Affirmative Action

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ChrisR246:
Not only the victims but all those who sympathize with them (and that should include all Christians). If we all did, then those who discriminate would quickly be out of business.

You are correct. So you and everyone else who agrees can patronize businesses and organizations that use it. Those who don’t like it don’t have to. Simply eliminate the government rewarding it.
Unless it is a publicly traded company, it is difficult to know their hiring practices.

I agree with you on eliminating the rewards. I think companies and universities should employ AA because they feel it’s the right thing to do, not to get a tax break.
 
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wcknight:
AND you think it is okay to allow someone to put “WHites Only” on their job announcements ???
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it is, but ONLY for places where being white was relevant to the core goals of the organization (say, the secretary for the KKK national office). Likewise, I don’t fault the NAACP for showing a bias towards hiring blacks to run their organization. Looking further, lifestyle restrictions for applicants are relevant for organizations promoting a certain moral standard (like Scouting USA’s restrictions on homosexuality).

However, where I work, criteria like race, genger, and sexual orientation have almost no bearing on effectively managing a prison education program, and thuse should not be part of their hiring criteria - those issues are irrelevant to the task. However, we do have restrictions regarding use of recreational drug and prior lifestyle choices that earned potential applicats a criminal record, issues which are directly relevant to our core functions.
 
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ChrisR246:
You have missed my point - how is a court order enforced? If the loser refuses to comply, the court sends armed agents to force compliance. It ultimately rests on violence.
I’m confused. You say that posting a Whites Only notice is abhorrent, but you want an employer to be able to hire whites only.

Why would you want a behavior that is abhorrent to be still legal ???

It could rest on violence or the court could order the individual’s or company’s accounts to be held or seized. That would circumvent violence.

In the case of an offending homeowner, the courts could simply not recognize the sale of the property to another buyer OR it could again impose a fine and withhold funds for the homeowners accounts.

People are not going to act upright simply because you tell them not to discriminate. The government has the responsibility to uphold folks rights as equitably as they can, and IF it can do so non violently that’s fine, but if it requires force then the circumstances would have to dictate as well. And I think it would be justifed in doing so if the offense is that serious.

And if you find discriminatory behavior abhorrent then just think how upset people who are the actual victims are. Homicidal is the word, and rather than have individual citizens shoot it out in the streets, far better to let them fight it out in court.
 
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Anglican77:
Unless it is a publicly traded company, it is difficult to know their hiring practices.
If it’s a small local company, ask around. If the company is particularly odious, I imagine it would come out. Heck, a small industry might even pop up, certifying companies that meet listed criteria, like ISO or UL etc
I think companies and universities should employ AA because they feel it’s the right thing to do, not to get a tax break.
That’s all I want - let each private property owner do what they think is the right thing to do.
 
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wcknight:
I’m confused. You say that posting a Whites Only notice is abhorrent, but you want an employer to be able to hire whites only.
I find lots of things abhorrent. I do not want tio use violence to stop them. Consequently I do not want to employ the Sata as my armed agent to do it, either. Since it is my servant, I only want the State to use violence in those situations where I would use violence - protecting a life, preventing physical harm.
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wcknight:
Why would you want a behavior that is abhorrent to be still legal ???
Because I don’t believe Jesus called us to stop sin through violence, but rather through love. Because I don’t want the full force of the government turned against me when secular society decides something I am doing is abhorrent, like refusing to offer health care to cover abortion or birth control.
It could rest on violence or the court could order the individual’s or company’s accounts to be held or seized. That would circumvent violence.

In the case of an offending homeowner, the courts could simply not recognize the sale of the property to another buyer OR it could again impose a fine and withhold funds for the homeowners accounts.
None of these are cooperative. They all rest on a threat of violence against the victim and anyoen who tries to do business with them. The only reason the payment is gotten without actual violence occurring is because everyone believes that violence will be used by the government and that they can not win. It’s extortion, really. All government is force.
People are not going to act upright simply because you tell them not to discriminate.
Some might not. Many will. Christ relies on it.
The government has the responsibility to uphold folks rights as equitably as they can, and IF it can do so non violently that’s fine, but if it requires force then the circumstances would have to dictate as well. And I think it would be justifed in doing so if the offense is that serious.
Agreed. But the areas we are discussing are not circumstances where the victim has rights.
And if you find discriminatory behavior abhorrent then just think how upset people who are the actual victims are.
You imply I’ve never been a victim of discrimination.
 
