San Francisco CEO Calls Rural Americans Racist; Institutes Xenophobic Hiring Rule

.Melinda Byerley, the founder of TimeShare CMO wrote an offensive tweet calling people in “middle america” [sic] stupid and that’s why there are not as many jobs there. Please read it for yourself:

Clearly, this woman is a woman of diversity and love for people of all backgrounds, except for other, you know, Americans. Oh, and, it turns out, people who are not native English Speakers.

To keep reading, click here: San Francisco CEO Calls Rural Americans Racist; Institutes Xenophobic Hiring Rule

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13 thoughts on “San Francisco CEO Calls Rural Americans Racist; Institutes Xenophobic Hiring Rule

  1. “… make your town a place that people like us want to live in.”

    Uhhh, if I were the mayor or director of the Chamber of Commerce or president of a union in a town, I think I’d try to make it the kind of place that people like her would NOT want to live in … in fact, I think I’d offer tax credits to her if she’d move someplace else.

  2. Yipes.
    She’s not completely wrong about cultural isolation and lack of infrastructure in certain areas. Those are big contributors to why younger workers leave those areas. But I think that was way too harsh.

    And complaining about people being bigots and then saying she only hires NATIVE speakers is, besides the illegality, hypocritical.

  3. What kind of infrastructure does she need? Middle America has more infrastructure than many third world nations yet call centers can be located there. I have no idea where her experience in Middle America was to get the idea we are violent, racist, and misogynistic. Those attitudes and behaviors can be found anywhere. I think she watches too much TV and reads fake news on the internet.

    1. I can attest that my parents’ “high speed” internet is anything but. There are a couple of towns that have installed actual high speed internet, but others have been hindered by state government (to their disadvantage.)

    2. I’m from a “Middle America”-type place, and I can confirm that my experience was very close to hers. My college-educated friends, with the exception of a few who work as teachers, all moved closer to big cities.

      I’m from Scranton, FWIW. While I encounter small-minded bigots here, they’re fringe and not mainstream.

  4. Unfortunately, her attitude toward native speakers is all-too-common among America’s elite; case-in-point, our current President-Elect.

  5. Here’s where I wish the discussion were about not being an asshole, rather than political correctness. Her tweet – asshole-ish. Really anything beginning with “those people” or “people like that” should make you stop and think about what you are portraying and how. There are very real rural and urban divides, and a very real distrust between the two. Actually talking about those issues like adults would be a nice start.

    Being from a state where very unpopular laws were passed specifically to “get back at” cities, I can attest that there was substantial economic backlash. Which may bring the cities down a peg, but is probably not a great policy choice for the long run. Now if you did something to actually improve rural life and small towns, like assistance to install fiber…

  6. Wow. This is like a case study in what my mother used to call “how not to make friends and influence people”. A marketing pro who simultaneously advocates for diversity while generalizing about giant geographic areas in a very public way that requires a retraction. Remind me not to hire her for any marketing work. Or to be her friend.

  7. Even if she wasn’t “xenophobic” (though I reserve that word for something more mal-intended than wanting native English in the US), she is still a disgusting and delusional person. I bet $1000 she’s never been to Middle America.

    Also, employers don’t locate in remote areas to make nice places to live for potential employees. They tend to live near major population centers with a large pool of both customers and potential talent. Not a deep concept. Not locating in the middle of Nebraska is not a political statement for most companies.

  8. This piece is generating lots of traffic on conservative boards. Most commenters there say, “Good. We don’t want you here.”

  9. Middle/rural America: that place where we grow quite a bit of the food the nation eats.

    You’re welcome!

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