"Race, gender, etc shouldn't matter. It should be about the best person for the job." No. And let me explain why (a thread).
1. bias (both conscious and unconscious) is a thing. If the best person is always (for example) a white man, that says more about your hiring process than the people in the field. For more: theguardian.com/women-in-leade…
2. There's no such thing as the best person for the job tbh. This is why hiring processes can involve multiple steps, multiple people in the room, resumes, samples, tests, etc. There's no way to ever know if you have "the best person."
2a. Being "the best person" for the job isn't even just about skills either. You can be skilled, talented, and brilliant but if you're an asshole no one is gonna want to work with you thus making you not the best person for the job.
3. Having a more diverse background IS an asset. It's not the only reason to be hired but it is *A* reason to be hired and a really fucking important one. Here's why...
3a. While white man A has a different perspective than white man B there are certain things neither can fully understand about say being Black in America or being a woman in a male-dominated industry.
3b. Being able to understand and speak on things that impact marginalized communities is important. And if you're too much of an ass to understand that also consider the fact that we can stop companies from public fuck ups.
3c. Considering games media specifically: because folks from marginalized groups have perspectives on issues that affect those groups, we're able to analyze text in a way some of our peers just can't.
3d. This isn't to say that white writers can't ever analyze games with diverse characters or anything of the sort. But understand that your cultural lens analysis will always be at arm's length in these moments.
3e. As games get increasingly diverse we are bound to analyze stories outside of our world experience (that is absolutely allowed) but that's why it's even more important that all of us have a diverse staff.
4. Diversity can build a better community! I've gotten plenty of hate for being outspoken & unapologetically latinx but I've also had latinx fans say "thank you for bringing up XYZ issue" that frankly no one else would've bc why would they've noticed. It's not their experience.
4a. So yes. Our value comes in many forms and one of those is being a face, a byline, a voice on a podcast, that signals to fans "hey! you're welcome here bc I am here too." That's fucking important.
5. When you say "it shouldn't be about diversity it should be about the best person for the job" you're implying that the best person is gonna be white, male, cis, etc.
5a. I consume content from diverse voices all the time and bitch, we ARE the best people for the job. Do you know what kind of grit it takes for us to stay here, to survive here, to confidently be us even in white conventions and meet-ups and podcasts and -
6. In conclusion, don't tell me "it shouldn't be about diversity; it should be about hiring the best person for the job" just say "I want to keep games media as white, straight, cis, male etc as possible" and go because at least that would be honest. ❤️
Ps. This thread was inspired by @iamBrandonTV who said it a lot better than I did when he just said "No ❤️" a fucking icon.
Bonus: many folks have said “well yeah. I agree. But it shouldn’t be the only reason, the person still needs to have skills.” No one said it should be the only factor. 💖 I think you’re just making up reasons to downplay the importance of diversity and make it seem dangerous. 💫
