Positive Discrimination

[Scabadus]

I was kinda surprised (and more than a little suspicious) that I couldn't find an existing topic on this, but I did use the search bar. But I wanted to see what people though of so called "Positive Discrimination", the practise of forcing buisnesses to not be racist, sexist, ageist.. whatever.

For anyone who doesn't know, this is an example of positive discrimination: companies have to maintain a certain ratio of white and black workers. So say two people applied for a job, one white and one black. Now for the sake of argument, lets say the white person was better qualified, however the buisness didn't have enough black workers so the black person gets the job. The same thing could happen between a man and a woman, a teenager and an adult, a Christian and a Muslim, any two people.

Obviously this is wrong, however do you think it's a worthy trade to ensure that genuinly racist companies are legally obliged to not be?

Oh and it would be interesting for anybody who responds to say their gender, race, religion.. stuff like that. If you want to. Myself, I'm a white teenage male.

 

[El Poncho]

I think seeing something like not having enough - insert minority here- workers as racist makes you think like a racist sort of? Since your first though is that is racist, when it's not it's getting the best person for the job.

 

[Davey Woo]

I think each case should be taken individually. If a white person and a black person both apply for the same job, and the white person gets it even though the black person was way better qualified, then there's obviously something wrong.

I do see that this would be very hard to govern, so I'd have to say yes, it's better to force all companies to abide by these rules rather than let some companies ignore certain people.

 

[Kiefer13]

There is no such thing as "positive" discrimination, because all discrimination is a negative thing. When applying for jobs, people should be judged only on their merits, experience and attitude, and the best for the job should get the job no matter what their gender, race, age, sexuality, religion or whatnot. Racism, Sexism and all the other little petty ways we discriminate against each other will not disappear until they become non-issues.

 

[Skeleon]

I suppose it's necessary for as long as people still treat each other differently based on such superficial things.
For quite a while longer, I presume.
It's not a good thing, I agree, but the alternative (i.e. unfettered discrimination without any way to legally combat it) would be worse.

White male, 23 years old, atheist, university student.

 

[Baby Tea]

How is forcing businesses to not be racist discrimination in any form?

It's not forcing them not to be racist, it's actually forcing them to be racist, since they are required to hire someone based on race to 'even out the ranks', even if someone of another race is better qualified for the position.

 

[Scolar Visari]

There is no "positive" or "reverse" discrimination, it's all discrimination. Obviously if you can't tell by now I'm not pleased with this kind of crap.

 

[AceDefective]

I think the it should be based on skill not on the color of a persons skin (but then again im a white teenage male and dont face racism in anyway)

 

[666thHeretic]

How is forcing businesses to not be racist discrimination in any form?

Because it can screw more qualified employees out of a job because they're not a minority.

 

[Aardvark]

Any business who chooses a less qualified person because of some unspoken desire to fill some racial ratio deserves to have the lesser of two candidates.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

How is forcing businesses to not be racist discrimination in any form?

If we take the example given, the n it could be taken as discrimination against white people. You should hire the best guy for the job regardless of colour, religion etc. However, as this does not happen all we can do is live with it without crap like positive discrimination

 

[Robert0288]

Affirmative action nonsence is just that. Companies should be hiring the best candidate for the job reguardless of race/gender. Anything other than that is racist.

 

[happysock]

My friend got an apprenticship on the underground and they ended up employing 2 white 2 black 2 asian 2 european people and he didn't get the job even though he was more qualified. However the person higher up saw what the recruitment man was doing and he got fired as they would rather have the more qualified people then be effinically correct or whatever bullshit name it's given.

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

I like to think that we've moved on as a country (America at least) to the point where we don't have to have plans like Affirmative Action, they served a purpose probably at one point, but now better qualified candidates are getting turned down because of their race.

My mother's in HR at an insurance company and she constantly has to turn down better qualified candidates because they're an Affirmative Action endorsing company, and that means that they have to maintain a certain balance of different minority groupsl

 

[stonethered]

ah. the affirmitave action question.

giving someone a job because they are part of a minority group is wrong.
by using their minority status as a qualifier you imply that they could not get the job on their own merits, which is discrimination. also, it usually means you pass down a more qualified person from a majority group the position, purely on the basis of his being part of a majority. that is racist.

there is nothing good about 'reverse discrimination'.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

if someone is better qualified then let them have it. However hiring immigrant workers to save money is annoying especially when they don't know the language spoken. Hire qualified staff. Always!

 

[Lusty]

I don't think that replacing one form of discrimination with another is the answer. For one, it breeds resentment from the people who miss out on jobs towards the minorities that get them. Also there's a risk that once the quota is filled, companies will just go straight back to overlooking minorities, so it doesn't make the racism go away, the underlying problem is still there.