Affirmative action: What do you think?

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

Like a few of you here, I go to college.  And probably once per week, I get mailings about various scholarships.  But you know what? I'm rarely eligible to receive these because most are targeted at minorities.

"Preference will be given to minorities"
"Available for African-American students"
"Must be of Hispanic origin"

You know what? Screw that! Call me crazy, but specifically targeting minorities with scholarships seems to imply a stereotype: Blacks, Hispanics, whatever are poor.  "But Gamer! The average minority income is lower than the average white income!" Then say, "Preference will be given to those demonstrating financial need."  Not only do you help out the whites who don't fall into your stereotype of "whites are rich, blacks are poor," but if what you're saying is true, then a larger proportion of minorities will receive the scholarships anyway.  And the whole "equal opportunity employment" thing is BS! Minorities don't deserve the same opportunity for employment as majorities at all.  For every 70 white employees, there should be 13 Hispanics, 12 blacks, 4 Asians, and trace amounts of other minorities.

Yes, the people you call "African-Americans", I call "Blacks."  You know why? Because it's an accepted term, and not some weak attempt at political correctness that's assumptive and often incorrect.  Is every colored person from Africa? Is every colored person an American? Of course not! But yet again, those accusing people like me of racism are generalizing and stereotyping, which is far worse than anything I've said or done.

Yeah.  I ranted.  So now it's your turn.  How do you all feel about affirmative action?

[Graham]

Meh its dumb to give anything to anyone for any reason other then they are in desperate need or earned it, some liberals would call me ignorant. I don't care.

[Lunerfox]

Well, alright, I agree with you on the most part, but how did you derive 70 whites, 13 Hispanics, 12 blacks, and 4 Asians? Although I agree that sometimes Affirmative action turns out to become "Reverse discrimination", at alot of other instances it really does help minorities get a foot up in life, and is sometimes need to give some people better chances. I do, however, agree with you when it comes to employment, however, as skill should come before racial selections.

The whole idea about how minorities seem to have more scholarships isn't based on how rich or poor they are, but rather based on the culture that they're based on. These scholarships are not like government grants that are supposed to be "fair", but rather, they're supposed to be donations made by certain parties to help a group that THEY feel should get help. This has nothing to do with political aspects, but rather how people think the money should go to. Considering the number of scholarships availible to every student today, it shouldn't be a huge matter as to how some of the scholarships are given to select minorities.

On the other hand, however, It is noticeable that no scholarships exist that says "Whites Only" or "Preferene will be given to Whites", as that immediately sounds super-racist and screams "WHITE POWER". Well, what can you do? A few generations of racial suppression will give you that kind of negative feedback from minorities.

[[Gunstar]]

I see scholarships that apply to minorities as being a simple token gesture and symbol of both submissiveness by the "White people" and sly jab at the minorities. The minorities may say "Haha! We have equal if not better opportunities than you white people who always look down on us! You think your so high and mighty but you submitted to us. If you complain we will accuse you of being racist!" whereas the "White people" may be thinking "Haha...You need benefits and we granted them because we are so kind and generous to you minorities, you don't deserve them though".

These are of course extreme views taken by both ends of the spectrum so I'm probably speaking rubbish.

[Tallacaps]

Affirmative action is positive discrimination that is discrimination.

(edited)

[Temp3st]

I understand your situation. Over here in South Africa whites barely ever get jobs, and we are the minority.

[SDFilm]

So-called "positive discrimination" is not positive, no-matter how well meaning it is. It's unfair to white people who need to get a job, and it's patronising to black people because it's portraying that either black people are too poor to get a job or us evil white people are going to not give them the job because this is still the 1950's. As if me being white means that I don't need a job because I can just rely on the abundance of money in my bank account that I obviously got from slave trading 

[Dascoo]

I understand your situation. Over here in South Africa whites barely ever get jobs, and we are the minority.

Revenge for Aparthied.

