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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Why couldn't it be? There's a controversy. The point he's making is, this CIO pick has the White House taking a side.

Problem with that is Vivek moved to the states at the age of 11. He was never an H1-B holder.

its just cool, not taking sides or speaking on policy. I'm all for lifting this ban to get more super smart folks to the US. I guess the age part is what really stood out. Obama is def down for youth and willing to take the risk on a younger person (smart) with the hopes they can energize citizens and implement real changes.

Perhaps I'm too jaded, but I don't think that details really influence the political impact. My point, as tptacek points out, is that it changes the nature of the conversation in washington.

They are taking a side in the H1B controversy because he's an immigrant? That's like saying they are taking a side in gender discrimination because he's male. If he was actually on an H1B then you might have a point, but it sounds like he's naturalized.

> They are taking a side in the H1B controversy because he's an immigrant?

You must be new to racism.

Ouch.

Granted, this is a hacking forum and not a political forum, so I won't go on about postmodernity, the media and rationality. However, it is important to note and remember that human beings are not rational. Instead of ignoring the irrationality of individuals, we should attempt to understand it.

You're right, though. His being an immigrant and being Indian likely plays to people's biases and preconceptions about outsourcing and H1B program.

> You're right, though

Of course I'm right. I've worked with just as many European H1-B's as I have Indian H1-B's with many coming from Northern and Eastern Europe (scandinavia, poland, ukraine, czech, etc.), yet none of these "patriots" seem to ever mention white Europeans when this discussion comes up, do they?

How did Linus Torvalds get into the US again? Or Sergey Brin's family?

This kind of stuff is just so incredibly obvious to any objective observer who actually pays attention.

The market rate for western European dev is higher than the rate for Asian dev.

I was talking mostly about Eastern Europe, but thanks for your useless input.

Not being new to it doesn't preclude me from arguing that it doesn't make logical sense. Some forms of "racism" at least seem somewhat rational, ie associating muslims with terrorism after 9/11 makes more sense to me than doing it with sikhs (just because the latter wear turbans). And I argue that this case is one that does not make sense at all. If he was actually an H1B holder working for the government, or even at any point had held an H1B, there would at least be a proximate connection.

I don't see why that is a problem. While I don't think that this is really the whitehouse taking a side, what if they were taking a side? They should.

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