The writer analyses media and comes up with a bullshit quotient. Apparently Chesky passed! I would call it pretty standard corporate bullshit, but what do I know. This guy is an ‘expert’ on the subject.
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At least there was no “reaching out”, lol.
And I’m in no way justifying anything, but I just wonder how much they really think they can achieve when the whole platform is based on home-sharing. The guests and the hosts both have to be comfortable with the arrangements. There is going to be some bias going in, but it really should depend on communication not on someone’s photo.
If there’s blatant discrimination then yes, these hosts need to be removed. But it’s really hard to prove based on inquiries/bookings. I would only imagine it’s really provable if the guest was uncomfortable once they stayed.
BUT, are they going to do anything on the guest side? How many hosts get overlooked because of their skin color? What about guests that harass the hosts over things they never offered in the first place? I see there being so many issues that they can’t even track/prove, or actually happen but because it’s a guest they would never look into it.
But seriously, how many issues are created because a guest doesn’t read a listing and then gets turned down on a booking? Not because of the way they look, but because they don’t take the time to see if they’re even a good fit? Oh, you won’t take me because I want to bring my child with me in your private bed/shared bath listing? Discrimination!!!
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I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to see a pattern if a host was consistently turning down bookings from one particular ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
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Airbnb is a booking agency, nothing more, with a few more benefits than its predecessors. I don’t see why they should even be in the conversation with whether the host is paying his taxes or even if he discriminates or not. Those are ~individual~ responsibilities~ not some corporation’s offering a product. The more Airbnb stays away from trying to be so politically correct, the better. Chesky is a kid still short on street smarts and you certainly need them even more today in the ‘New America’.
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For the benefit of this ill-informed Brit, what is the “New America”?
I’m sure you’ve heard of Ferguson, MO, USA from 2 years ago? I live miles away from that town. A kid who stole from a convenience store was stopped by a police officer, and the officer had to use deadly force when the teen attacked him. It turned into protests which turned into riots because for quite some time no one believed the officer’s story until the forensic evidence proved him right. It almost destroyed a thriving community.
Over the past 2 years (rightly so) there has been a lot of talk about racial profiling, officer brutality, discrimination, etc. And then over the past 3 months there have been a lot of people shooting police officers, more protests, and talk talk talk. So, in the “new america” it’s even more reverse discrimination and accusations of discrimination and tons of political correctness.
Thank you Sarah. Yes, we hear quite a bit about that stuff even in the British media. I think I just hadn’t read the New America phrase before. It’s funny that there is a (somewhat) similar thing happening here I think - at least with regard to the use of politically correct language and then a kind of backlash against that.
That is a new phrase for me too, and I have lived here all my life.
New America is generally considered an America where non-whites constitute a significant number of the population (when Blacks, Asians, Latinos, etc. are all lumped together their numbers can approach over 50% of the population in some areas).
The shooting deaths of young Black men and women by police officers and armed white “citizens” like George Zimmerman (who shot and killed Trayvon Martin who was walking through the neighborhood with his Skittles) is a related issue but this kind of anti-Black racial violence pre-dates the massive demographic changes caused by Asian and Latino immigration that are generally seen as forces that have changed the “face” of America (which began after the 1965 Immigration Act).
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The police officer, Darren Wilson, didn’t know that Michael Brown was a suspect in a convenience store robbery when Wilson pulled Brown over for jaywalking. Wilson was not tried as a grand jury didn’t find enough evidence. However, the Department of Justice found that the pattern in Ferguson, MO of giving out tickets for minor infractions did constitute racial discrimination as it affected people with less money disproportionately. As non-whites are more likely to not have enough money to pay tickets; non-whites were more likely to suffer from the policy in Ferguson of giving out tickets for minor infractions.
Well I just called it the ‘New America’ because I couldn’t think of anything else to call it. The country is markedly different than just 20 years ago and undergoing a very challenging stage; undoubtedly, new personal skills will be required to find one’s happiest niche.
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Not to nit-pick too much as I think positive has come from it, but Darren Wilson did stop him because he fit the description he had heard 30 seconds prior over the radio AND the jaywalking was the probably cause of the stop. In STL we heard the news TO DEATH over months. The forensic scientists that Brown’s family hired confirmed Wilson’s account of the fight in the police car over the gun and then the charging the officer.
It’s all sad, and many small towns sadly have the only main source of income traffic tickets. It’s a general problem in the st louis area where these small towns don’t pool resources and have tiny municipal police forces and city halls to manage, but many are merging resources. We have one town that seriously has a population of 412 and they have their own police force… And the little town near me if you drive more than 3 MPH over the speed limit you can almost guarantee you’ll get pulled over. It’s been like that for decades. It’s getting better.
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I’m in my late 50’s and I’ve never been happier. I feel like I live in amazing times. The “sharing economy” in particular has been very good to me and for me.
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I agree. The sharing economy is so normal to me. I grew up in my huge house and my dad always had people either staying above the garage, or he had a co-worker that rented one of the bedrooms and had private use of the basement bathroom, and we always had family sleeping on the sofa sleeper. We had a friend and her son live with us on several occasions, last time for 12 months.
Several family members hilariously are so concerned about us having people we don’t know stay with us. When they grew up the same way I did… My dad totally gets it and wishes AirBnB was around decades ago so he could have made more money off the place, lol.
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In so many respects K9 we really, really have lived during the ‘best’ of times, encompassing from the 60’s to the present: from the Beatles to the Internet! I think our generation also has gained so much wisdom from so many abrupt changes within our lifetime.
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I’m very interested to see how Airbnb’s review on potential discrimination pans out. Initially I assumed that they would be conducting a thorough review to investigate whether there actually is any systemic discrimination on the platform. The Harvard study was not exactly methodologically sound, I think it’s fair to say. But now I’m thinking it’s just a PR exercise. If they introduce compulsory IB and remove profile photos, it won’t actually affect me that much but I know there are many excellent hosts who will not be happy and may pull their listings. That will damage the brand, I think. It seems like a no-win situation.
All I know is your alls generation as couples takes great care of my place. I am all for it. The rest of the generations can go to hell with every excuse. Gen X checked in today. Oh goody goody…three kids under the age of 10…I’m all good though…
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