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Ray_Scheel:
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it is, but ONLY for places where being white was relevant to the core goals of the organization (say, the secretary for the KKK national office). Likewise, I don’t fault the NAACP for showing a bias towards hiring blacks to run their organization. Looking further, lifestyle restrictions for applicants are relevant for organizations promoting a certain moral standard (like Scouting USA’s restrictions on homosexuality).

However, where I work, criteria like race, genger, and sexual orientation have almost no bearing on effectively managing a prison education program, and thuse should not be part of their hiring criteria - those issues are irrelevant to the task. However, we do have restrictions regarding use of recreational drug and prior lifestyle choices that earned potential applicats a criminal record, issues which are directly relevant to our core functions.
Can we really have it both ways? Opponents of AA say that it is discrimination, and therefore, should be illegal. Here, you are saying the opposite should be legal, that companies should be able to not hire people based on race. You can’t ask for AA to be illegal and at the same time say it’s ok for companies to outwardly discriminate certain people.
 
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ChrisR246:
I find lots of things abhorrent. I do not want tio use violence to stop them. Consequently I do not want to employ the Sata as my armed agent to do it, either. Since it is my servant, I only want the State to use violence in those situations where I would use violence - protecting a life, preventing physical harm.

Because I don’t believe Jesus called us to stop sin through violence, but rather through love. Because I don’t want the full force of the government turned against me when secular society decides something I am doing is abhorrent, like refusing to offer health care to cover abortion or birth control.

None of these are cooperative. They all rest on a threat of violence against the victim and anyoen who tries to do business with them. The only reason the payment is gotten without actual violence occurring is because everyone believes that violence will be used by the government and that they can not win. It’s extortion, really. All government is force.

Some might not. Many will. Christ relies on it.

Agreed. But the areas we are discussing are not circumstances where the victim has rights.

You imply I’ve never been a victim of discrimination.
I still fail to understand how AA is violent or can cause violence.
 
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Anglican77:
I still fail to understand how AA is violent or can cause violence.
Voluntary AA is not violent. Compulsory “fairness” laws are.
 
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Anglican77:
Can we really have it both ways? Opponents of AA say that it is discrimination, and therefore, should be illegal. Here, you are saying the opposite should be legal, that companies should be able to not hire people based on race. You can’t ask for AA to be illegal and at the same time say it’s ok for companies to outwardly discriminate certain people.
Companies discriminate for or against certain job candidates all the time, depending on how thier skills and personal style match the needs of the position and the atmosphere of the company. I’m against mandating using “natural” criteria unrelated to the task to be preformed to bias selection for (or against) who is selected, especially when it takes the form of a quota of hiring a certain % of particular types. In 99.44% of the job market, a person’s race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, or if they have custody of children is unrelated to the mission/goals of the organization. I think most AA practices in public positions (be it a job or an Ivy League admission slot) should be snuffed out, with the focus instead on ensuring selection policies are truly non-discriminatory rather htan trying to mimic an “ideal” target percentage somone pulled out, while a ban is maintained on discrimination clearly unrelated to the job at hand. However, especially for groups witha social activism angle, I think it is within the realm of free association for them to restrict their hiring to individuals who are intrinsicly compatible with thier mission.
 
The problem with voluntary AA is that it would never be followed.

Until everyone acts in a Christ-like manner, voluntary is an unrealistic naive fantasy. While you find discrimination to be abhorrent there still are a host of folks who find it perfectly acceptable.

While target quotas are not the ideal remedy, nothing else in sight offers any sort of solution. Until such time that blatant racial, gender, ethnic discrimination disappears, no other alternative is apparent. Your suggested solution to just let folks govern themselves will not work in the current environment.

