Toxicity Scores & Embeddings

I am so happy people are starting to speak up. Sadly, I am changing. I am becoming angry. Angry at immigrants and the system. Am I becoming racist? Or just so lost at how things seem so wrong. My main upset is for my teen son. Turned 16 after Christmas. So excited about looking for a part-time job, earning some money, getting experiences and (unbeknownst to him ) expanding his social circle. This excitement came from me. LIke all us Canadians who remember our first part-time jobs (mine was at a McDonalds), I regaled my son in stories of that first part-time job. How much I learned from it, and the so many benefits it would have for me as I got older. He listened, and couldn't wait to turn 16. Also, like most parents, I raised him on the benefits of working hard in school, getting good grades, learning, getting involved, etc. Do these things son, and you will have a good future. He listened. Honours student all his life. Played on school teams. Performed in talent shows, Volunteered his time, etc., etc. Not a bad resume for a first time teen seeking a job. It is now heading into September. He has applied at all the traditional teen job hotspots, (all the fast food joints, grocery stores, drug stores, etc). Dozens of resumes, online and in-person applications. Not a single response. Then I walk into the local Burger King. Not a single Caucasian, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, or Far Eastern employee. All East Indian (or Pakistani). Suddenly I am really noticing this trend everywhere, especially in the franchise fast food industry; especially upsetting when I even see it in a Harvey's (even more Canadian than Timmies). It's either East Indians or Arabs. I don't know for how long I have been hearing about diversity and fair hiring practices (which I have always supported); but to see this trend makes me furious. Are the owners of these franchise exempt from fair hiring practices? Are they not taught we are a diverse country? This is wrong. I want to finish with two sad situations which we should all be concerned about. When my eldest was looking for part-time work after the pandemic, he walked into a Mr. Submarine. He asked if he could leave his resume or fill out an application. The Arab cashier told him in broken English they were not hiring. As he was walking out, a young Arab man walked in. He approached the same cashier and asked for an application. She gave him one. WTF. My last comment, is the most concerning of all. My 16 year old, who works so hard at school, and at everything he does, recently commented, after yet another non-reply after handing out a slew of resumes, "Dad... what's the use of working so hard if I can't even get a job at McDonalds." I wonder how many other Canadian teens are feeling the same way. Not just white teens. Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and East Asian teens. Seems the broken English East Indian and Arab teens and young adults aren't asking themselves that. How long until my son thinks I am just spewing BS about this hard work thing? This is not about racism. This is about fair hiring practices, especially in more and more franchises; however, I do find myself listening to more and more of these videos, and find myself developing sucb negative feelings towards these two cultures. This is not Canadian. To be thinking this way, especially, is not Canadian. What do we do? Speak up, and we are racist. Stay quiet, and our teen kids move into adulthood without job experience, money put away, or just having a life experience that any of us over 30 (no matter our race) experienced. Something has to change; but I haven't a clue how to do that.

The contrast between immigrants, many from India, and the rhetoric of those who now feel like a new minority was striking. It should not surprise me that racism appears anywhere humans are, but what stood out was how some speakers treated all Indians as a single people, despite hundreds of cultures, and accused them of failing to assimilate to ‘their way.’ Many of those voices were themselves descendants of immigrants who were once pressured to abandon Norwegian or other identities in the name of assimilation. Yet there was little evidence they had actually spent time getting to know their Indian neighbors, their cultures, friendships, or daily realities. Instead, the focus was fear and a narrative of societal collapse, rather than honest engagement that separates real local issues from blanket blame. Of course, any local community can have problems, and some groups can be unwelcoming. But the argument presented implied there is only one way to be Canadian. That echoes xenophobic rhetoric in the US about who counts as ‘American,’ often while ignoring the reality of Indigenous peoples entirely. I do not deny the importance of shared commitments like the rule of law, freedom, and evidence based policy rooted in the Enlightenment and scientific thinking. But culture and learning can coexist with those values. What troubled me most was how poverty and discrimination were replaced with racial generalizations, and how victim language was used to deflect responsibility, something that resembles DARVO. Given the same conditions, these problems could arise in any group, regardless of race.