Indian techie caught in hate spiral

[Bhaisahab]

come on guys, this kind of behavior is not expected and is not fair. its not our fault.

excerpt:
"The only good Indian engineer may be a dead Indian engineer. That’s the kind of toxic sentiment some American workers are beginning to express amid an increasingly vituperative debate on outsourcing.

In an unnerving insight into the anger and turmoil that is roiling the US job market, a columnist for Fortune who backed free trade has revealed that in the flood of hate mail he received, some American workers were irate enough to speak about Indians being killed over the issue of outsourcing.

''If an enraged laid-off American engineer were to go up to his Indian replacement, and shoot him dead, if I were on the jury the verdict would be ‘NOT GUILTY’,'' one laid off tech worker, wrote to Fortune ’s David Kirkpatrick."

more...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/507718.cms

[Spentastic]

1. Therer are idiots everywhere I guess

Of course this is unacceptable. Unfortunately, there are better reasons to oppose outsourcing than simple job losses in the first world. The race to the bottom in terms of regulation, worker protection, wages, environmental protection etc. are worthy of attention.

By the way I believe workers have a right to be angry. But it should be with their CEOs and politicians.

[_Jumper_]

2. Why is India singled out?

Isn't Eastern Europe, especially Russia, taking a lot of IT jobs too?

[lapislzi]

15. You know why, don't you?

It is easy to target brown people; always has been. Somehow the thought of jobs going to brown people with funny accents is more abhorrent than the idea of jobs being outsourced to white people (whose accents we may be more accustomed to because we have been hearing them longer). Eastern European people used to be the targets of bias (it's them "slavic eyes" yanno) during the early part of the 20th century. Immigration quotas were enforced for them and for east Asians. Now we move on.

Ironically, it is also the high literacy level in India which makes it a more visible target. Lots of people speak English there; a much higher percentage than people in eastern Europe. Big country, brown people, lots of English speakers. Be afraid.

Please understand that I mean no offense; sometimes my irony is not as apparent as I would like it to be.

[ibegurpard]

3. How blind

Blaming the beneficiaries of policies for which OUR OWN GOVERNMENT is largely to blame is truly sad.

[Robin Hood]

4. Anyone can say anthing.

including saying that you got soem email from someone. I don't believe it. An educated programmer knows better than to be pissed at another programmer, they know that it's the companies who are screwing him not the workers.

[_Jumper_]

5. Exceptions

There are educated racists. In any given group there will be a few idiots. Some people can't handle the fact that their government is giving the shaft so they ignore it and look for scapegoats. That is kind of like the response to 9/11. Instead of blaming Bush many people blame all Arabs or all Muslims.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Remember "Mucko"?

He was a software engineer at a small company who went beserk and shot 7 of his co-workers.

The are unstable people in all professions.

[Bhaisahab]

7. i heard another story...

where an american worker, on being told he was being laid off, went to the parking lot and shot himself to death.
you should tell the champions of the american dream that is NOT what they promised you.
i must add though, i work in an outsourced organization, and you won't believe how cocky some of my colleagues are. everytime i mention anti-outsourcing activism picking up in the USA to some of the shitheads here, i'm met with- "screw them man. they deserve it for looting us for 200 years." or some such bile.
the reference is to india's colonial past, during which britain took a lot of our wealth out of the country. needless to say, these shitheads know more about britney's curves than our history.
anyway, the cause of the american worker is my cause too, because if this kind of "globalization" continues, we'll be saying goodbye to OUR jobs as they head to bangladesh or the next cheaper destination.

[blondeatlast]

12. Wish that were the case, but not so.

My husband has been at the receiving end of the hate on more than one occasion; as well as passed over for promotions, assignments, etc. It isn't the CEO doing it, its his fellow workers.

Next time you see a South Asian, ask him or her if they've been subject to it. Guaranteed your eyes will be opened.

By the way, your South Asian friends IN THE US are at risk of losing their jobs (maybe more so than you are) to the homeland, too.

[JailForBush]

8. I wish the dummies would direct this kind of hate towards George Bush,

Bill Gates, etc.

Outsourcing stinks, but blaming the recipients of this brand of corporate welfare is pointless. Blame the outsourcers. Every racist in America should crucify Bill Gates, the ultimate plantation owner.

[kiahzero]

10. Does MS outsource heavily, or

is this just random bile directed at Bill Gates?

At least Gates does good things with his money, and is giving almost all of it to charity when he dies. Of the rich people to watch out for, he's low on my list.

[blondeatlast]

13. I believe you mean "glorify," right? nt

[PsychoDad]

9. Don't blame the Techie, blame the CEO (eom)

[Postman]

14. EXACTLY. It's the corporations, not the workers.

n/t

[blondeatlast]

11. There are a whole lot of Indian immigrants losing their jobs, too.

They came here for good tech jobs, want to stay, and their jobs are being moved offshore, too.

My husband is Indian, and yep--he is facing this in the next couple of months.

If it happens, he could be deported, too.

[varun]

16. What is better?

foreign workers coming to USA to work and pay taxes here?

Or

American corporations moving work to foreign countries?


I would say the first alternative is better than the second.