Sometimes on applications I check the other box and write "Irrelevant."
What ethnicity are you?
- Thread starter Stephen!
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^Please don't take this as a personal attack, because you know I love ya, but the thing is, while it probably should be irrelevant, for anyone who's not white, it's not (I'm being Western-Centric right now, obviously). I hate to toss up words like privilege, but the experience of being White in America (and Canada and Western Europe, as far as I know) is markedly different from being Not White. Racial demographics are actually important in understanding things like social, educational, and financial inequity, violence, disease rates, morbidity, drug use, etc.
I admire the philosophy behind opting for "human" or "irrelevant" or whatever, but philosophy and reality aren't the same thing, and I think that entering incomplete data is just doing a disservice to those who don't have the luxury of considering their ethnicity irrelevant.
I admire the philosophy behind opting for "human" or "irrelevant" or whatever, but philosophy and reality aren't the same thing, and I think that entering incomplete data is just doing a disservice to those who don't have the luxury of considering their ethnicity irrelevant.
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Amaris
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Good point. Personal blindness to ethnicity/skin color is a wonderful thing. When you see someone as a human being rather than solely as a [skin color] person, you've managed to move past silly differences like that, because those things are irrelevant. They say nothing about the person's character.
The problem is that there are still people who gauge the value of others based on mere skin color, and as long as that's a problem, such form questions have to exist, if only to ensure that people aren't discriminated against for something which has no bearing on the content of their character, or the value of their skills. I can't wait for the day when such questions are no longer needed, but for now, they have to stay.
Still, I do like the idea of "irrelevant" being shorthand for one's derision toward people who base their judgments on another person's skin color, gender, disability, or orientation. On a form, though, it's got to be there.
Although I have been mighty tempted to check a box other than "White", and then show up for an interview. I don't think it would end well, though, so I doubt I'll ever try it. I wanted to try something like "Pacific Islander", and then tell them I lived on a small island just north of Antarctica, way far into the south Pacific. I'd have a great backstory, too.
The problem is that there are still people who gauge the value of others based on mere skin color, and as long as that's a problem, such form questions have to exist, if only to ensure that people aren't discriminated against for something which has no bearing on the content of their character, or the value of their skills. I can't wait for the day when such questions are no longer needed, but for now, they have to stay.
Still, I do like the idea of "irrelevant" being shorthand for one's derision toward people who base their judgments on another person's skin color, gender, disability, or orientation. On a form, though, it's got to be there.
Although I have been mighty tempted to check a box other than "White", and then show up for an interview. I don't think it would end well, though, so I doubt I'll ever try it. I wanted to try something like "Pacific Islander", and then tell them I lived on a small island just north of Antarctica, way far into the south Pacific. I'd have a great backstory, too.
Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand - third largest island of New Zealand. Population 400. Southernmost settlement of NZ. There are a few uninhabitant NZ islands further south.
Macquarie Island, Tasmania is much further south but only scientists live there.
The trouble with trying to say you live on a small island just north of Antarctica is anything further south is in the Great Southern Ocean not the Pacific.
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Amaris
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It wouldn't really matter in the United States. I could say Tasmania, and all the interviewer would likely do is give me a blank stare anyway.
Geography: Not our nation's strong suit.
Although I am liking the scientist angle now.
If I knew, you wouldn't have to tell me.
But that's okay, love you too. 
But I don't see why. A person's ethnicity is absolutely no barometer of a person's aptitude for any job. It's like when they ask permission to check your credit rating. The reality, as you say, is that there are a million reasons a person might have a poor credit score, non of which have anything to do with an applicant's ability to work.
Shake a leg, butter and egg.Thank you, good fellow.
And probably the reason they're looking for a job.
Glad someone wrote this
As a black American, I can tell you that all that "human" and "irrelevant" stuff is nonsense out in the real world. In fact the only folks that have the luxury of saying such things are white (or could pass as such). The rest of us know better.
I even consider the label "mixed" not particularly useful because in the real world it does not mean much. I mean honestly who isn't mixed?
White, Scottish.
I dont drink buckfast or whiskey, i dont take lard intravenously, and i dont have ginger hair, so before you ask yes, i'm not very scottish. lol
I dont drink buckfast or whiskey, i dont take lard intravenously, and i dont have ginger hair, so before you ask yes, i'm not very scottish. lol
But since Taz is awesome is there really anything to complain about
What is the difference between Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian. Aren't all of you pacific islanders?
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Amaris
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Mention Tasmania to most Americans and this is probably what first comes to mind.
I am rather short and somewhat furry...
It looks like I'm the only French Polynesian here.
Well, if you're talking about specifically job applications then I agree.
I was with you till the end. Saying we're all mixed is as meaningless as saying we're all human. Sure, if you go back far enough, we're all mixed, and sure, ideally we should all recognize that, but being mixed race has its own meaning and issues in the real world -- I'm kind of baffled by anyone who can't see that!
Glad someone wrote this
As a black American, I can tell you that all that "human" and "irrelevant" stuff is nonsense out in the real world. In fact the only folks that have the luxury of saying such things are white (or could pass as such). The rest of us know better.
I even consider the label "mixed" not particularly useful because in the real world it does not mean much. I mean honestly who isn't mixed?
We're very diverse. There are people who are...
Anti-flash white
Antique white
Beige
Blond
Cornsilk
Cosmic latte
Cream
Eggshell
Floral white
Ghost white
Honeydew
Isabelline
Ivory
Lavender blush
Lemon chiffon
Linen
Magnolia
Mint cream
Navajo white
Old lace
Papaya whip
Pearl
Seashell
Snow
Splashed white
Vanilla
White
White smoke
^I will always consider myself mixed, but forevermore I will describe my skin tone as cosmic latte.
That was the intended implication when I wrote "application." I've been filling out a lot lately, so they're foremost on my mind. Sorry for the confusion.
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