Thursday, March 14, 2013
Systemic Discrimination, a trivial but useful example
The social innovation site Good.is doesn't just mean well, they mean very well. And do good. Fighting discrimination, amongst other things, I'm sure. But they've also just provided me with a fine example of systemic discrimination, themselves.
I'm glad to have the example, because I don't think the vast majority of people understand that phrase, "systemic discrimination." Therefore, they don't think there's that much of it, or that they could be responsible for any of it. (Both false.) This is a clear illustration of what it systematic discrimination refers to, even if the example may seem a bit trivial (if you aren't old, and your eyesight is good; of course it's trivial - your ox isn't being gored.)
"Systemic discrimination" doesn't mean conscious discrimination. It doesn't mean planned discrimination. It doesn't mean anybody hates anybody or even dislikes them. It doesn't mean anybody consciously intended to discriminate against anybody else (although it almost certainly means they didn't actively care a whole lot.)
"Systemic discrimination" means discrimination that's so profound and ingrained into the system that the people in charge - who could do something about it - don't even notice the problem; and there's usually no effective way to get their attention if you're in the class or group being discriminated against, else it wouldn't really be systemic, would it? In the example below, the website code sets up an uncorrectable problem for peeps with bad eyesight, say 'cause they're old.
Here's the example. Take a look at the very bottom of the yellow box on the screen shot below. There's a hint of an email address there for you to contact the site. But you can't read it because your (my) Windows 8 settings include a large system font (etc) for easier reading. Nor can you scroll down to read the address, because the yellow box is glued. The rest of the webpage scrolls, but that part stays put. Therefore you can't even email to say you can't email them (they have other addresses, but for other purposes.)
.png)
You could try resetting your system font, but I wouldn't advise doing that - what I found in Windows 7 is that this was buggy - you could sometimes change a setting but not be able to set it back. No doubt because the programmers are young and unlikely to use large fonts, I don't think they ever fixed that (also systemic discrimination - not intentional, just systemic.)
I've encountered this problem even more systemically, on sites where you couldn't contact them without registering, and you couldn't register because your Windows font settings made the registration too big to fit on the screen, so you couldn't fill that form out properly. Checkmate.
Big sites are actually more likely to pull this sort of thing than small ones! (Perhaps they can afford the young hot programmers who never use large fonts?) For instance, I ran into this an hour after writing the first draft of this post. The bit in the middle stays in the center of your screen so you can't even read the last half of the article. Sigh:
.png)
Nobody intended this web page on Time.com to look this way, but for the last few years - yes, that's years - innumerable web pages do exactly that sort of craziness if you're old or have bad eyesight even though you're young. The programmers and staff just don't have to deal with the problem themselves, so it doesn't exist. They optimize their pages for those with optimum eyesight and leave it at that.
Now try being Native, Black, or poor. Is anybody in power seeing the world from your precise perspective, i.e. getting your screenshot? Not bloody likely. Theoretical dental benefits for the poor meet with the big shots' (and most voters') approval because they don't ever have to sit through weeks of non-theoretical dental pain while waiting for a hospital space that fits bureaucratic requirements for subsidy - while other less expensive facilities for dental surgeons go unused, and you remain in pain. Waiting in pain is part of how the government saves money by limiting the good things they actually do (and therefore, actually have to pay for), so you wait regardless. With luck, you might feel forced to move to another State or Province and save them even more. Horror is their handmaiden. Inconvenience their loyal servant. Ignorance their intimate companion. Meanwhile, governments maximize repeating (often using ads paid for by taxpayers) all the services that are theoretically "available." Available in the sense of not actually being available. (I'm in that very long line for having most of my teeth pulled right now, as you might be able to tell.)
Or for one small hint about how it is for others, read this article about how poor kids' college applications usually go to the wrong colleges:
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/03/undermatching_half_of_the_smartest_kids_from_low_income_households_don_t.html
And there's so much more - if you're poor, your influence on politics and law is just about zilch. Which sets up all kinds of systematic and systemic acts of discrimination, 'cause your views aren't consulted beforehand and the effects of government policy on you afterward aren't even noticed. If you're ill and aren't filing income tax therefore (more common than you might think) you also don't get to vote. Oh, in theory you do, but since you aren't going to be sent any notice of the election (they use tax rolls), very often you don't actually get to vote. Once, patent laws were designed to protect the ideas of those who couldn't afford lawyers. Now applications always need a lawyer for decent results, and are designed to prevent individuals from patenting tech that large corporations might later want to claim as their own. Not to mention the habit of patenting things in the public domain and then suing on the basis of the fraudulent patent (I'm looking at you Apple.) Etc. Etc.
PS - I have so much time to write and edit this 'cause I've been on hold to a doctor's office for most of an hour. This after leaving my number yesterday and also trying the being on hold thing unsuccessfully. Does the office know I'm on hold? I've no idea. Doctors where I am, under social-medicine-directed-by-capitalist-governments, have all the patients they could ever use - but doctors don't, themselves, ever have to line up to see a doctor, of course. If you're poor, merely getting a family doctor is quite unlikely, as has been shown by tests of doctors willingness to accept poorer patients. Systemic... well, you get the idea.
As the topping on this post, ironically, blogger.com itself has font issues for old people composing and reading that have never been fixed. I can't locally swell this font while I edit it, for example, I have to read and edit it tiny. Or thump it up big like this for the final product as well... oh, well.
