Lately, I have been experimenting with ChatGPT to write cover letters for my job search. My job consultant praised the technology, but I was skeptical.
The technology is amazing, no doubt about that, but there is a part of me that feels weird inside looking at the results that ChatGPT is generating. The language feels generic and polite with a slight distance - and a little bit of entitlement.
Suddenly, it struck me. AI is writing and churning out results like the confidence of 1,000 White Males. Wow.
I went for a job interview on one of the cover letters that I had written with assistance from ChatGPT. The Hiring Manager was a White Male. The Recruiter who had passed on my job application was a White Female.
The job interview was a pleasant experience although the White Male Manager had a closed-off body language. Hiding behind a huge, black, anonymous meeting table. As if he was a bit fearful? He asked generic questions taken out from a script.
His closed-off body language made me wonder if I took up too much space again - that is compared to Whiteness, where Bodies Of Culture are not allowed to take up too much space - verbally and physically.
After the interview, it was a relief to get out of the Echo Chamber of Whiteness. To get out of the building and take in the late Summer air.
I can totally see myself working in a corporate environment like that.
Yet, at the same time, a part of me says “I know too much. I know more than the White Male Manager. The world would be so much easier for me if I took on my White Amnesia Mask and swam along with my White Colleagues in the Ocean of Whiteness.“
But I can’t. Once you see the hidden oppressive, structures, it is hard to un-see them.
The Echo Chambers of Whiteness that we are living in, influences everything. Systems, structures, cultures, education - and yes, even our daily software tools.
The Sun is real. The Blue Sky is real. The fresh air of late Summer is real. Bodies of multiple cultures are real.
The Echo Chambers of Whiteness is not real.
Love,
Nevin