Before I start my post, let me please ask those of you who are reading this in Iowa to PLEASE make sure that you take part in Thursdays Caucus. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, because I don’t think anyone should TELL you who to vote for. I can give you my opinions (but I won’t – other than stay away from Hillary), but the bottom line is you have a terrific opportunity to help set the tone for the rest of us. Use it wisely.
Okay, yesterday I started a conversation on racism, and at the end of the post I stated that in fact you can be a racist simply by association with a group. Earlier I had argued that this was not the case, given that my liberal friends believe that the mere fact that I am a white male, I am a racist. Frankly, I think that having negative attitudes toward another race – any race – is what makes you racist. And acting on those negative attitudes just makes it worse.
But in all my research on the subject, I have come to change my mind. Yes, being a member of a specific group CAN make you a racist. That group? Liberals.
But liberals are the champions of the lower class and minorities, aren’t they? Well, you may remember that yesterday that racism basically exists on two planes: ignorance and hate, and liberal racism stems from ignorance. Not the kind of ignorance we associate with being uneducated, but the kind of ignorance associated with the inability to truly see the fruits of your actions.
Some may consider what I am about to discuss as not being racist, because there is no (conscious) intent to do harm, but if the end result is harm, what difference do the intentions make. You know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
Lets start with a biggie: Affirmative Action. Now I know that the intention behind affirmative action is to “level the playing field” and make up for past injustices, but that’s just not what we are getting. And before I go further, let me acknowledge that there have been injustices done on minorities in the past, horrible, horrible injustices. But replacing those injustices with a new injustice is no answer. And no, I’m not complaining about “reverse discrimination”, rather I am complaining about the injustice done to the very minorities that affirmative action is meant to help.
What affirmative action – whether it be race or gender based – is, is unfair. It suggests that certain people are too inferior to compete in an open field, and it continues the misguided notion that the government should make people whole because of racial and sexual discrimination done to previous generations.
The real problem with affirmative action is my opinion is that it ignores the real issues facing minorities today. If I am a good – not great – student of minority descent, the reason that I am not eligible to get into a top-notch university is possibly because I attend
ed a poor-performance school and didn’t get the proper opportunities. And perhaps it’s because I had the opportunities but didn’t take them. Rarely however is the reason racism. But by taking a liberal point of view that these issues are racism related, that allows the left to ignore the real causes of lower performance in certain minorities, mainly the poor performance of the public school system – especially in the inner cities – and skyrocketing out-of-wedlock birth rates. But in order to address the REAL issues, the left would have to take on the education unions, and considering that they are one of the lefts largest political donors, don’t expect any improvement here anytime soon. And why should there be, when shouting “Racist” is so much easier.
And the scary thing is, affirmative action is actually hurting the ones it is suppose to be helping. Lets say that affirmative action helps me get into Harvard, when my grades never could have. I am now competing with people that are smarter than me and doing work above my ability. Can I succeed? Sure I can, but in reality I am almost twice as likely to drop out than a student who was accepted on merit.
And to often liberals act like if affirmative action didn’t exist, those that it “helps” would be on the streets. Affirmative action IS NOT the difference between Harvard and McDonalds, it’s the difference between Harvard and UCLA, or Iowa State, or Colorado State. This “but-for-affirmative-action-I’d-be-driving-a-truck” mentality is yet another unintended consequence of preferences. The “beneficiary” demeans and cheapens his own achievement by overestimating the impact of affirmative action on his own life. Without drive, study, and a sense of purpose, all the preferential programs in the world wouldn’t have helped this guy.
And what about the minority individual who didn’t need affirmative action. Suppose she or he applied for and was accepted at an Ivy League school based on their own merit, and graduated at or near the top of their class. Upon entering the corporate world, they quickly rise up the ladder, only to have those who are not personally familiar with them wonder if they are where they are at due to affirmative action. Remove affirmative action, and you remove the doubt.
But affirmative action is just the tip of the liberal racism iceberg. Join me tomorrow for more examples of how “The Man” is keeping minorities down, and why “The Man” is voting democrat.
