Letters to the Editor
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Um, Delphine, you may be right in one instance, i.e.,
About Affimative Action in its application.
However I take issue with the subtext that the minorities in question are all underqualified and got their positions through Affirmative Action. That is dead wrong.
The intent was, and always will be, yes, to fill the workplace with a representative amount of minories, reflective of the population -- however, its inception was to ensure that qualifed minority candidates were not discriminated against, using the formula that x number of qualifed candidates in a certain population would logically be minorities.
Are you trying to tell me that every instance of a black and/or minority person being turned down for a position was due to the fact that they were unqualifed?
That the good ol' boy's network does not exist?
That in the Corporate workplace there is not a glut of fat-assed white middle management that in fact, is contributing to America's demise i.e, a lack of creative leadership and a slow descent into third-world status, aided by the blind, deaf and dumb administration we now have, coincidentally consisting of white middle aged, fat-assed males?
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Xema Gold
No. I'm trying to say that you seemed to have an incorrect definition of the term "affirmative action."
Have unqualified white men been hired and promoted due to the good ol' boy system? Of course, lots and lots. I've worked for a few. Have unqualified black men and women, as well as white women, been hired and promoted due to affirmative action? Yes, I believe that they have. Theoretically, the correct percentage of applicants for every job will always be equally qualified minorities, but the actual pool of applicants doesn't always work out that way. If that implies a subtext that's offensive to you, then I'm sorry.
Black men or women who are passed over for the boss's asshole idiot nephew or the manager's fraternity brother are rightly resentful. White men who are passed over for a less qualified black applicant are, unfortunately, also likely to feel the same resentment than the loftier emotion of "I am willing to suffer for the wrongs of previous generations...or even for the wrongs still going on at that privately owned business down the street." This is exacerbated by systems that purport to define qualification solely as a score on a test.
It's human nature to see one's personal loss or gain instead of the big picture, and it's part of American capitalist culture to value individual good above the good of the community. Our laws and public policy may reflect our collective striving towards a better self (or at least they may if we ever get this particular fat-assed administration out of office) but our behavior still tends to reflect our grubby, imperfect, actual selves.
As the young woman's riff on racism clearly showed. After all, it's a "reality" show.
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Okay, Delphine, we have a divide here...
You've "worked for" a few unqualified white candidates promoted over qualifed minorities; whereas you "believe" there have been unqualified black candidates promoted over white qualified candidates...
Hmmm...do you see a break in logic here?
You presume to correct my understanding of Affirmative Action, without actually seeing your version at work (pardon the pun).
Both your understanding and your logic are wrong. And I did not find your understanding "offensive", I took issue with it. There is a difference. Very little offends me, but I find a lot to take issue with.
I believe that is the purpose in healthy, open discourse, such as you and I are having.
And in every organization that I've worked: every SINGLE one of them, I found the black people to be highly creative, solutions oriented, and usually equally, and many times more qualifed than the whites. They had to be.
That's why I don't buy the myth. I submit that there are many people out there, just like you, who talk about how Affirmative Action is applied, without really KNOWING, or having seen and/or experienced its application.
One of the reasons for Affirmative Action's success is precisely because of how well it works -- having worked with Minorities gives those without practical experience about their skills a much needed eye-opener, and a newfound respect for them. Those that are open-minded to begin with, that is.
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Well, if nothing else...
There is an increased chance that I will tune in to America's Next Top Model just to see what happens to this woman. What is she thinking? She hates gays (or at least completely disapproves of their lifestyle or whatever euphemism bigots are now using when they try to interact with polite society) and she getting into modeling? That like joining the Navy when you hate boats. This I gotta see.
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she's gone
There's no point, Tony. She was eliminated.
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Poor representative
Someone from my hometown of Spring TX, gets national exposure and it has to be this ditz. OK, her thinking isn't exactly unheard of in Spring, but it isn't the norm. Should Spring TX ever come befor you again, please don't think of Dani. Think of Lyle Lovett. OK, technically he came from the adjacent town of Klein, but that's close enough. Think of Lyle.