ericmurphy
Posts: 2460
Joined: Oct. 2005
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| Quote (Stephen Elliott @ Jan. 11 2006,18:15) | What is "afirmative action"?
Would I be right in guessing that it is similar to what is known as "positive discrimination" in the UK?
If so, then I believe it is racist. |
If you're calling "Affirmative Action" "racist," you're using the word in a way that may be technically correct, but nevertheless gives entirely the wrong idea. Here's why.
Americans of African descent ("Negroes," "Blacks," African-Americans," along with various less flattering epithets) have historically been discriminated against. For the first 70 or so years of this nation's history, human beings of African descent were considered property. Even today, all other things being equal, an African American is at a distinct disadvantage to Americans of European descent in the job market. Part of this disadvantage is due to institutionalized racism, and some of it is due to diminished opportunities due to previous racial discrimination. African Americans make up approximately 12% of the population here, but there are zero African American CEOs of Fortune 100 companies.
Given the imbalance in the opportunities afforded most African Americans in society, the intent of Affirmative Action is to offset some of that imbalance. It's difficult for me to sympathize with the occasional American of European descent who may have lost out in a bid for a well-paying job to an African American when I see the relative economic success of African Americans as compared to European Americans.
And if you think that African Americans have suffered in the marketplace because they are genetically less fit for the marketplace than European Americans, I'm afraid that makes you a racist by any rational meaning of the term.
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2006 MVD award for most dogged defense of scientific sanity
"Atheism is a religion the same way NOT collecting stamps is a hobby." —Scott Adams
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