Discrimination irony...my experience from college....

Page 1 of 1 [ 15 posts ] 

zer0netgain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2009
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,615

25 Dec 2009, 1:15 pm

This actually happened to me.

When I was in college, I put in for manager of the school radio station. I was involved as a Disc Jockey, and I enjoyed it.

I was an outspoken Christian on campus. Very opinionated.

I was considered for the job and denied...it went to someone else.

Here is the irony. From the interview and bits that got back to me after the fact, the impression over me was that, "Well, he can do the job, but would he turn the station into an all Christian format because of his religious biases."

This was really reinforced when one of the professors I was under commented how objective and well-balanced my review of an anti-abortion ad was, and I took this to infer that he believed I was too biased by my religious beliefs to be capable of objective analysis.

So, the one shot I had to do something significant in college was denied to me as it was the only year I could have done the job as the next year I'd graduate in December and could not commit a full year to being station manager.

IRONY....they gave the job to someone who wasn't a Christian, but he was a sports nut. The format? All sports and hip-hop music (his favorites). News, community service (simulcasts of campus chapel service) were pretty much left to rot unless someone took up the responsibility and ran with it.

So, they denied me the job out of fear that I'd ruin the multi-genre platform of the station with my "Christian" beliefs because I might be incapable of conducting myself as a professional, but the guy they did hire was one of the worst managers the station ever had and nothing got done unless it fell in with his "special interests."

Was there really any difference in what they were afraid of happening and what they wound up getting (other than the nature of in what direction the station went)?



techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,685
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

25 Dec 2009, 1:43 pm

But you understand the view of the intelligencia, the 'elite', colleges are bastions of the intelligencia and elite. Very little mystery here - they have a social agenda which isn't anti-sports or anti-hip hop as they've been fighting neither of those. If being involved inherently in sports or being a sports fan inherently held legislative and broader reality beliefs that conflicted with theirs, they'd be against that too.

One thing I would add though - many if not most 'elite' are also in favor of big government, getting the global populace to buy that also means besetting society with things that deliberately breakdown self-reliance and community/family bonds; that's also underway and religious values fly counterclockwise to that.



ascan
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,194
Location: Taunton/Aberdeen

25 Dec 2009, 2:40 pm

Maybe they rejected you because you appeared unsuitable for the position. You probably weren't discriminated against just because you were a Christian but simply because with regard to a controversial subject there was evidence you were outspoken and opinionated -- reasonable criteria for excluding someone in those circumstances. The fact that the other guy turned out to be one of the worst managers they'd had doesn't necessarily mean they made the wrong decision at the interview stage. After all, we'll never know how the other applicants would have performed if they'd got the job.



ruennsheng
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Feb 2009
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,523
Location: Singapore

25 Dec 2009, 6:35 pm

All sports and hip hop music --- this is all what I do if I were a DJ for a college radio station! But I would add classic rock and metal to the mix to appease opposition...

But yeah, it depends on the ability of the DJ to cater for the needs of the college population. It's all about ratings, baby! If we can get most of the college interested and revved up, it doesn't matter what will be the format as long as I see more dough in the college radio stations...


_________________
Ex amicitia vita


Master_Pedant
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,903

25 Dec 2009, 9:08 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
But you understand the view of the intelligencia, the 'elite', colleges are bastions of the intelligencia and elite. Very little mystery here - they have a social agenda which isn't anti-sports or anti-hip hop as they've been fighting neither of those. If being involved inherently in sports or being a sports fan inherently held legislative and broader reality beliefs that conflicted with theirs, they'd be against that too.

One thing I would add though - many if not most 'elite' are also in favor of big government, getting the global populace to buy that also means besetting society with things that deliberately breakdown self-reliance and community/family bonds; that's also underway and religious values fly counterclockwise to that.


