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I don't think anyone takes that assumption seriously though, they just apply it selectively to professions that their preferred group is underrepresented in. Downthread, people bring up the NFL and NBA, which seem like pretty good examples of desirable jobs that have one race wildly overrepresented. The MLB has a big overrepresentation of Latinos. Marathoning is dominated by East Africans. Physics and mathematics have way more Jewish and Asian-American representation than the general population. Software has more Asian-Americans and Indian-Americans. All of these examples make it seem entirely obvious that there are contingent reasons for differences in representation and that rounding off to "disparity = discrimination" is ridiculous.
The original disparity = discrimination impetus was feminism.
Why aren't there equal ratio of female CEO's?
While the approach isn't sound logically, it is extremely powerful at a memetic level, bonding feminists together in a holy war against their obvious perceived oppression.
It was so succesful with feminism that it was ported into race relations, and gay issues, and now trans movement.
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Well, yes, I've said as much before. If you're flexible with the application, or just use this formula:
You can be quite supremacist in your pursuit of equality.
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