Hacker News Reader

Comment by sametmax | Hacker News Reader

How many white or black do you see in a leadership position in China ? In India ? In Thailand ? This is not an american thing.

View on HN

I'd place a bet that relative to the Chinese, Indian, or Thai citizenry, whites are overrepresented in management positions.

And talk about comparing apples and oranges - India is less than 3% "non-brown" including SE/E Asian, black, and white. China, 7%. Thailand, 1-2%. The US is >35% non-white, which is why under-representation shows and matters so much. Chinese/Indian/Thai management and government look a lot like their populations, whereas American equivalents do not.

I think you're making a mistake in looking at color to investigate bias. All those countries have internal minorities who superficially might look similar to you but are not to locals. And government does not always look like those proportions.

Being part Indian I'm well aware of the different ethnicities. That said, a more nuanced answer likely wouldn't have meant much to someone engaging in whataboutism

It might not be, but consider the demographics. Asian Americans make up 5.6% of the population (according to Wikipedia). In any of the countries listed, white/black people surely make up a much, much smaller percentage.

It is inaccurate to use the total 5.6% here. What percentage of the 5.6% depicts Asian males who are an appropriate age to hold a leadership position? I am certain the percentage is drastically lower; 0 - 1% perhaps.

That's fair, but then that "rule" would also apply to the number of white/black people in the countries listed, making it lower. Doesn't make the point of considering demographics any less valid.

It is my assumption that white males living in these countries are old enough to hold leadership positions. One can safely assume a 12 year old is not immigrating to China to live / work.

Are you honestly trying to argue that the percentage of Asian American adults is approximately equal to the percentage of white/black adults in places like China and India?

What does this even mean? You realize people of Asian descent can be born in here in the U.S. right?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com