On the difference between "passing" and "assimilation."

 I had an unusual experience on Twitter. When I initially read this article in Tema Smith "Are Jews White, American History Says It's Complicated," I was annoyed. But after an exchange with the author, I understood her actual point. Not only did I actually agree with her, but now that I understood the article it got me something about the issues in new ways. She, in turn, thanked me for pushing her in a way that prompted her to clarify her language to make her point more clear.

I unpack below . . .

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To conclude, I have now come to the view that there is a clear distinction between "passing" in the African American sense of the word and the life experience enjoyed by Jews who are not outwardly distinctively Jewish. I am also extremely indebted to Tema Smith for being willing to engage with me in a meaningful and thoughtful way. For all the very real problems with social media these days, we should remember that it is also a tool for good an can be life enhancing when not ruined by trolls. 

Of implicit bias and telecom blogs

Or, how the telecom world mistook this brilliant young African American woman for me -- a middle aged male white guy with a beard.

https://www.facebook.com/jjallohghatt/posts/2264212540279006?comment_id=2269305713103022&reply_comment_id=2269325423101051&notif_id=1547123326465562&notif_t=mentions_comment

 

A most fascinating story of implicit bias which, I have to confess, is somewhat personally flattering. For those who don't want to click through and watch the 8 minute video (you should), here's the story. J.J. Ghatt  is a talented lawyer (and numerous other talents) who used to do telecom policy (but has since moved on to other things). 5 years back, she was dong a telecom blog with a picture of herself up on top wearing professional lawyer costume and a website that was all business brand professional lawyer. Studying her analytics, she saw that she got a lot of incoming from important places -- FCC, NTIA, Hill staff -- but that people left fairly quickly and didn't stay particularly engaged.

 

Ghatt decided to try an experiment. She created a plain, anonymous, Wordpress blog called "Broadband Lawyer," on which she placed parallel content written in the same style. Now she started getting engagements. She was getting comments. She had a whole community form around this blog.

 

She also got a bunch of emails from readers trying to identify her. In the video she says that nearly all of them thought she was a "white middle aged guy." I only know it was me most people guessed because JJ tagged me on Facebook. As you will see when you click through, and if you then look at my staff picture on the Public Knowledge website, you will no doubt understand the confusion. I mean, separated at birth, right?

 

I end up having decidedly mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it is disheartening that this brilliant woman of color was not regarded as sufficiently worth reading when everyone knew the blog was being written by a woman of color. It is also disheartening that everyone assumed that the same material on an anonymous blog *had* to be written by a middle aged white guy, because only middle aged white guys can sound that brilliant and authoritative and witty. 

 

But on the other hand, I'd be lying if I pretended I wasn't flattered that when so many people saw a new anonymous broadband policy blog they loved, they assumed it had to be me. 

 

To paraphrase Spock from "Friday's Child:" I intend to be insufferably pleased with myself for at least a month.