Subject:
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Re: Government's role [Was: Re: What happened?]
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 20 Jul 1999 00:13:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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1300 times
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> > I'm not sure what can be. And I know it's wrong to hire people
> > just because of their race, but I think that the average Negro in the US
> > has a mindset that is less likely to bring fiscal success than the
> > average Caucasian.
I'd go along with that. I'm not too happy with the idea of positive
discrimination.
Occasionally it can bring about benefits if it's applied for a limited
period of time - eg. in order to make sure that there are enough members
of some group in a profession to act as role models and encourage other
members of that group to believe it's worth applying to join. For example
in the UK the Labour party used it for one general election only, to vastly
increase the number of female MPs from next-to-nothing to about 100 or so.
(Out of 650). London's police force also currently has targets for ethnic
minority recruits in order to counter a problem that a lot of blacks in London
believe the police are racist.
But as a permanent solution, I'd agree that positive discrimination
causes more problems/resentment than it solves.
> I know many black people that are successful without affirmative action and
> without government assistance. It's peoples willingness to follow the rules • and
> get ahead. Anyone can make it. We cannot do anything about slavery, it • happened
> over one hundred years ago, and no one is affected now. There are so many
> scholarships and the like for minorities and opportunities, that no one should
> feel they are victims. If they are, it is by their own choice.
Now I hope I'm not going to offend anyone by summarising/paraphrasing
my perception of the general debate here. But I think this paragraph shows
the flaw in the thinking of a lot of people in this discussion. It's one of
several I've read that appear to roughly argue:
'There are some cases where people have overcome disadvantage to be
successful. That proves that the system works and if anyone hasn't managed
to overcome disadvantage then it's their own sodding fault and they and their
families deserve to suffer'
It would be a lot more constructive, helpful, and compassionate
to look at the situation as
'OK some people have succeeded but a lot of people haven't. We need to
figure out what's wrong with the system that so many people aren't succeeding,
and put it right'
Simon
http://www.SimonRobinson.com
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