pig

Hmmm...after reading the posts in this thread, I've got a few thoughts. When talking about the affect of not having enough minority role models in positions of authority and power, I was reminded of something that I heard a while ago. Does anyone think that there might a tendency, with the advent and maturity of race and gender based affirmative action programs, to cause any feelings of something akin to "imposter syndrome" in white males? If the basic idea behind the need to make corrective measures based on race and gender is that they have historically been discriminated against, are white males kids starting to wonder if their role models are hypocritical bastards? I think it's a good thing for white kids to wonder if their ancestors mistreated other ethnicities, just as it's a good thing for other ethnicities to be aware of the fact that their people have traditionally been discriminated against in America. However, if the minority position can lead to a complex, can the reverse - and is that healthy? Just curious.

It seems to me in a lot of the comments that I've read, many of the posters are decrying all recognition and differentiation on the basis of race, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I agree that the definition of racism is making differentiation or judgement on the basis of race, but I think this can be taken too far. First, how can you actually appreciate diversity if you don't recognize and judge based on race? You have to recognize that there are differences to appreciate them. As for the discussion concerning the Society for Black Engineers or Women's Engineers, I've thought about that before too. And the conclusion that I've come to is that there would, in fact, be a difference between the Society for Male Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers, or The Society for White Engineers and The Society of Black Engineers. In particular, most of the people in the "minority" societies are pretty good people, and I like to hang out them, in general, as much as anyone else. A Society for White/Male Engineering, would suck ass. I'm a White Male Engineer, and I would masturbate with a sandpaper glove before I went to that meeting. It would be a meeting of about five of my closest Klan buddies and Neocon-puking friends. Even if you would like hanging about with one of the above mentioned factions of white male society, there's a different stigma attached to the White Male societies, and it's not coincidental. I think that things are starting to change, and this dialogue is a marker of that. I also agree that a lot of caucasian groups have been discriminated against (Italians, Irish, French Hugenots), but that for a while in America, this divisions do seem to pale versus white/black.

I think that these types of discussion are useful, but the truth of the matter is that this course of dialogue is more important than any legislation, in terms of ending the negative aspects of racism. All the affirmative action programs and scholarship programs are only crappy kickstands to try to correct in imbalance in the way things are, not the way they're supposed to be, in my opinion. I personally feel that it is becoming appropriate to more heavily consider economic situation and less heavily racial profile, but perhaps not completely eliminate race. I actually detest affirmative action, but so far, no one has really come up with a better alternative that's is pragmatic and enforcable. Saying "love your neighbor" doesn't seem to have a great track record.

One last thought, because everyone's been dealing in hypotheticals. Let's assume that two candidates apply for opportunity X, and they are exactly and completely and totally equivalent, except one is a white male, and one is something else. After an interview, they are both personable and witty and well informed. They answer the questions so identically that the interviewers are wondering if they are not joined in a para-psychological bond that has been unheard of since the Gods of the Greeks rules on Mount Olympus. Who gets the job. One position, two people. No difference.

__________________
You don't love me, you just love my piggy style