Okay, yesterday I started a conversation on racism, and at the end of the post I stated that in fact you can be a racist simply by association with a group. Earlier I had argued that this was not the case, given that my liberal friends believe that the mere fact that I am a white male, I am a racist. Frankly, I think that having negative attitudes toward another race – any race – is what makes you racist. And acting on those negative attitudes just makes it worse.
But in all my research on the subject, I have come to change my mind. Yes, being a member of a specific group CAN make you a racist. That group? Liberals.
But liberals are the champions of the lower class and minorities, aren’t they? Well, you may remember that yesterday that racism basically exists on two planes: ignorance and hate, and liberal racism stems from ignorance. Not the kind of ignorance we associate with being uneducated, but the kind of ignorance associated with the inability to truly see the fruits of your actions.
Some may consider what I am about to discuss as not being racist, because there is no (conscious) intent to do harm, but if the end result is harm, what difference do the intentions make. You know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
Lets start with a biggie: Affirmative Action. Now I know that the intention behind affirmative action is to “level the playing field” and make up for past injustices, but that’s just not what we are getting. And before I go further, let me acknowledge that there have been injustices done on minorities in the past, horrible, horrible injustices. But replacing those injustices with a new injustice is no answer. And no, I’m not complaining about “reverse discrimination”, rather I am complaining about the injustice done to the very minorities that affirmative action is meant to help.
What affirmative action – whether it be race or gender based – is, is unfair. It suggests that certain people are too inferior to compete in an open field, and it continues the misguided notion that the government should make people whole because of racial and sexual discrimination done to previous generations.
The real problem with affirmative action is my opinion is that it ignores the real issues facing minorities today. If I am a good – not great – student of minority descent, the reason that I am not eligible to get into a top-notch university is possibly because I attend
ed a poor-performance school and didn’t get the proper opportunities. And perhaps it’s because I had the opportunities but didn’t take them. Rarely however is the reason racism. But by taking a liberal point of view that these issues are racism related, that allows the left to ignore the real causes of lower performance in certain minorities, mainly the poor performance of the public school system – especially in the inner cities – and skyrocketing out-of-wedlock birth rates. But in order to address the REAL issues, the left would have to take on the education unions, and considering that they are one of the lefts largest political donors, don’t expect any improvement here anytime soon. And why should there be, when shouting “Racist” is so much easier.And the scary thing is, affirmative action is actually hurting the ones it is suppose to be helping. Lets say that affirmative action helps me get into Harvard, when my grades never could have. I am now competing with people that are smarter than me and doing work above my ability. Can I succeed? Sure I can, but in reality I am almost twice as likely to drop out than a student who was accepted on merit.
And to often liberals act like if affirmative action didn’t exist, those that it “helps” would be on the streets. Affirmative action IS NOT the difference between Harvard and McDonalds, it’s the difference between Harvard and UCLA, or Iowa State, or Colorado State. This “but-for-affirmative-action-I’d-be-driving-a-truck” mentality is yet another unintended consequence of preferences. The “beneficiary” demeans and cheapens his own achievement by overestimating the impact of affirmative action on his own life. Without drive, study, and a sense of purpose, all the preferential programs in the world wouldn’t have helped this guy.
And what about the minority individual who didn’t need affirmative action. Suppose she or he applied for and was accepted at an Ivy League school based on their own merit, and graduated at or near the top of their class. Upon entering the corporate world, they quickly rise up the ladder, only to have those who are not personally familiar with them wonder if they are where they are at due to affirmative action. Remove affirmative action, and you remove the doubt.
But affirmative action is just the tip of the liberal racism iceberg. Join me tomorrow for more examples of how “The Man” is keeping minorities down, and why “The Man” is voting democrat.
2 comments:
Oh, I can't wait for this...Enlighten us oh member of the party of Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond.
Woohoo! We are not a collection of red states and blue states but the United States! Obama and Huckabee, I think America could be pleased with those options.
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