Wednesday, September 07, 2005
I Need Your Help
I'm preparing a piece on affirmative action, but I would like some input from my readers before I do so. I would like you to leave a comment sharing your opinion on affirmative action and a brief explanation of why you feel this way. This will help me to put together a post that will, hopefully, be inciteful and thought-provoking to people on both the pro and con sides. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
# posted by therightchoice05 @ 3:15 AM 
Comments:
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Ask, and ye shall receive!
I am in favor of Affirmative Action with the caveat that it must be, in the long view, a temporary program. While the racial playing field has levelled somewhat and, for the most part, we don't see the virulent racism of years past, inequality and racism still exist. So long as it does, we have an obligation as a society to help level that playing field and make certain, as well as we are able, that each individual at least has the same opportunities. Now, there will always be times when AA unfairly grants opportunity to one while taking it away from another. There will always be cases of better qualified white students losing their chance at admission to make way for an AA-assisted candidate and that's wrong. Such a situation should be remedied with all due haste by a given university, in the same way, I believe, that a lost opportunity due to a legacy admission should be remedied. But until institutional racism and lack of educational infrastructure for poor minorities become problems we only study about in history class, Affirmative Action of some kind will be necessary to ensure that educational opportunities exist for all.
I am in favor of Affirmative Action with the caveat that it must be, in the long view, a temporary program. While the racial playing field has levelled somewhat and, for the most part, we don't see the virulent racism of years past, inequality and racism still exist. So long as it does, we have an obligation as a society to help level that playing field and make certain, as well as we are able, that each individual at least has the same opportunities. Now, there will always be times when AA unfairly grants opportunity to one while taking it away from another. There will always be cases of better qualified white students losing their chance at admission to make way for an AA-assisted candidate and that's wrong. Such a situation should be remedied with all due haste by a given university, in the same way, I believe, that a lost opportunity due to a legacy admission should be remedied. But until institutional racism and lack of educational infrastructure for poor minorities become problems we only study about in history class, Affirmative Action of some kind will be necessary to ensure that educational opportunities exist for all.
"All men are created equal” US.C. Enough said. I would just like to ask a question although to our liberal friend. Is not A.A racial profiling?
I am definitely not in favor of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action tends to favor minorities. People should be hired on the basis of their qualifications. Some people will say "well, how do poor people go about having an equal playing field?" You don't get any poorer than I was growing up. I didn't have parents who sent me to college. I didn't have nice clothes, and sometimes didn't have enough to eat. So what? Would that mean I should get special treatment? I think not! I taught myself the things I knew to better myself. I took jobs that I didn't like because I needed the money, and I learned that every adversity made me stronger. I worked as a supervisor once for the Government in Finance (Civil Service) and was told I had to hire a black person in order to meet a quota, although the best qualified person wasn't black! That's just downright wrong. And speaking of a minority, I am a minority. I live in Texas where whites are the minority.
When people come to our country and put their children in our schools, the children should be allowed to learn English, the language of this land. Children learn new languages fast. My step--sister and step-brother came to this country at the ages of 7 and 9 and were speaking better English in a matter of months than most of the American born children! They still know how to speak their native language at home. So what's wrong with being bi-lingual? They were glad they learned English, they grew up and had to get jobs that required they knew how to speak and write in English. I'm terribly worried that this country is bending over backwards to dumb-down everyone and make us all dependent on the Government, something that has never worked in all the history of mankind. So obviously I say "NO!" to Affirmative Action in any form.
www.letourvoicesbehear.blogspot.com and www.myrepublicanblog.blogspot.com
When people come to our country and put their children in our schools, the children should be allowed to learn English, the language of this land. Children learn new languages fast. My step--sister and step-brother came to this country at the ages of 7 and 9 and were speaking better English in a matter of months than most of the American born children! They still know how to speak their native language at home. So what's wrong with being bi-lingual? They were glad they learned English, they grew up and had to get jobs that required they knew how to speak and write in English. I'm terribly worried that this country is bending over backwards to dumb-down everyone and make us all dependent on the Government, something that has never worked in all the history of mankind. So obviously I say "NO!" to Affirmative Action in any form.
