It's official: The Internet is Owned by White Dudes

[greatlaurel]

120. This is one of the most outstanding posts on DU for a long time.

Last edited Thu Aug 20, 2015, 05:21 PM - Edit history (1)

I know a young woman who took a lot of computer classes in college. She was recruited to become a computer science major as she was always in the top of the class and often the only woman in the classes. She found computers and programming to be useful tools, but not something to focus on exclusively. The sexist and the white male culture of the computer science majors was incredibly infuriating to her, but she got great satisfaction in getting better grades than the majors. Since it was so easy for her, she found it not intellectually stimulating. This young woman is now going to medical school which she finds very satisfying.

There is a very serious problem with the tech world. Because there has been a lot of money made relatively quickly many people are impressed by the money and equate it to power. Unfortunately, the software and computers, we are forced to use as there is so little real competition, are still not particularly user friendly and the software is incredibly bulky and not intuitive, at all. This is the result of the very limited diversity of the people working for these companies. Add in the problem of the extreme monopolistic behavior of many of the big tech firms and we can see how they manage to maintain their obscene profits while preventing competition. The Gates Foundation has spent billions of dollars trying to destroy public education so Microsoft can sell software to replace public school teachers. Of course. Gates' own children go to a private school with a low student to teacher ratio and real teachers are not replaced with computers. His children are not subjected to the ridiculous testing regimes public school kids are tortured with. For Gates other peoples' children are tools to increase profits. Yeah, I know someone will be along to explain how Gates is no longer running Microsoft. I assume he still owns a little Microsoft stock.

The lack of diversity in the tech industry just furthers the problem of white male privilege and allows many to continue to fool themselves that they made it because they are superior and not the product of their color, class, and connections. If a poor Appalachian kid or young woman of color comes up with a great tech idea, how likely are they going to get the kind of backing to be able to make the leap into entrepreneurship? Not very likely. As you have repeatedly pointed out, bias in hiring, investment and getting loans is ingrained in our society. We can only change this if we talk about it. BTW, there are white men who really do get this and are amazed how other white men cannot see their own privilege. It is very empowering to not have to worry about getting raped if you work late or get arrested for living while black. One white man I know thinks it is a sign of immaturity and insecurity to refuse to admit it.

Great post and outstanding clarity of thought. Good job and keep up the good work. Thank you!