noodles wrote:
Goat wrote:
Fair, yes, because in the past there have been frats, scholarships etc for whites only. And I'm sure that Bill Gates has given money to white people at some point in his life.
I agree that it's fair, but not for this reason. To me the best argument for Affirmative Action seems to be that it's an attempt to address the issue raised in things like the two studies I posted. Being a white male is being the norm and part of the group that is in power and thus comes with advantages. Things like scholarships aimed at women or blacks or whatever are an attempt to even the playing field. It's a pretty heavy-handed way of going at the issue, but I can't think of a better solution. This comic gets the point across pretty well.

So, you don't think that if group
a is
x% of the population, their being represented according to that percentage is fair?
What about sector by sector?
In the IT industry, where I work, Asians are far over-represented compared to their actual population percentage; in pro-sports, blacks are over-represented.
Being a white male may be the norm, but by saying that the only way they made a success of themselves is due to "privilige" is, (how can I put this delicately?) insulting bullshit.
No way hard work, self sacrifice and planning for the future had anything to do with it.
And besides, there is such a thing as poverty among whites, you know. They could use a scholarship, too.
Oh, and BTW, that comic is both childishly simplistic and incorrect; it assumes that:
a) All whites are racist; all whites are to share the guilt for a few greedy landowners some 200 years ago.
b) Only blacks were treated poorly; ever hear of an indentured servant? They were white, and were treated like absolute garbage. What about the Irish, The Chinese, etc.? They all managed to prosper, generally speaking, despite massive discrimination.
c) Blacks built the nation, and whites merely profitted from it.
Bullshit.
Slavery was quarantined to a small part of the country, and was mainly argrarian; the industrial revolution is what made this country the giant it was to become, which, unless my memory fails me, occured largely after Abolition and in the Northern part of the country to boot.
Bullshit.
And what about the fact that those slaves were already slaves in their native Africa? Only a change of ownership occurred.
And they still practice slavery today there.
Finally, what does a Canadian know about life in the States?
The answer: only what they read about in books and see on TV.