*
Did "Diversity" Give Us Dilbert? *In thisfeature article
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596372042140924.html?KEYWORDS=Scott+Adams>,
Scott Adams, the creator of the/Dilbert/comic strip, charges two
previous employers with illegal discrimination.
One day, a position opened above me [in the "large bank" where Adams
was working], and I was the most obvious candidate to fill it. My
boss called me into her office and said she had some bad news. She
explained that the media was giving our company a lot of heat
because almost all of our managers and executives were white males.
Promoting me, she explained, would only make things worse. I
asked how long I might need to wait for all of this to blow over.
My boss was vague, but she said the timeline involved smoothing
out the effects of two centuries of corporate discrimination.
. . .
One day my boss [in a "local phone company"] called me into his
office and explained that the media was giving the phone company a
lot of heat because almost all of the managers and executives were
white males. So, he explained, promoting me would only make things
worse.
At that point, Adams says, he decided to become an entrepreneur. In
time, he succeeded with his comic strip.
With just a little bit of work, you could find out which large bank
Adams worked for, and which local phone company he worked for. Adams is
accusing them both, quite directly, of discriminating against him
because of his race. They probably can't be prosecuted, assuming Adams
is right, because he didn't complain publicly, soon enough.
But here's the other side: Adams is sure enough of his facts to risk
two libel suits by making these accusations. And, from my own personal
experience, I would say that I find his claims of discrimination
entirely plausible, especially in highly regulated businesses like
banking and local telephone.
(The claim of discrimination isn't Adams's main point in the article.
Instead, he is arguing that bad managers in large companies
often/create/entrepreneurs. That's a plausible claim, though I would
like to see some data to back it up.)
- 4:43 PM, 7 November 2010 [link]
<http://www.seanet.com/%7Ejimxc/Politics/November2010_1.html#jrm9344>
Got this from Jim Miller on Politics today
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