What a persecution complex.



zer0netgain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2009
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,615

25 Dec 2009, 11:23 pm

ascan wrote:
Maybe they rejected you because you appeared unsuitable for the position. You probably weren't discriminated against just because you were a Christian but simply because with regard to a controversial subject there was evidence you were outspoken and opinionated -- reasonable criteria for excluding someone in those circumstances. The fact that the other guy turned out to be one of the worst managers they'd had doesn't necessarily mean they made the wrong decision at the interview stage. After all, we'll never know how the other applicants would have performed if they'd got the job.


A valid point, however, the man they went with really was not significantly more qualified than I was. I did my radio show and took care of church simulcasts on Sundays. I also spent a summer reviewing new CDs and records because we needed to know if songs or albums should be barred from use because of foul language. The man they went with did head up the sports coverage for the station (similar to what I did, but more often). Otherwise, he wasn't more qualified in any way that I could tell. We were both in the same academic program.

There were things alluded to in the interview that made me feel weird about how they were looking at me, and it was stuff said afterward that made me wonder if they presumed Christian = incapable of being objective or professional. If so, I find it ironic that their more "secular" choice did everything they feared I would do, but he did it with his personal interests.

I was somewhat offended because I knew the role of the station had always been to have a "diverse" format because we served a diverse community with different tastes. That they questioned my objectivity without proof (or rather, because of my faith) but didn't question other candidates on their ability to be objective was just wrong.

It's somewhat akin to how some people treat media sources. Something from the New York Times is considered more credible than some Internet-based news organization, but why? Because it's been around longer? Because it's using print? I've seen established media outlets prostitute their journalistic integrity on a regular basis. Journalism is journalism. If it's done right, it's trustworthy. If it's done with bias, it's propaganda...no matter who publishes it.



iamnotaparakeet
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 25,091
Location: 0.5 Galactic radius

26 Dec 2009, 1:04 am

Master_Pedant wrote:
techstepgenr8tion wrote:
But you understand the view of the intelligencia, the 'elite', colleges are bastions of the intelligencia and elite. Very little mystery here - they have a social agenda which isn't anti-sports or anti-hip hop as they've been fighting neither of those. If being involved inherently in sports or being a sports fan inherently held legislative and broader reality beliefs that conflicted with theirs, they'd be against that too.

One thing I would add though - many if not most 'elite' are also in favor of big government, getting the global populace to buy that also means besetting society with things that deliberately breakdown self-reliance and community/family bonds; that's also underway and religious values fly counterclockwise to that.


What a persecution complex.


Not necessarily. Though it may not be exactly this, leadership in the colleges do not wish to have legal problems. The ones running the school are not necessarily against such freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom of the media, but organizations like the ACLU and such are.



Sand
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Age: 100
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,484
Location: Finland

26 Dec 2009, 1:27 am

It really is rather wryly amusing with the overwhelming percentage of people, especially in the USA, indicating adherence to a religious faith that they feel persecuted by the extremely small proportion of people who confess to atheism or agnosticism. Is that some sort of confession to an underlying insecurity in the firmness of their belief or vulnerability to the frightful power of rational thinking?



techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,685
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

26 Dec 2009, 2:01 am

Master_Pedant wrote:
techstepgenr8tion wrote:
But you understand the view of the intelligencia, the 'elite', colleges are bastions of the intelligencia and elite. Very little mystery here - they have a social agenda which isn't anti-sports or anti-hip hop as they've been fighting neither of those. If being involved inherently in sports or being a sports fan inherently held legislative and broader reality beliefs that conflicted with theirs, they'd be against that too.

One thing I would add though - many if not most 'elite' are also in favor of big government, getting the global populace to buy that also means besetting society with things that deliberately breakdown self-reliance and community/family bonds; that's also underway and religious values fly counterclockwise to that.


What a persecution complex.


