[AISWorld] [External] [EXT] Re: [External] Hiring Professor (Female Only) in Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Sydney

[wombat]

On 6/12/22 22:43, Michael Cuellar wrote:
> The answer is of course it isn’t just to do so.
> 

I disagree. It depends on what meaning of "justice" you are using.

Most people would agree that restoring looted Nazi artworks to the heirs 
of the art's original owner is just. In this case, "just" is being used 
in the sense of "restorative justice". The work has value which was 
taken from the heirs, and even though the current owner did not steal 
the work (in most cases), we agree that they should not be able to 
continue to profit from the old crime. In general, we recognize this in 
law-- a stolen item can always be taken from its current owner and 
returned to the original owner, without compensation to the current 
owner, whether they were involved in the crime or not.

Does this harm an innocent party? Many times, yes. They can seek 
recompense from who they got it from, and so on up the chain, until 
(ideally) the person who committed the crime is actually the one taking 
the loss. However, this only happens rarely.

This is the "fruit of the poisoned tree" doctrine.

This applies to things like hiring. Status, position, and a good salary 
are also things, and things which can be stolen-- and, historically have 
been, from women, people of color, non-gender conforming people, 
"others" of many stripes. By taking the position from those who have 
benefited from the ancient crime and returning it to the heirs of the 
victim of the crime (more metaphorical heirs in the case, but 
nonetheless heirs of the privileges), we are engaging in restorative 
justice.

Whether you recognize it or not, as a member of a less-disadvantaged 
group (men), you benefit from the crimes your predecessors committed. It 
is, unfair, in a way, in that you did not commit the crime-- yet you 
continue to benefit from the crime. Even without being able to apply for 
this position, you *still* continue to benefit from the crime in all the 
other open positions; your privileges have not been completely taken 
away, only a small piece of them for one position. You still owe.

"Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime 
oublié, parce qu’il a été proprement fait." (Honoré de Balzac, in “Le 
Père Goriot”)

I should point out-- I am a white male. My father was an upper-middle 
class professor. I benefit greatly from that background. Maybe not as 
greatly as the Walton children, but nonetheless I, too, am the 
benefactor of privilege I don't deserve. In fact, in some ways I'm 
worse-- my great grandfather was a plantation owner in Tennessee. When 
reparations are finally made to the people of color in the US, I will 
owe. Probably a lot, and probably a lot more than I have. But I'll pay 
it, somehow, eventually; because it is *just*.

Christopher M. Conway Ph.D. also known on the net as wombat since 1986.
Computer scientist, software engineer, social psychologist, musician, 
statistician, amateur philosopher, polymath.