Question: Is affirmative action wrong?
My answer is as follows: No, and yet, yes.
It is not wrong in that if someone is required to make an arbitrary choice based between two candidates, choosing based on race is not more wrong (on it's face) than choosing someone based on their height, hair colour, number of pimples and so on. The colour of someone's skin is a trait not different from other attributes of people. It is useful in identifying people. For example, we could readily identify people by their hair colour, and it would not be wrong (unless we systematically oppressed them).
It is wrong in the sense that it supports an arbitrary distinction between the "races" and sexes which supports racism and sexism. So, choosing to select one person to work for you based on race or sex is, again, only supporting the institutions of discrimination. Not only does it support those institutions, but if it were to achieve success, it would only cause racism and sexism in the opposite direction. Races don't actually exist. As I mentioned above, skin colour is no different from other characteristics. Skin is a certain colour based on the place where ancestors lived, and the mixing of character traits. People who live farther north have lighter skin and hair. These traits, however, are not characteristics that make up different "races." If that were the case, we would have the "races" of green-eyed people, blue-eyed people, fat people, thin people, freckled people, long-haired people, short-haired people, asthmatic people, attached-earlobe people, free-earlobe people, and so on. Phenotypic characteristics do not constitute different "races/species" of people. Choosing to pretend like there are different races only reinforces the idea that there is. All in all, I would say that it would be best to choose from candidates based on a variety of changing reasons.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Begging for a Place
Question (not actually on my Q & A because I have no copy of it, the only digital copy is on the computer at work as such, I will substitute a more generic question): Does society actually want equality?
In our contemporary society, we do not actually support equality. Equal rights, in fact, hardly exist and most equality that we think that we have is only feigned to be so. Our society still supports racism and sexism. Our idea of giving someone equal rights is to force them into assimilation. You can be equal with us as long as you agree to conform to our societal rules. Unfortunately, the minorities often agree to this, and then battle and unify in order to keep their culture. Equal rights should equate to being able to be different, act different and so on, with that having no apparent effect on how well you can live. You should not be forced into assimilating to the rules of the society that is currently in control.
Equal rights for gays, for instance, in the minds of many equates to allowing them to join the institution of marriage previously preserved for heterosexual/heteroromantic couples. I, personally, think that this is the wrong sort of move, though I have no better suggestions.
Most fights for equal rights equate to the minority begging for a place in the majority society. The majority society eventually grudgingly accepts the minority into the society but moves on to subtly make the distinction apparent. So that they will never actually be treated equal.
Most fights for equal rights equate to the minority begging for a place in the majority society. The majority society eventually grudgingly accepts the minority into the society but moves on to subtly make the distinction apparent. So that they will never actually be treated equal.
Effects of Unifying Minorities
In response to Brian (again) - full post here
Actually, it just occurred to me that this is not necessarily a problem with minorities; it might be that this was intentionally set up to continue racism and sexism. This sort of separation makes people happy because it is marking the distinction between groups it is not changing anything in reality. So essentially, because this is recognizing the distinction between groups, people are satisfied.
As I mentioned before, it occurred to me that there is also a Christian fellowship on campus. If we tried to start a Muslim Fellowship called al-qelbu (the dog) there would be crazy dissension. Basically, all these clubs and organizations stand to continue and strengthen societal issue under the shroud of progress.
Actually, it just occurred to me that this is not necessarily a problem with minorities; it might be that this was intentionally set up to continue racism and sexism. This sort of separation makes people happy because it is marking the distinction between groups it is not changing anything in reality. So essentially, because this is recognizing the distinction between groups, people are satisfied.
As I mentioned before, it occurred to me that there is also a Christian fellowship on campus. If we tried to start a Muslim Fellowship called al-qelbu (the dog) there would be crazy dissension. Basically, all these clubs and organizations stand to continue and strengthen societal issue under the shroud of progress.
How to Not Fix Racism
In response to Brian - full post here
Actually, I was considering mentioning this in the post. I was thinking that on this campus there are several minority groups, the Black Student Union, Latin American Society, and the Asian Club are examples. As you pointed out, this sort of mindset is only promoting segregation, it is only allowing people to pretend that race is something that actually exists.
It's easy to pretend that everyone has equal rights when the minorities have the ability to congregate together. It's like saying "look minorities are equal because they have a minority organisation. Okay, no racism here." It seems like this sort of segregation is excellent at sustaining the racism. Minorities get to group together and complain about majorities, even though nothing is actually done about those problems, because they are gathering together, excluding majorities, in order to complain about majorities.
Actually, I was considering mentioning this in the post. I was thinking that on this campus there are several minority groups, the Black Student Union, Latin American Society, and the Asian Club are examples. As you pointed out, this sort of mindset is only promoting segregation, it is only allowing people to pretend that race is something that actually exists.
It's easy to pretend that everyone has equal rights when the minorities have the ability to congregate together. It's like saying "look minorities are equal because they have a minority organisation. Okay, no racism here." It seems like this sort of segregation is excellent at sustaining the racism. Minorities get to group together and complain about majorities, even though nothing is actually done about those problems, because they are gathering together, excluding majorities, in order to complain about majorities.
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