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- From: tim@ear-ache.mit.edu (Tim Wilson)
- Subject: Re: Forced Remedies
- In-Reply-To: anderson@macc.wisc.edu's message of Thu, 21 Jan 93 20:29:47 GMT
- Message-ID: <TIM.93Jan23074922@ear-ache.mit.edu>
- Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: ear-ache.mit.edu
- Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- References: <ByxJ15.6Jz.1@cs.cmu.edu> <1993Jan9.022537.3816@macc.wisc.edu>
- <1993Jan9.033648.2219@leland.Stanford.EDU> <18356@autodesk.COM>
- <1993Jan21.202947.28007@macc.wisc.edu>
- Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 12:49:22 GMT
- Lines: 49
-
- In article <1993Jan21.202947.28007@macc.wisc.edu>
- anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) writes:
-
- In article <18356@autodesk.COM> owen@autodesk.com (D. Owen
- Rowley) writes:
-
- >Attempting to remedy past inequitys by tilting the balance
- >to force or mandate favor for the previously disadvantaged
- >is no less unfair than the ills it seeks to remedy.
-
- One problem with this is that unfairness is hard to measure,
- so "more unfair" and "less unfair" are perforce undefined.
- You know the old saying: fair is fair.
-
- < specific examples, all of which support actions to remedy current
- ills but fail to address what I read as Owen's concerns about
- affirmative-action policies, deleted >
-
- The words above are "no less unfair." I disagree.
-
- Neither the populace nor the state operates by magic or independently
- of context. The idea that people go from a state of disadvantage
- because of stupid reasons like sex, skin color, national origin,
- religion, or sexual orientation or preference to one of complete
- equality of opportunity in one fell swoop is prepostorous.
-
- The idea promulgated above, the "no less unfair" idea, continues to be
- used to maintain the state of disadvantage. Opponents of equal
- opportunity and equal rights use it, as well as "the pendulum's swung
- too far," "reverse discrimination," and "white rights" to hide behind
- their failure to get with the program of fairness and justice for all
- people, regardless of attribute X.
-
- If equal rights had been the situation for several hundred years, the
- "no less unfair" idea might have some merit. Well they haven't been.
- Equal rights for all is a fairly new idea, and if past injustices
- aren't redressed, equal rights will never be achieved for any period of
- time.
-
- A constructive idea might be to set some target dates for achievment
- of measureable goals, and the provision that if those goals are met,
- the affirmative action goes away; otherwise, it gets continued for
- another fixed period of time.
-
- --
- Tim Wilson
- Internet: tim@ear-ache.mit.edu
- UUCP: mit-eddie!mit-athena!tim
- Bad Colorado. No business.
-