Try asking a member of the KKK to voluntarily treat blacks with respect. You would be lucky if they don’t hand you your head back on a platter,

Maybe a 100 years down the road, the bigotry may end, but I would not count on it. Things have gotten better for minorities, but it is only marginally so, and I attribute all those gains to the civil rights legislation and the mandatory integration and discrimination laws not to some voluntary actions by individuals.

It’s real easy for the majority to say wait, it will just take a bit longer and fix itself in the long run. BUT even after slavery ended, it took over 100 years for blacks to gain any measure of basic voting rights and that came after some bloody and aggressive actions of the 50’s and 60’s civil rights movement.

While change does not have to be forced by a bloody coup, it seldom if ever happens by mere request. Contrary to your opinion, a court order does NOT have to be enforced by violence. The court can impose a fine or economic fee, and it can do so without guns or any physical action whatsoever. The government has control of the financial institutions, and it can simply withhold funds from any bank account.

You may somehow call this a violent action but is it not. There is no physical coercion or physical threat to the offender. He simply has a bit less money than he had access to before.
 
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wcknight:
The problem with voluntary AA is that it would never be followed.
It might not be followed as widely as you might like, but it would be followed, by some. The more the general population saw it as “fair” the more willing they would be to go along. By imposing AA or similar methods, you build resentment and probably perpetuate the bigotry and hard feeling much longer than it would havbe had it been allowed to die out.
Until everyone acts in a Christ-like manner, voluntary is an unrealistic naive fantasy.
So when do we start having soldiers start rounding everyone up for Mass on Sundays?
While you find discrimination to be abhorrent there still are a host of folks who find it perfectly acceptable.
I’m sure there are. There are also a host of people who find behavior acceptable that we would probably both agree is abhorrent. How do you feel about being forced to comply?
Try asking a member of the KKK to voluntarily treat blacks with respect. You would be lucky if they don’t hand you your head back on a platter,
So how many KKK CEOs are there?
It’s real easy for the majority to say wait, it will just take a bit longer and fix itself in the long run. BUT even after slavery ended, it took over 100 years for blacks to gain any measure of basic voting rights and that came after some bloody and aggressive actions of the 50’s and 60’s civil rights movement.
I would sya much of that was due to the resentment generated by Reconstruction.
Contrary to your opinion, a court order does NOT have to be enforced by violence. The court can impose a fine or economic fee, and it can do so without guns or any physical action whatsoever. The government has control of the financial institutions, and it can simply withhold funds from any bank account.
The court can give an order to freeze or take money from an account. If the bank does not wish to comply, then what?
You may somehow call this a violent action but is it not. There is no physical coercion or physical threat to the offender.
No, there is threat to the bank to comply with the order or face the consequences.
 
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wcknight:
While target quotas are not the ideal remedy, nothing else in sight offers any sort of solution. Until such time that blatant racial, gender, ethnic discrimination disappears, no other alternative is apparent. Your suggested solution to just let folks govern themselves will not work in the current environment…
Speaking from the position of having been passed over for a desperately needed job because I was not a minority, the AA solution stinks.

Letting folks govern themselves is the only solution that has any chance of working. The current system allows for ‘reverse descrimination.’ This IS noticed, and resented by many. The resentment that the current AA system build will only fuel the fires of descrimination.

Until people are free to move past this and hire the most qualified for the job on their own, they will not. Instead, less qualified minorities will continue to be hired, and resentment over the descrimination will flourish.
I know that often the minority worker IS the most qualified, but I also recognize that the most qualified person being hired for a job rarely generates the attention that an unqualified hiring does, and will not be noted as often as the unfair practice of ‘reverse descrimination.’
 
Someone posted that we forget affirmative action helps women. First of all, I find that offensive. I can beat out every guy in my class WITHOUT the help of governement policy. Second of all, it doesn’t help. It tells us we are sumber than guys, that we need help to beat them. That doesn’t encourage most people to better themselves. It also says we don’t have to try as hard to get accepted. It encourages laziness that will be harmful in college and in the rest of our lives. I didn’t want to use gender as an example last time I posted, because I’m female. Saying “I might get turned down just because the opponent is female” would have made no sense.
 
