentals, (actually on user names, not about race...but hey...close enough!) and many miffed guests saying they didn't get into the Airbnb they wanted...together with some truly overt instances of ugly racism or discrimination by a very few hosts...and ...wa la we can now conclude....Airbnb itself has a widespread racism problem !
Now there's what you SHOULD do, which is tell malicious people making sloppy and slanderous accusations levelled not just at a few mean-spirited or narrow-minded hosts, but at all of Airbnb, to just take a hike!!
But alas, in the setting we live in, and the politics that we currently have, this is difficult to do.
So instead of saying what needs to be said, we get this sort of thing:
votingrightsact.airbnbaction.com/
Airbnb goes from being a platform where people sign up to do short term rentals, to one which now feels obligated to engage in politically correct posturing, as a means of trying to "prove" it does not have a "widespread" racism problem. So now Airbnb is promoting the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation (which BTW has nothing to do with short term rentals) and Voto Latino (which BTW also has nothing to do with short term rentals). Now getting the vote out is certainly a worthy cause...and getting out the minority vote also a worthy cause...but neither of these are the business of a short term rental platform. And this type of blatantly politically correct posturing strikes me as mealymouthed...and looks obsequious and/or phony.
It would be one thing if Airbnb had started life with these political interests...but to only start promoting these interests after being accused of having widespread racism...that is something else. "You accused me of being racist and so I suddenly developed an interest in some Black political organizations...howzat? Do I look less racist now?"
Of course, I could be wrong and the mention of Black and Latino groups could have nothing to do with the fact that I can hardly read a news article about Airbnb now without reading the accusation that there is widespread racism and discrimination on Airbnb. I'm reading that in so many news articles that have nothing to do with racism and discrimination...that it really comes across nearly as a conspiracy to frame Airbnb as racist and discriminatory. Eg here's an article about Airbnb's valuation as a corporation.....
www.yahoo.com/tech/weird-houseguest-helped-raise-airbnb-230845514.html
and yet, even here we're reading that Airbnb has issues with racism and discrimination.
In this article, we're reading that "Airbnb is unfriendly to Black people":
observer.com/2016/07/airbnb-is-advertising-itself-as-a-solution-to-gentrification-to-avoid-regulation/
WHile in this blog, we're reading that Airbnb has a massive racism problem...which has to do with the fact that some hosts take rental units off the market. How is that racist? Because the blogger says it is...it's all racism you see....everything you don't like...is racist....including Airbnb:
medium.com/equal-future/airbnbs-racism-problem-is-much-bigger-than-a-few-racist-hosts-a1dea9c77586#.o2ohlh6ta
I think it was the Nazi Josef Goebbels who first said it, that if you repeat a lie often enough, people start to believe it.
What do you do...if some random person walks up to you on the street and says "Hello! And by the way, you are racist and discriminatory!!!".....or well perhaps it's not quite so random.
Rather, some university or researcher walks up to you and says they did a "study" using 6000 fraudulent profiles and 6000 "fake" user names...and says that the results make you look...hmmm..perhaps racist? Or discriminatory? But mind you, the study didn't actually study race...it studied user names. Oh well, close enough!...we'll say you're racist! Why? Because they'll for sure believe us if we say it!
Or..... if some random person walks up to you on the street and says...I didn't get accepted into the Airbnb I wanted...so...you're racist! Discriminatory! Never mind that it was the host who rejected this guest and not Airbnb, never mind that the guest used a photo that...could have been better. It's just so easy to say...you're racist, you're discriminatory, Airbnb!! So we'll say it! FOr sure it will stick!
So the result is...one flawed Harvard "study", purportedly on race and Airbnb rentals, (actually on user names, not about race...but hey...close enough!) and many miffed guests saying they didn't get into the Airbnb they wanted...together with some truly overt instances of ugly racism or discrimination by a very few hosts...and ...wa la we can now conclude....Airbnb itself has a widespread racism problem !
Now there's what you SHOULD do, which is tell malicious people making sloppy and slanderous accusations levelled not just at a few mean-spirited or narrow-minded hosts, but at all of Airbnb, to just take a hike!!
But alas, in the setting we live in, and the politics that we currently have, this is difficult to do.
So instead of saying what needs to be said, we get this sort of thing:
votingrightsact.airbnbaction.com/
Airbnb goes from being a platform where people sign up to do short term rentals, to one which now feels obligated to engage in politically correct posturing, as a means of trying to "prove" it does not have a "widespread" racism problem. So now Airbnb is promoting the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation (which BTW has nothing to do with short term rentals) and Voto Latino (which BTW also has nothing to do with short term rentals). Now getting the vote out is certainly a worthy cause...and getting out the minority vote also a worthy cause...but neither of these are the business of a short term rental platform. And this type of blatantly politically correct posturing strikes me as mealymouthed...and looks obsequious and/or phony.
It would be one thing if Airbnb had started life with these political interests...but to only start promoting these interests after being accused of having widespread racism...that is something else. "You accused me of being racist and so I suddenly developed an interest in some Black political organizations...howzat? Do I look less racist now?"
Of course, I could be wrong and the mention of Black and Latino groups could have nothing to do with the fact that I can hardly read a news article about Airbnb now without reading the accusation that there is widespread racism and discrimination on Airbnb. I'm reading that in so many news articles that have nothing to do with racism and discrimination...that it really comes across nearly as a conspiracy to frame Airbnb as racist and discriminatory. Eg here's an article about Airbnb's valuation as a corporation.....
www.yahoo.com/tech/weird-houseguest-helped-raise-airbnb-230845514.html
and yet, even here we're reading that Airbnb has issues with racism and discrimination.
In this article, we're reading that "Airbnb is unfriendly to Black people":
observer.com/2016/07/airbnb-is-advertising-itself-as-a-solution-to-gentrification-to-avoid-regulation/
WHile in this blog, we're reading that Airbnb has a massive racism problem...which has to do with the fact that some hosts take rental units off the market. How is that racist? Because the blogger says it is...it's all racism you see....everything you don't like...is racist....including Airbnb:
medium.com/equal-future/airbnbs-racism-problem-is-much-bigger-than-a-few-racist-hosts-a1dea9c77586#.o2ohlh6ta
I think it was the Nazi Josef Goebbels who first said it, that if you repeat a lie often enough, people start to believe it.
