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Originally posted by smooth
I'll agree that some companies want a diverse pool of workers, but I suspect this occurs far more often due to internal desires rather than external government regulations.
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I would assume that the "internal desires" in a company, any company, would be to profit as much as possible. You do this by making as much money as you can, spending as little as you can, and utilizing any other "tools" that you are able to.
I may be incorrect here, but I am fairly certain that companies get tax breaks if they hire a minority/woman. If they do, that would make it advantageous to hire a minority/woman to fufill their "internal desires"
Quote:
Originally posted by pigglet
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.
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Well, to be honest, in most cases nowadays, the minority would probably get the job. Even if they were perfectly equal, the tax benefits that the employer would recieve would push the minority into the position, I believe.
However, why isn't it up to a coin toss? Let's say for the sake of argument, those two candidates are exactly the same, in every way. Financial situation, education, qualifications, GPA, IQ, ect.
Is it not discrimination if you choose one candiate over the other based on their race? If they are identical, that white person deserves the position less simply because he is white? I think that is terrible. For governmental policies to encourage this is even more pathetic. There is absolutely no reason that that white fella should be turned down based simply on his skin color - all hell would break lose if it happened to a minority, but the evil white men deserve everything they get.
What if the employer, seeing that they were identical, flipped a coin and the white person won? How many feel that the minority would have been discriminated against due to his race?
I think that we need to understand that we are trying to live by a double standard. If we don't discriminate based on race, we are looked at as racist. In this example, if we don't hire the minority, it will most likely be assumed that the minority wasn't hired due to his/her skin color.
I think that the question, in a perfect society, would just state that the candidates were perfectly equal, and wouldn't make mention of a race, as that has no affect on their abilities to perform their job duties. Race only has as much weight as people put on it - and although it seems to be getting lighter these days, I find it difficult to swallow that it is still encouraged by the government to discriminate, one way or another.