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ChrisR246:
It might not be followed as widely as you might like, but it would be followed, by some. The more the general population saw it as “fair” the more willing they would be to go along. By imposing AA or similar methods, you build resentment and probably perpetuate the bigotry and hard feeling much longer than it would havbe had it been allowed to die out.

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The thing is, bigotry does not die out on its own. Schools would not have integrated unless they were forced. Almost 100 years went by and segregation was as strong as ever. It took almost a revolution to make things change.

Sitting by and wishing and praying for change does not work, has not worked and never will work.
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ChrisR246:
So when do we start having soldiers start rounding everyone up for Mass on Sundays?

I’m sure there are. There are also a host of people who find behavior acceptable that we would probably both agree is abhorrent. How do you feel about being forced to comply?
This Sunday sounds about as good as any.

I have no qualms about having laws or complying with laws that are needed. Discrimination is and should be illegal. IT does not bother me in the least because I live by those principles anyway. It is folks who wish to discriminate who want those laws abolished and the more they want to get rid of them , the more they are needed.
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ChrisR246:
So how many KKK CEOs are there?

I would sya much of that was due to the resentment generated by Reconstruction.

.
There may be a bunch or there may be none, as long as there is even one who is in a position to deny basic human rights to a minority, then the laws are justified. An injustice done to one is an injustice done to everyone.

Reconstruction ended a long long time ago. Bigotry and discrimination continued for many decades after the civil war.
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ChrisR246:
The court can give an order to freeze or take money from an account. If the bank does not wish to comply, then what?

No, there is threat to the bank to comply with the order or face the consequences.
And none of the consequence are violent unless the bank foolishly wishes to make it so. It is a real stretch to say a court order on a financial institution is in any way shape or form, violent. The courts are there for the very purpose of preventing violence. There are no guns drawn, heads bashed or fisticuffs.

AND why is it the very folks who perpetrate violence are usually the very ones who complain about it the most. The folks who protested during the civil rights movement did not use violence to get their way.

BUT it was most certrainly the bigots and discriminators who “chose to protect their free rights to discriminate” who used violence as a way of life. IS it the govenrment agents or military who misused violence, or is it the Church bombers, or lynchers who are at fault ???

Your freedom to discriminate ends when it prevents someone from making a fair wage in a similar paying job or live in a neighborhood that they can afford. If the government has to force you to play by the rules then so be it. Your freedoms are NOT limitless. It ends when it infringes on someone else rights.
 
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wcknight:
I have no qualms about having laws or complying with laws that are needed. Discrimination is and should be illegal. IT does not bother me in the least because I live by those principles anyway. It is folks who wish to discriminate who want those laws abolished and the more they want to get rid of them , the more they are needed…
I take insult at this remark and want an apology.
Your quote " It is folks who wish to discriminate who want those laws abolished " paints all people that want AA abolished with a very bigoted and broad brush.

I am not a bigot.
I do not wish to descriminate based on race, gender, or any other non-job related qualification.

Nor do I descriminate.

I have, however, had government sponsered racism against myself. An AA company hired another individual of lessor qualifications then myself because they were a minority.

That is why I believe AA should be abolished.

AA does nothing but perpetuate hatred.
And I want my apology.
 
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wcknight:
Your freedom to discriminate ends when it prevents someone from making a fair wage in a similar paying job or live in a neighborhood that they can afford. If the government has to force you to play by the rules then so be it. Your freedoms are NOT limitless. It ends when it infringes on someone else rights.
Precisely. Unfortunately AA stomps all over individuals that are not in the right group.
 
