So, the Supreme Court decided to get rid of Affirmative Action, and the people who’ve been blaming it for their problems are about to discover that those problems haven’t gone away. As usual, conservatives have been led by their bigotry to blame problems on anyone but the powerful, and the Supreme Court was happy to put the force of law behind those petty grievances. There’s a lot to be said about the ways in which this was a bad decision, but I appreciate Beau’s point about manipulation through prejudice.
Very few people blamed Affirmative Action for their personal problems. They did think that racism was wrong. Affirmative Action is just a polite phrase for PC racism. Racism is wrong, even if it is PC.
pschaeffer – pc racism? u think ur in the comment section at quillette?
Beau’s point that those without any real power can never be the real source of our problems is important and one of those things that’s obvious once it’s pointed out. I’m going to use that in arguments now.
@Pschaeffer – I’ll refer you to a quote from MLK Jr.
All of the ill-gotten gains of slavery and Segregation are still in the hands of the people who committed those crimes against humanity, and of those people’s designated successors. The stolen property and wages have never been returned.
Affirmative Action was not racist, it was an effort to mitigate the damage of racism, which necessarily had to specify race, because that’s what it was about. This is like saying that making prosthetics for amputees is just like amputation, because both are explicitly about the removal of bodyparts.
That said, I don’t think you’re here in good faith, so I expect this response is the most use we’ll get out of your comments.
@billseymour – It’s such a useful heuristic that I feel like it should have a “razor” title, though I have no idea who first came up with the idea.
I think the first version of it I encountered was in considering police escalation/deescalation, and the fact that because cops hold all the power, they’re the only ones capable of deescalating an encounter, but it’s the cops’ victims who’re always blamed for whatever happens to them. Also useful when considering “complicated” situations like Israel/Palestine
Well, it’s more like saying making prosthetics for amputees is unfair on people who aren’t amputees, who could have had a lawnmower from from the same plastic and metal resources – i.e. while technically accurate, it’s bloody stupid.