DJ Happy

Wow, so much going on here.

As a white South African, my experience of "affirmative action" has been far from positive, although I can understand the need to have them. I was granted a university place only to be told two weeks before the start of the term that my place was going to be given to a black student instead, in order to satisfy quotas. I have been denied jobs because preference was being given to black applicants.

With regards to "affirmative action," I am in two minds:

Pros:
It does at least attempt to address the imbalance. It provides opportunities to those who were previously denied them and gives them the chance to compete on an equal footing. In theory, it is only supposed to last for a short period of time, allowing those previously discriminated against a chance to excel and "level the playing field."

Cons:
It doesn't teach "minorities" to fend for themselves. They start to rely on the "positive discrimination" rather than their own abilities in order to better themselves. These are generally the people who also still cry "racism" on the odd occasion that things don't turn out their way instead of looking at their own failings and shortcomings. They don't work as hard because they don't have to. They don't exert themselves because there is no need. This breeds a culture of dependence that can be very cushy and difficult to break free from.

Some previous victims of discrimination seem to be reluctant to be seen as equal, in case they lose all the privileges of "positive discrimination." They still play the race card when it suits them and as such have taken "positive discrimination" to a new level. There's a recent case of a Sri Lankan cricketer who technique has recently been scientifically determined to be contrary to the rules of the game (if you don't follow cricket, I won't bore you with the details of this study). Despite this hard and fast evidence, his administrators have threatened to sue the ruling body if they don't overturn this decision, which they have called a racist plot hatched by white nations.

Since the end of apartheid, all of the South African sporting teams have been subject to racial quotas too. A few years ago there was uproar when the government objected to the inclusion of a white player in our national cricket team and replaced him with a player of colour instead (the omitted white player has since made his debut and is recognised as one of the world game's rising stars, while the coloured player has barely been heard of since). But more than highlight the injustice behind much "positive discrimination," this incident highlighted just how ashamed many "minorities" are to be seen to be benefitting from "affirmative action."

The player involved made many public statements about how embarrassed he was to have benefitted in this way. And it wasn't the same as a job applicant being hired with the reasoning being kept behind closed doors. It was on the front pages. Everyone knew that Justin Ontong was being selected because he wasn't white, and he didn't like it one bit. It makes me wonder how many of those being hired for private jobs or being awarded scholarships because of the colour of their skin would feel if the real reasons behind their appointment were to be made known to all their colleagues. They are happy to benefit from it in private, but if the truth was made public knowledge, how would they feel?

I'm a great believer in the saying, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for the rest of his life." This is what "positive discrimination" should model itself around. Give people opportunities to better themselves. Subsidise education, grant more scholarships, develop more training programs, maybe based on income levels rather than ethnicity. But once education has been completed and qualifications achieved, they're on their own. The goal should be that everyone enters the workplace on equal footing. If they've been given a subsidised education and they've just fucked around during it, then tough. If they've taken advantage of it and benefitted as they should have, then they will reap the rewards of their hard work.

"Affirmative action" can be beneficial if it not abused, but abusing it is just too easy at the moment. It's intentions are good, but it just doesn't work. I'm not sure that any official intervention will though, if the people who it is supposed to help don't stop relying on it as the sole means of their betterment. They have to realise that at some stage, they must take responsibility for their own destinies.