www.letourvoicesbehear.blogspot.com and www.myrepublicanblog.blogspot.com
By the way: you recommended my blog on your site. I would like to recommend yours on both of my blogs that are in the above comment. However, I seem to not be doing something right. Everytime I try to insert anything into the template it throws my profile down to the bottom of the blog where you have to scroll down through all the postings in order to see it. If you could perhaps tell me how to do this (add stuff to the profile without messing it up, I would be grateful. When you have the chance please go to either of those blogs and post there. I would be extremely grateful for help from anyone on this.
"All men are created equal” US.C. Enough said. I would just like to ask a question although to our liberal friend. Is not A.A racial profiling?
tash,
If you look further into the Constitution, you will also notice that originally, blacks only counted as 3/5 of one vote. That's an inequality that was later corrected, but it helps illustrate the point. Laws like Jim Crow and legal decisions like Plessy vs. Ferguson insured that blacks did not have an equal playing field with whites. The Justices of the Warren and subsequent courts recognized that such institutionalized racism needed an institutional cure. That's why Affirmative Action is necessary and will continue to be necessary until the racist underpinnings of some of our social constructs completely disappears. As to how it's different from racial profiling, that's a tough question. I guess I would look at it from a teleological perspective. The purpose of Affirmative Action is to give opportunity to those who are lacking it, both to increase the quality of life for minority groups but also to diversify our workplaces and schools, which is really the only way to eliminate racism. It's goal is to create a better infrastructure for those minorities. Racial profiling, on the other hand, is basically just the police being lazy and taking the path of least resistance. It reaffirms the racial divides that have plagued our country since its early days and does not better our society in any way. It's also a dangerous strategy where terrorism prevention is concerned, as it creates an obvious blind spot that could be exploited.
Good question, tash!
tash,
If you look further into the Constitution, you will also notice that originally, blacks only counted as 3/5 of one vote. That's an inequality that was later corrected, but it helps illustrate the point. Laws like Jim Crow and legal decisions like Plessy vs. Ferguson insured that blacks did not have an equal playing field with whites. The Justices of the Warren and subsequent courts recognized that such institutionalized racism needed an institutional cure. That's why Affirmative Action is necessary and will continue to be necessary until the racist underpinnings of some of our social constructs completely disappears. As to how it's different from racial profiling, that's a tough question. I guess I would look at it from a teleological perspective. The purpose of Affirmative Action is to give opportunity to those who are lacking it, both to increase the quality of life for minority groups but also to diversify our workplaces and schools, which is really the only way to eliminate racism. It's goal is to create a better infrastructure for those minorities. Racial profiling, on the other hand, is basically just the police being lazy and taking the path of least resistance. It reaffirms the racial divides that have plagued our country since its early days and does not better our society in any way. It's also a dangerous strategy where terrorism prevention is concerned, as it creates an obvious blind spot that could be exploited.
Good question, tash!
gayle,
Affirmative Action favors minorities because those are the people without opportunity due to laws that were once in place against them. It's awfully easy to say Affirmative Action is unfair when you were born white. Were you born into a poor family because there were laws in place to keep your race from getting equal treatment? No, because no such law has ever existed, unless you were black. Asking minorities to overcome ethnically-prohibitive infrastructure by "hard work" alone only seems fair if you're not in the race being discriminated against.
I confess that I don't understand your language non-sequitor; speaking English or any other language has no bearing on Affirmative Action. In fact, every single immigrant I have ever discussed language with agreed that they try and learn English and insure that their children learn it. It gives them better job opportunities and generally makes life easier for them. I would also say, given your ethnicity, that unless the Mexican majority of Texas enacts a law making whites like yourself eat at different restaurants, send your children to different schools, work at only the most menial low-paying jobs and strips you of your right to vote, then you have no concept of minority status in any sense that is meaningful in a discussion of Affirmative Action.
