# don't care about 'minority' firsts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749 "2017-03-22T12:18:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/41 "2017-03-24T15:33:33Z")
The linked photo appears to my honky eyes have 1 gay guy, (not gaydar but he is what the article is about) 1 Asian , 1 Muslim, 2 blacks, 1 Hispanic, out of 13 or almost 50%. It goes up if you count the ROTC guys as a protected class (they probably don’t qualify in Texas but might if it was Calif 🙂 ). All kidding aside, IMHO I have to admit to being somewhat pleasantly surprised. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/42 "2017-03-24T15:45:47Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > This an interesting point, that I can appreciate. How does one define ‘oppressed and disenfranchised’? Do you assume because they are gay or black or female that they are automatically oppressed and disenfranchised? Is it not possible at all for a white heterosexual male to fall into this definition of oppressed and disenfranchised because of who they are? When you open a thread using the words “racism” and “sexism” and much later ask to be instructed about these concepts from first principles, people may decline this burden not because they lack knowledge, but because they doubt your sincerity. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/43 "2017-03-24T22:57:52Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I completely agree with this, and with the OP. The whole “first Black dogcatcher/mayor/senator/president” thing is totally demeaning. It implies that the minority group in question is inferior in some way, and that one of them has finally succeeded at something that “normal” people have been doing all along. If I were a member of that minority group, I would find it totally offensive. I mean, _just maybe_ was there something other than their _abilities_ that was keeping them from accomplishing the things that “normal” people have accomplished? > [@](#): > > It’s like saying, “Wow, you’re pretty smart, for a girl!” It’s really not. It’s like saying “Wow, look how much smarter than the boys this girl had to be for her intelligence to be acknowledged.” ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/44 "2017-03-25T21:00:23Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > > [@Spiderman](#): > > > > Every time I hear of some politician (or political appointee) being the first \_\_\_, I have to wonder if they were the best, most qualified or if their being \_\_\_\_ was part of the reason that they got the position. > > I have this reaction occasionally, too, but I have it more frequently in the other direction: when I hear of some politician or business leader or college president or whatever being the 47th white man to hold the position, I wonder if their being a white man was part of the reason that they got the position. Indeed. It would be exhausting to try to unravel the role that dozens of generations of privilege has played into the notion that people see “The first X to do Y,” and wonder whether that person is legitimately the best, most qualified person to do Y, when they don’t do that otherwise. When the truth is more likely that the “first X” is not merely qualified, but overqualified. A big part of why it’s still noteworthy to report that “So-and-so is the first X to do Y” is because it’s 2017, and we’re still having “firsts.” It’ll stop being noteworthy when members of protected classes and oppressed minorities can be mediocre, and still get that position. You occasionally see somebody get a job get a job, and it turns out that they’re in over their head, but you’ll rarely, if ever, find someone who’s less than qualified. I mean, you talk about seeing a POC/Woman/LGBTQ person get a job, and wonder whether they’re the most qualified? Holla at me when a POC/Woman/LGBTQ person can be a C student and even get _nominated_ for a high-level executive position (or, say, judges… what percentage of LGBTQ, Women or POC judges do you reckon there are who finished in the bottom half of their law school class, compared to the percentage of straight white male judges?), and then we can have a conversation about “most qualified.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/45 "2017-03-25T21:15:21Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I’ve lived my entire life seeing and hearing about the ‘first woman to do…’ or the ‘first african american…’ or the ‘first openly gay person to do…’ > > Excuse me, but I’m kinda tired of it. I just don’t think its news. No, I’m not going to excuse you for this reprehensible attitude. What it shows is that you are either too lazy or self-involved or delusional or have some other serious defect in your character that makes you turn a blind eye to the very real interpersonal and systemic barriers that society and individuals put up against disadvantaged groups of every kind. You should take this opportunity to find out why it still is a big deal when someone overcomes obstacles to achieve goals that affluent straight white men can easily achieve while working much less hard and being much less competent. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/46 "2017-04-18T12:25:50Z")
you really do think this is national news worthy simply because this was a woman? > **[Utah woman picks up national garbage truck driver of the year award](https://www.fox13now.com/2017/04/14/utah-woman-picks-up-national-garbage-truck-driver-of-the-year-award)** > > SALT LAKE CITY — For the past 17 years, Rhonda Kitchen has been working for Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling. She’s driven a garbage truck across Salt Lake County following in the footsteps of her family. “It was in my DNA before I was even born,”... ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/47 "2017-04-18T12:34:29Z")
Okay, you’re not even trying to argue honestly now. That’s a story posted in a Utah-based news site about a person from Utah winning an award. Nowhere does it say that it is nationally significant news or that it is news solely because she is a woman. It’s a very typical local interest story. In fact, it doesn’t mention the fact that she is the first woman to win until the end of the third paragraph, about 120 words in. Would you rather it never be mentioned? On what basis would that be justified? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/48 "2017-04-18T12:52:26Z")
It is currently on CNN. How is that not a national news source? > **[US | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/us)** > > View the latest US news, top stories, photos and videos from around the nation. To get the day’s top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning, sign up for our 5 Things newsletter. So let me ask you again. Do you really think this is ‘important’ enough to on CNN? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749/49 "2017-04-18T12:55:52Z")
Apparently you believe it important enough to resurrect a thread, so important it must be… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-care-about-minority-firsts/782749.md?page=2)