I'm amazed that this thread has so many posts. I didn't like the idea of it in the first place, but there have been some worthwhile posts. I don't really think that racism is an issue here at Mudcat. Everyone says things at times that are racially insensitive, but that's life. We humans are intrinsically awkward, and often say things that don't come out right and make us sound like we're far more hateful than we actually are. And there's something about the Internet that amplifies awkward expression, and makes it quadrupally offensive.

But most people here are people of good will, and they are not essentially racist even when what they say has rough edges.

In my 25 years as an investigator for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, I had to do a number of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) cases, investigations of complaints of discrimination in federal employment. Now, federal employees, like Mudcatters, are usually pretty fair-minded people, and there really aren't many racists in positions of power in the feds. While there isn't a lot of racism among the feds (or Mudcat), the federal government has a good number of people who are either incredibly nasty or incredibly stupid or incredibly vulnerable (often due to stupidity or obnoxiousness) - and the same thing takes place at Mudcat.

So, in my investigation of complaints of discrimination, I very rarely found racial discrimination (or any other legally prohibited forms of discrimination). I found discrimination based on personal dislike, pettiness, or just plain orneriness - but the law didn't cover any of those. I find all sorts of nastiness, and almost always found improper or unwise personnel practices - but my investigation could result in mandated changes only if there were actual discrimination. I also often found that the person complaining was wrong - that the complainer was obnoxious, stupid, incompetent, or just nasty. I also often found that the complainer was the kind of person who made himself or herself vulnerable to persecution - usually by obnoxiousness or stupidity. Same thing often happens at Mudcat - and it isn't due to racial discrimination. So, I think that if a person finds Mudcat (or federal employment) "difficult," it probably isn't because of race.

-Joe-


As an aside - while my investigations often didn't mandate a change, they did point out the problems. Oftentimes, that was enough to convince somebody that changes were needed. I suppose the same could be true at Mudcat - we may not have racism, but we certainly do have problems. Pointing them out in a rational manner may help solve the problems.