PS - dear blogger software, you don't adapt URLs for peeps with bad eyesight, either. When I up the font size in my browser, the URL doesn't wrap. But don't worry, I won't be holding my breath 'till you fix that. Old people click fewer ads, so I'm guessing that ain't getting fixed.
I'm glad to have the example, because I don't think the vast majority of people understand that phrase, "systemic discrimination." Therefore, they don't think there's that much of it, or that they could be responsible for any of it. (Both false.) This is a clear illustration of what it systematic discrimination refers to, even if the example may seem a bit trivial (if you aren't old, and your eyesight is good; of course it's trivial - your ox isn't being gored.)
"Systemic discrimination" doesn't mean conscious discrimination. It doesn't mean planned discrimination. It doesn't mean anybody hates anybody or even dislikes them. It doesn't mean anybody consciously intended to discriminate against anybody else (although it almost certainly means they didn't actively care a whole lot.)
"Systemic discrimination" means discrimination that's so profound and ingrained into the system that the people in charge - who could do something about it - don't even notice the problem; and there's usually no effective way to get their attention if you're in the class or group being discriminated against, else it wouldn't really be systemic, would it? In the example below, the website code sets up an uncorrectable problem for peeps with bad eyesight, say 'cause they're old.
Here's the example. Take a look at the very bottom of the yellow box on the screen shot below. There's a hint of an email address there for you to contact the site. But you can't read it because your (my) Windows 8 settings include a large system font (etc) for easier reading. Nor can you scroll down to read the address, because the yellow box is glued. The rest of the webpage scrolls, but that part stays put. Therefore you can't even email to say you can't email them (they have other addresses, but for other purposes.)
.png)
You could try resetting your system font, but I wouldn't advise doing that - what I found in Windows 7 is that this was buggy - you could sometimes change a setting but not be able to set it back. No doubt because the programmers are young and unlikely to use large fonts, I don't think they ever fixed that (also systemic discrimination - not intentional, just systemic.)
I've encountered this problem even more systemically, on sites where you couldn't contact them without registering, and you couldn't register because your Windows font settings made the registration too big to fit on the screen, so you couldn't fill that form out properly. Checkmate.
Big sites are actually more likely to pull this sort of thing than small ones! (Perhaps they can afford the young hot programmers who never use large fonts?) For instance, I ran into this an hour after writing the first draft of this post. The bit in the middle stays in the center of your screen so you can't even read the last half of the article. Sigh:
.png)
Nobody intended this web page on Time.com to look this way, but for the last few years - yes, that's years - innumerable web pages do exactly that sort of craziness if you're old or have bad eyesight even though you're young. The programmers and staff just don't have to deal with the problem themselves, so it doesn't exist. They optimize their pages for those with optimum eyesight and leave it at that.
Now try being Native, Black, or poor. Is anybody in power seeing the world from your precise perspective, i.e. getting your screenshot? Not bloody likely. Theoretical dental benefits for the poor meet with the big shots' (and most voters') approval because they don't ever have to sit through weeks of non-theoretical dental pain while waiting for a hospital space that fits bureaucratic requirements for subsidy - while other less expensive facilities for dental surgeons go unused, and you remain in pain. Waiting in pain is part of how the government saves money by limiting the good things they actually do (and therefore, actually have to pay for), so you wait regardless. With luck, you might feel forced to move to another State or Province and save them even more. Horror is their handmaiden. Inconvenience their loyal servant. Ignorance their intimate companion. Meanwhile, governments maximize repeating (often using ads paid for by taxpayers) all the services that are theoretically "available." Available in the sense of not actually being available. (I'm in that very long line for having most of my teeth pulled right now, as you might be able to tell.)
Or for one small hint about how it is for others, read this article about how poor kids' college applications usually go to the wrong colleges:
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/03/undermatching_half_of_the_smartest_kids_from_low_income_households_don_t.html
And there's so much more - if you're poor, your influence on politics and law is just about zilch. Which sets up all kinds of systematic and systemic acts of discrimination, 'cause your views aren't consulted beforehand and the effects of government policy on you afterward aren't even noticed. If you're ill and aren't filing income tax therefore (more common than you might think) you also don't get to vote. Oh, in theory you do, but since you aren't going to be sent any notice of the election (they use tax rolls), very often you don't actually get to vote. Once, patent laws were designed to protect the ideas of those who couldn't afford lawyers. Now applications always need a lawyer for decent results, and are designed to prevent individuals from patenting tech that large corporations might later want to claim as their own. Not to mention the habit of patenting things in the public domain and then suing on the basis of the fraudulent patent (I'm looking at you Apple.) Etc. Etc.
PS - I have so much time to write and edit this 'cause I've been on hold to a doctor's office for most of an hour. This after leaving my number yesterday and also trying the being on hold thing unsuccessfully. Does the office know I'm on hold? I've no idea. Doctors where I am, under social-medicine-directed-by-capitalist-governments, have all the patients they could ever use - but doctors don't, themselves, ever have to line up to see a doctor, of course. If you're poor, merely getting a family doctor is quite unlikely, as has been shown by tests of doctors willingness to accept poorer patients. Systemic... well, you get the idea.
As the topping on this post, ironically, blogger.com itself has font issues for old people composing and reading that have never been fixed. I can't locally swell this font while I edit it, for example, I have to read and edit it tiny. Or thump it up big like this for the final product as well... oh, well.
PS - dear blogger software, you don't adapt URLs for peeps with bad eyesight, either. When I up the font size in my browser, the URL doesn't wrap. But don't worry, I won't be holding my breath 'till you fix that. Old people click fewer ads, so I'm guessing that ain't getting fixed.