I'd add that ruennsheng is probably right as well - supply and demand has a lot to do with this as well, the particular interviewer may have had some concerns, but I still have to say that there's some truth to my first statement; won't run from it. Neither hip hop nor sports have the amount of loaded meaning.



techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,685
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

26 Dec 2009, 2:03 am

Sand wrote:
It really is rather wryly amusing with the overwhelming percentage of people, especially in the USA, indicating adherence to a religious faith that they feel persecuted by the extremely small proportion of people who confess to atheism or agnosticism. Is that some sort of confession to an underlying insecurity in the firmness of their belief or vulnerability to the frightful power of rational thinking?


btw Sand I cleaned up some of those duplicates - hope that's ok.



ruveyn
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Age: 89
Gender: Male
Posts: 31,502
Location: New Jersey

26 Dec 2009, 4:37 am

zer0netgain wrote:
This actually happened to me.

When I was in college, I put in for manager of the school radio station. I was involved as a Disc Jockey, and I enjoyed it.

I was an outspoken Christian on campus. Very opinionated.

I was considered for the job and denied...it went to someone else.

Here is the irony. From the interview and bits that got back to me after the fact, the impression over me was that, "Well, he can do the job, but would he turn the station into an all Christian format because of his religious biases."

This was really reinforced when one of the professors I was under commented how objective and well-balanced my review of an anti-abortion ad was, and I took this to infer that he believed I was too biased by my religious beliefs to be capable of objective analysis.

So, the one shot I had to do something significant in college was denied to me as it was the only year I could have done the job as the next year I'd graduate in December and could not commit a full year to being station manager.

IRONY....they gave the job to someone who wasn't a Christian, but he was a sports nut. The format? All sports and hip-hop music (his favorites). News, community service (simulcasts of campus chapel service) were pretty much left to rot unless someone took up the responsibility and ran with it.

So, they denied me the job out of fear that I'd ruin the multi-genre platform of the station with my "Christian" beliefs because I might be incapable of conducting myself as a professional, but the guy they did hire was one of the worst managers the station ever had and nothing got done unless it fell in with his "special interests."

Was there really any difference in what they were afraid of happening and what they wound up getting (other than the nature of in what direction the station went)?



Religious enthusiasts can not always be trusted to behave themselves in public. The Fundies confuse spreading The Word with doing a good deed. They are wrong. They are just being obnoxious.

Religion should be a private matter.

ruveyn



SporadSpontan
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 354
Location: pleasantly surprised to find myself here

26 Dec 2009, 5:07 am

I agree with ruveyn - it should be private. Though I understand the challenges of self-righteousness!

By the way if I was listening to the radio and either Christian content, sport, or hip-hop manifested in my ear sense faculty I would probably change to another station.


_________________
happily reclusive


Sand
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Age: 100
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,484
Location: Finland

26 Dec 2009, 5:10 am

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
Sand wrote:
It really is rather wryly amusing with the overwhelming percentage of people, especially in the USA, indicating adherence to a religious faith that they feel persecuted by the extremely small proportion of people who confess to atheism or agnosticism. Is that some sort of confession to an underlying insecurity in the firmness of their belief or vulnerability to the frightful power of rational thinking?


btw Sand I cleaned up some of those duplicates - hope that's ok.


I didn't realize there were any. No problem.



zer0netgain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2009
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,615

26 Dec 2009, 10:00 am

Sand wrote:
It really is rather wryly amusing with the overwhelming percentage of people, especially in the USA, indicating adherence to a religious faith that they feel persecuted by the extremely small proportion of people who confess to atheism or agnosticism. Is that some sort of confession to an underlying insecurity in the firmness of their belief or vulnerability to the frightful power of rational thinking?


Well, I'm not stating these people were atheists.

I'm sure some of them attended church regularly. However, the school certainly had faculty that embraced globalist, socialist and Marxist ideologies and blatantly tried to ram those "-isms" down the throats of their students.

As I've heard it said, a lot of times people project their own faults upon others. If they know THEY are biased, they may have attributed their lack of professionalism to me because they presume since they are that way, I would be just like them.



SporadSpontan
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 354
Location: pleasantly surprised to find myself here

26 Dec 2009, 12:22 pm

Yeah I'd consider that likely - that last thing you said. It seems it's the easiest way for people to (attempt to) understand others - by projecting their own experiences onto them.


_________________
happily reclusive