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wcknight:
… praying for change does not work, has not worked and never will work.
Wow :eek: Have you informed God of this insight yet?
This Sunday sounds about as good as any.
So what do you do when the same government force is controlled by someone else and you are forced to attend their service?
IT does not bother me in the least because I live by those principles anyway.
Remember it when “sexual orientation” is added to the list of protected minorities, if it hasn’t been already, and we are forced to not only recognize, but give preference to their marriages, etc.
It is folks who wish to discriminate who want those laws abolished and the more they want to get rid of them , the more they are needed.
This is insulting.
to deny basic human rights to a minority,
There is no right to a job, house or to be free from bigotry.
An injustice done to one is an injustice done to everyone.
As long as it fits your sense of justice. Telling someone what they can/can not do with their property is also unjust, but you’d allow it.
Bigotry and discrimination continued for many decades after the civil war.
Because of the hard feeling left by Reconstruction.
And none of the consequence are violent unless the bank foolishly wishes to make it so.
By refusing to take someone’s money and turn it over to the government.
The folks who protested during the civil rights movement did not use violence to get their way.
The government used violence to suppress the workers (dogs, hoses, etc) then used violence to impose the civil rights (e.g. troops with rifles and bayonettes desgregating the schools). Government is force. Whatever policy it choose to implement it does by force- segregation/desegration it does not matter, only that the will of government be imposed.
IS it the govenrment agents or military who misused violence,
It was when thery siced dogs and used firehoses and billy clubs on protestors.
 
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vz71:
I have, however, had government sponsered racism against myself. An AA company hired another individual of lessor qualifications then myself because they were a minority.

That is why I believe AA should be abolished.

AA does nothing but perpetuate hatred.
You may be right, But it would be difficult to prove it in court. For example, how would anyone know for sure that the individual who got the job was of lesser qualifications than the one who did not get the job? Especially if the filled out information on the job applications were confidential material?
In my state, people voted against AA by a large majority. however, where I work, it is required to either join the union or if you do not join, you have to pay the dues anyway, because they say that this is your fair share. I did not join,because I thought that it was unfair for me to support an organisation which strongly endorses AA even after there was a statewide vote to ban it. And another objection I had was with the union’s full support of women’s rights and freedoms, such as the right for a woman “to choose”. Each year, at the time set aside for legal protests to this system, I file a protest to the court that I oppose having to pay my fair share to the union because it is supporting AA which the voters have determined by a large majority should be abolished. Each year, I get back from the court a document which says that the judge has examined my complaint and has decided against my petition. So it gets me no where except a loss of time and money. And I have to pay a “fair share” to the union, regardless of whether or not the union strongly endorses and supports AA which has been banned by the voters, or whether or not they hand out materials supporting women’s “rights”.
 
My Original Comment:
So when do we start having soldiers start rounding everyone up for Mass on Sundays?
wcknight reply:
This Sunday sounds about as good as any.
This highlights exactly my fear. There are plenty of people who would agree with your method and would place that kind of authority into the government’s hands. They agree with the method, not the application. Unfortunately, we have no guarantee that in the future all those who are entrusted with that power will use it the way you want them too. By granting to the government the authority to force some people to conform to your sense of fairness, how long before a new administration will use that same authority and precedent of fairness to force the Catholic Church to ordain women and openly homosexuals? Perform gay marriages? I will not be at all surprised to see it within my lifetime.

I am willing to allow others to keep their prejudiced practices (hire/not hire based on color, sex, etc) so I can keep mine.(not ordain women, etc) and rely instead on eventually changing their hearts.
 
The crack about starting this Sunday was a JOKE. There is a huge difference between government forcing religion on its citizens and protecting the rights of its citizens to a fair job market or equal opportunity housing.

In the former case, govenment does not and should not be imposing itself, in the latter government has the responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens.

In separation of church and state, government is forbidden to interfere with our rights to religious practices, BUT the bill of rights tells govenment that govenment is required to protect basic human rights.

People hearts do not change on their own. Discrimination is very often handed down from generation to generation (bigots are very much inclined to teach their kids to be bigots). Unless it is the law of the land, which it is with the civil rights act, people will not suddenly become decent folks.

People are far more likely to change or learn IF there are clear and heavy consequences. Once folks find out, it is very expensive to discriminate, they will change their behavior. I think it is far better for society to backrupt all the bigits, than it is to deny fair housing or fair job opportunites for decent law biding minorities.

Government can not force people to go to any church but it can force them not trample on the rights of others. That’s one of its basic functions. IF it can not or will not do that, then government is totally useless. (It is almost totally useless anyway, but that is a different debate).
 
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