Quote:
|
Originally Posted by roachboy
i'll just respond with numbers--am pressed for time at the moment....
1. so you think that there is some natural racial hierarchy, then? on what possible basis?
2. higher education is not the only space impacted on by aa. within that, i think ubertuber's post poses questions that you should take up.
i dont see what you imagien yourself accomplishing by trying to reduce the history that informed the development of aa to a question of individual inherited guilt. it seems a non sequitor.
do you know the history of the u.s. since the civil war?
do you know, within that, the history of the reconstruction period?
3. fine--but if you concede that point, then is your position that nothing can or should be done to address it?
4. i think this one is simply disengenuous. you know full well what the purpose of aa legislation was and is--you have thought about the questions that the right at least imagines important about the matter--so.
|
1. I don't think there is some sort of racial hierarchy. I do think, however, that due to economic factors, conditions in the inner cities, bad school quality, and a host of other terrible things, the average black high school graduate is not as good a college candidate as the average white high school graduate. In fact, I think that believing this makes it much easier for one to support affirmative action programs in the first place.
2. I am well aware of American History, but thank you for verifying that the public school system hadn't failed me.
3. My position is not that nothing can or should be done: my position is that I don't know what can or should be done. I do know, however, that affirmative action is not doing the job. I am unable to suggest a better alternative, although doing nothing would be preferable to continuing on our current course.
4. Nope. Nothing disengenuous about it. I am honestly asking you what the purpose of affirmative action is and how we will know when we have acheived that goal and affirmative action will no longer be necessary. I do not know the answer to these questions.
One final point: I would appreciate it if you would refrain from labeling me as "the right". I am not representing the views of anyone but myself here and prefer not to be shoved into some kind of large category that encompasses half of the political spectrum. Political life is far more complicated than "left" and "right".