I just saw a cartoon on Day by Day ( http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2009/05/30) which satirized a quote by Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. The quote, as reported all over the place was: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." The satire was to reverse the racial descriptors to see how people would like it if it had the white man in the superior position and the Latina woman in the inferior.
Side question: If Latina in the quote is a descriptor of a racial characteristic, shouldn't white be capitalized as well as it's also a racial descriptor? Should both be lower cased? But I digress. Now on one hand I totally agree with the quote - experience is a key factor. On the other hand, there is an imbalance that makes me look at the quote askance (not a sconce, which is a type of candlestick). You have a wise person vs. a plain (non-wise) person. You have a person with a "richness of experience" vs. someone who seems to have none or is less for having a different experience. You also have the people's race and gender being almost the central theme of the quote. Why are they even important? Looking at the quote in context shows that race (national origin) and gender were the central issues: "Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/05/26_sotomayor.shtml Personally I think that this is a little hubris and misspeaking on the part of judge Sotomayor. She's using herself as the "wise Latina woman" with a rich experience and comparing it to 'just someone else' who happens to not be like her. I think she's using "hasn't lived that life" to mean 'has less of a rich experience'. That's what I would hope as someone of her learning and position would not be denegrating others based on race, gender, or difference of (rich) experience. I still think that the satire is poignant as it shines a light on how easily people will accept a quote when one race/gender/whatever is in the pro column but will reject it when a different one is on top. You'll never see a white or straight pride parade and any thought of one would be protested from every side. "I would hope that a person with the richness of their experience would more often than not come to a better conclusion than another person with less experience" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:297906 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