[AlphaVergo]

The only reason anyone should get a job, college schollarship, etc is that they earned it not because they "deserve" it because then you are taking jobs, etc. away from people who could do a better job with it and need it more. Example: in college consideration, this is the equavlent average score they "add" to your SAT score: Blacks:120, Hispanics: 80, Native American: 70, Whites: -10-20, Asians: -50. Now thats Sh*t,  right, especially to you asians.

[SDFilm]

^ They actualy give you more marks because you're not white!? It actualyeffects your grade?

[AlphaVergo]

Not really, but that is an equavlent score addon that most colleges do when they consider you and your SAT scores, I did a research project about it this year.

[Fluffy]

Meh its dumb to give anything to anyone for any reason other then they are in desperate need or earned it, some liberals would call me ignorant. I don't care.

For once, I agree with a repulican.

[Mr. Domino]

Yes, the people you call "African-Americans", I call "Blacks."  You know why? Because it's an accepted term, and not some weak attempt at political correctness that's assumptive and often incorrect.  Is every colored person from Africa? Is every colored person an American? Of course not! But yet again, those accusing people like me of racism are generalizing and stereotyping, which is far worse than anything I've said or done.

Say "black people." While I agree about the excessive PC nature of certain terms, people aren't a color noun. They are people, and removing that from your speed and writing does dehumanize everyone in a small sense.

Anyway, I disagree. Affirmative action is needed. It's hilarious to see white people whine about how oppressive affirmative action is in spite of all the socio-economic damage the past 300 plus years of slavery brought on some races. Affirmative action is a necessary evil at the moment to try to repair past damage, though I will say there are better ways to go about it (namely, improving blighted inner city school systems that so many politicians ignore). Once education as a whole is balanced, then the practice of awarding bonus points based on skin color will no longer be needed.

[SDFilm]

Say "black people." While I agree about the excessive PC nature of certain terms, people aren't a color noun. They are people, and removing that from your speed and writing does dehumanize everyone in a small sense.

I agree, calling people as simply colours does sound pretty dehuminising and ignorant of their heritiage. Although by giving them the title of "african-american", you could be talking about someone who's white.

Anyway, I disagree. Affirmative action is needed. It's hilarious to see white people whine about how oppressive affirmative action is in spite of all the socio-economic damage the past 300 plus years of slavery brought on some races. Affirmative action is a necessary evil at the moment to try to repair past damage

I don't see how trying to heal old discrimination with modern discrimination is a good step forward. Equality is what leads to a fair society, not yet more discrimination/segregation. And how white do you have to be to not get advantages? Do mixed-race people just get advantages for part-time jobs? And if you think in the big picture of things, we are all mixed race.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

Well, alright, I agree with you on the most part, but how did you derive 70 whites, 13 Hispanics, 12 blacks, and 4 Asians?

I did a demographics search on Wikipedia, and those are the percentages of each race in the United States.

[a-4-year-old]

What is worse is people who think they should get reparations

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." - Thomas Jefferson

Why should a white person pay a black person for something someone else did to someone else?

[Temp3st]

I understand your situation. Over here in South Africa whites barely ever get jobs, and we are the minority.

Revenge for Aparthied.

Lol, its true. reverse racism...

Gamer_24k. Consider yourself lucky... at least yuo don't live here in South Africa... Even if u got 8 distinctions, its difficult to get into med school, cos like 1/2 the places are for black ppl.

PLS NOTE IM NOT A RACIST

[Mr. Domino]

I don't see how trying to heal old discrimination with modern discrimination is a good step forward. Equality is what leads to a fair society, not yet more discrimination/segregation. And how white do you have to be to not get advantages? Do mixed-race people just get advantages for part-time jobs? And if you think in the big picture of things, we are all mixed race.

Did I not say it was a poor solution, a necessary evil for the time being until better ideas are implemented? Unfortunately, the real solution, improving the education system, is costly, and it's far easier for people to accept certain institutions to enact such affirmative action policies and quotas instead of collecting revenue via raising taxes or whatnot to ensure that all people receive an equal education so that everyone is equally competitive in the marketplace.

[AlphaVergo]

personally ANYTHING that favors feople based on race is complete crap. (college scholarships, jobs, taxes, etc.)