Given what I've read on your blog, you seem to take a strange satisfaction in denigrating those different from yourself. Again I have to ask, how do you reconcile this cognitive dissonance with the teachings of Christ, whom you claim to follow? Did He not say "As you do to the least of these, so do you to me"? Wouldn't you like to be able to stand in front of Him and say "I supported a program that gave opportunity to those born without"? Of course, I've noticed that in the term "Conservative Christian", "Christian" is usually a misnomer.
Affirmative Action favors minorities because those are the people without opportunity due to laws that were once in place against them. It's awfully easy to say Affirmative Action is unfair when you were born white. Were you born into a poor family because there were laws in place to keep your race from getting equal treatment? No, because no such law has ever existed, unless you were black. Asking minorities to overcome ethnically-prohibitive infrastructure by "hard work" alone only seems fair if you're not in the race being discriminated against.
I confess that I don't understand your language non-sequitor; speaking English or any other language has no bearing on Affirmative Action. In fact, every single immigrant I have ever discussed language with agreed that they try and learn English and insure that their children learn it. It gives them better job opportunities and generally makes life easier for them. I would also say, given your ethnicity, that unless the Mexican majority of Texas enacts a law making whites like yourself eat at different restaurants, send your children to different schools, work at only the most menial low-paying jobs and strips you of your right to vote, then you have no concept of minority status in any sense that is meaningful in a discussion of Affirmative Action.
Given what I've read on your blog, you seem to take a strange satisfaction in denigrating those different from yourself. Again I have to ask, how do you reconcile this cognitive dissonance with the teachings of Christ, whom you claim to follow? Did He not say "As you do to the least of these, so do you to me"? Wouldn't you like to be able to stand in front of Him and say "I supported a program that gave opportunity to those born without"? Of course, I've noticed that in the term "Conservative Christian", "Christian" is usually a misnomer.
Samuri Sam says "in the term 'conservative Christian', 'Christian' is usually a misnomer". The author of this posts wanted our opinions regarding Affirmative Action. He didn't request you to come onto this page and start attacking people who have posted comments here. I have as much of a right to my opinion as you have to yours. You are also entitled to your misguided opinion regarding my Christianity, because I know who I am and I know what I do to help others, and I also know that I walk in the light of Christ. Did you miss what I said about whites being a minority in Texas? If you think I'm joking, move to Texas! You liberals say "we Repbulicans are judgemental." We could take lessons from the likes of you. Liberals seem determined to ruin this great country and to get rid of all of the traditions that made this country great. We are fighting against that and will continue to fight against it as long as we live and breath; and we have the power: you guys lost! May you never get it back.
To the author of this post: Thanks for the help. Your advice worked on my "Let Our Voices Be Heard" Blog, and I have linked you there. It didn't work on the other one, however. Probably a flaw in the template. I'm going to change the template and see if I have better luck. But I have to say this: "For a selfish, un-Christian Republican (dripping saracasm!) you were really nice to do what you did, and I sincerely appreciate your time. THANKS AGAIN!
To the author of this post: Thanks for the help. Your advice worked on my "Let Our Voices Be Heard" Blog, and I have linked you there. It didn't work on the other one, however. Probably a flaw in the template. I'm going to change the template and see if I have better luck. But I have to say this: "For a selfish, un-Christian Republican (dripping saracasm!) you were really nice to do what you did, and I sincerely appreciate your time. THANKS AGAIN!
One more thing (this being posted hours after my last comment): You have truly given me food for thought. So, in attempting to better understand the liberal mind, I have posted on my blog www.letourvoicesbeheard.com an open invitation to Liberals to answer some questions. I will read their answers with an open mind, and I will attempt to answer any comments that are not rude. And I have promised not to be rude. So it should be an intersting experiment, and it's all because of you!
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