Semester 1: Week 1 Reading Blog Post: Digital Technology is not Neutral

Reading / September 23, 2021 / 2 Comments

While doing this week’s readings I came across a quote by Miss Safiya Umoja Noble from her book called “Algorithms of Oppression How Search Engines Reinforce Racism” which states, “INFRASTRUCTURE IS CREATED by people and therefore embeds and reflects the values of the people who create it.” This is very true after all, hate is simply an action learnt. Prior to reading this, I gave little to no thought as to how racist some of the search results that I have received in the past were. The blatant racism on the internet has been so normalized that it didn’t even dawn on me that I should not have encountered such “inconveniences”. One that the author pointed out was searching for professional hairstyles. I have learnt subconsciously how to find loopholes in the phrasing of my search in order to receive results that I can actually relate to and eventually use.

The internet has simply become a platform on which the problems of society can grow and fester unquestioned including racism and misogyny. The internet is a place that many people have access to despite the country or state they reside in. This is what makes the information on the internet so dangerous, as it is so wide-spreading. The condescending results and search recommendations encountered can cause young black people around the world to adopt self-loathing attitudes. This can happen due to the things that they see or a lack of proper representation that make them doubt their worth and spread that same hate to their peers and family members or simply serve as a form of validation for this negative way of thinking. The lack of positive representation of black people especially black women in media is quite alarming. When there is representation in media the black woman is almost always portrayed as masculine, angry and loud. These stereotypes have racist roots and are very harmful to black women.

When you look at the percentage of black and people of colour who hold high positions in terms of technology companies it is extremely upsetting. It is also known that some of these people had to fight their way to the top and work harder than their white colleagues simply to receive the recognition that they worked hard for. Even after accomplishing this, people of colour are still not treated fairly simply because of the colour of their skin and their culture. This is a problem that especially black women experience. They are accused of “sleeping their way to the top” which implies that in order for a black woman to be in power she has to rely on her appearance and her relationship with the men in power instead of her hard work. That is dehumanizing, reducing a person’s hard work to nothing more than they used their body to achieve their goal.

Through reading this piece, I have now allowed myself to fully open my eyes and to remove the rose shaded glasses that I have been wearing for most of my life. The blatant racism and misogyny in society are transferred onto the internet is not okay. The people who are needed to help change this toxic environment are the very people who uphold these ideologies. More positive representation for black people is needed to help encourage the youth to become the change needed for future generations. I leave you with a quote from Mr Micheal Dimock and Ms Susan K. Urahn which states,

Systemic racism is an unacceptable aspect of our culture. It has deep roots. But that does not mean that it cannot be examined, recognized, and addressed.

Emily Drabinski, “Ideologies of Boring Things: The Internet and Infrastructures of Race” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ideologies-of-boring-things-the-internet-and-infrastructures-of-race/

Micheal Dimock and Susan K. Urahn, “Condemning Racism” https://www.pewresearch.org/2020/06/05/condemning-racism/