On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 2:18 PM, Scott Stroz <boyz...@gmail.com> wrote: > > To be fair, I think 'discriminatory' might be a better word. To me, > 'racist' would infer some sort of hatred or dislike of one person or > group because of their race. Clearly, in your example, there is no > hatred or dislike (at least that I can see).
Discriminatory is probably a better word because it is less loaded. I used racist in it's original sense, favoring one race over another (though the whole concept of race is another can of worms). > However, in your example, if it is wrong to NOT chose the minority > candidate because they are a minority, it is equally wrong, regardless > of the rationale, to NOT choose the white candidate because they are > NOT a minority. That's the dilemma between choices on an individual basis and those on a policy basis. When we say that two candidates are equal, we are not saying that they are the same. A policy that favors affirmative action says that when other factors are equal, race comes into play as a discriminator on the basis that the person who is a minority is less well represented in the pool that will then make up the influences of the next generation of applicants. To the individuals, the wrongness is equal. Candidate A has a 3.2 gpa and a handful of extra curricular activities, Candidate B has a 3.2 gap and a handful of extra curricular activities. Ideally, you choose both. If you cannot choose both, one will be wronged. Affirmative action rationale says that if you are going to wrong one by not choosing them, you should choose the candidate who will have the most positive effect on the next generation. Since you cannot know that for a particular individual (otherwise the candidates would not be equal), the choice of race is a proxy in the hope that additional minority college students will increase the statistical likelihood of future minority students having positive contact with a college educated adult of their race. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:323303 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
