Reverse discrimination

[Princess Rose]

You're suggesting that because discrimination occurred in the past, discrimination in the opposite direction in the present and future is acceptable?

That logic simply does not work. If we keep that up, discrimination will never end. If we're ever planning on getting anywhere as a society, we have to stop looking at a person's race, sex, sexuality, religion, etc., and start looking exclusively at their qualifications.

That is exactly what I am suggesting, and it has worked. The workplace has gotten a lot more varied.

Is affirmative action unfair? Yes. But it is far LESS unfair than what happened before.

Forcing companies to include minorities and women causes (eventually) the people in charge to be an equal mix of different types of people. And once that happens - we will no longer need affirmative action, and people can be hired on merit instead of sex/race/etc. However, so long as the people doing the hiring are white men, there needs to be a method of forcing them to not hire people they may not be comfortable with.

When the people doing the hiring are an equal mix, none of this will be necessary - it will happen on it's own. And then, the people with the best skills WILL be the ones who get hired.

That sort of thinking takes humanity back to the days of King Hammurabi and his establishment of an Eye for an Eye.
And as Ghandi says, (I'm paraphrasing here) "Such a principle makes the whole world Blind"

It's just non-nonsensical and such an unenlightened method.

And everything above goes for you too. You can whine all you want - affirmative action works.

 

[Princess Rose]

And everyone else will think "oh they just got their job because of their race/sex" and it will foster resentment.

No. They got their job because they were qualified for it.

Affirmative action doesn't result in unqualified people getting jobs - however, it sometimes results in slightly less qualified people getting a job.

And it works. The workplace is a lot more diverse since it was instigated.

So quit whining.

 

[Dorian6]

If your gender gives you an advantage, then good for you. Use it.

It doesn't matter why you got the job. All that matters is you have it

Edit: Also, why is the title "Reverse Discrimination?" Because it's the opposite of the way you're supposed to discriminate?

 

[Princess Rose]

It doesn't matter what 'works'. 'Works' depends on your goal and the cost you're willing to incur in achieving that goal. But in achieving that goal you should be restricted to methods that aren't discriminatory. So what matters is what is fair. And hiring her over someone more qualified isn't fair. She did nothing to deserve extra consideration, the other person did nothing to deserve less.

The real world isn't fair. Deal with it.

Affirmative action has helped make the workplace a far better environment. Does it have flaws? Yes. Everything does. But those flaws are far outweighed by the good it has done.

 

[Madara XIII]

That sort of thinking takes humanity back to the days of King Hammurabi and his establishment of an Eye for an Eye.
And as Ghandi says, (I'm paraphrasing here) "Such a principle makes the whole world Blind"

It's just non-nonsensical and such an unenlightened method.

And everything above goes for you too. You can whine all you want - affirmative action works.

Because of such Sexist and Racially driven views in society!
We live in an Age of Enlightenment (Not enlightened age), but if one of the goals of enlightenment is equality then Affirmative Action and Reverse Discrimination should in no way to come into the equation.
It shouldn't matter who is what and what color they are! It is disgusting in my opinion that they are FORCING diversity rather than incorporating those diverse few who ARE QUALIFIED.
I can understand the fact that she was qualified, but the male in the situation proved he was above her experience wise.

So once again Immanuel Kant is probably spinning in his grave

 

[Alrocsmash]

Theres no such thing as reverse discrimination, just discrimination.

This. Reverse discrimination does not, has not, and will never, exist.

It's "reverse discrimination" in the sense that rather than not getting the job because of her sex/race/whatever, she did get the job because of her sex/race/whatever. So yes, there is a proper usage for that term.

I know what you're referring to though, that discrimination against whites or males is somehow "reverse discrimination," and in this sense you're right, that's just plain discrimination.

While I see your point, I still disagree with you. Reverse discrimination is a highly controversial topic. In basically any instance, reverse discrimination is a misnomer. Why not call it positive discrimination? The OP was in fact discriminated against, it was simply positive. Reverse discrimination is really a worthless term.

Reverse discrimination sounds like a group of women are yelling at a single man then a group of men walk by and physically assault the female group. THAT is reverse discrimination.

 

[Princess Rose]

And it works. The workplace is a lot more diverse since it was instigated.

Having a diverse workplace is insignificant. It really is. So no I will not stop complaining about unfair treatment.

Actually, having a diverse workplace creates a better working environment for everyone - white men included.

Pathetic. You know what? The real world isn't fair. Screw equality. So let's ignore AA.

Oh wait, you're just saying "The real world isn't fair!" when it doesn't apply to what you like. Duh, of course you'd be okay with hypocrisy. Oh well you're bankrupt in the logic department it sems.

Better is subjective. And obviously your standards are bankrupt if you whine about how we need AA while saying the world isn't fair.

It's flaws do not outweigh the good. Why? It's flaw is that it is utterly unethical.

From a business standpoint, AA isn't about being fair - it's about creating a better workplace. See above.

And my logic is sound. Yours on the other hand...

Because of such Sexist and Racially driven views in society!
We live in an Age of Enlightenment (Not enlightened age), but if one of the goals of enlightenment is equality then Affirmative Action and Reverse Discrimination should in no way to come into the equation.
It shouldn't matter who is what and what color they are! It is disgusting in my opinion that they are FORCING diversity rather than incorporating those diverse few who ARE QUALIFIED.
I can understand the fact that she was qualified, but the male in the situation proved he was above her experience wise.

So once again Immanuel Kant is probably spinning in his grave

It shouldn't. But it does. We aren't that enlightened. But we're working on it. And the only way we're going to have the chance is Affirmative action.


To all three of you - guys, everything you say sounds like one thing to me:

"Waaa waaa waaa! I'm in a privileged group, and I got screwed, so I'm upset! Waaa!"

**shrugs** Too bad. We live in a world with Affirmative Action. And it isn't going anywhere.

 

[Bluntman1138]

Do you think it's acceptable to use gender or race to determine who will get a job between two persons roughly equal otherwise ?

Question. Would you have made a post stating discrimination, if you did not get the job?

 

[ks1234]

You're clearly good enough, or you wouldn't have got the job, right?

"good enough"... maybe
"most qualified"... obviously not.
AA is so pointless, I hate the fact that I loose to people who are much less qualified than I am due to the fact that i'm an educated white male who doesn't speak a foreign language and will hire a woman or "minority" based largely on that fact even though they cant do the job nearly as well as I can.

 

[orangeban]

No, there is no such thing as reverse discrimination, there is only discrimination.

If a boss chose a white person over a black person that would be discrimination, well vice versa it's still the same.

 

[Cephei Mordred]

Finally, to all the people talking about "it should only be about the qualifications," sure, in a perfect world.

Exactly. The patriarchy would love any excuse to keep a vice grip on what it has. Maybe affirmative action isn't perfect, but do you really think the people on top are going to say "Okay, the Civil Rights folks won, we'll instantly stop being racist/sexist/etc?"

Therefore, it's very ignorant to place primacy on merit, because it only benefits those who have the most benefit in this society, rather than those who are marginalized.

Also, the whole "reverse discrimination" thing is wrong on its face. It's fine for women to disdain men and blacks to disdain whites, because there is not a power structure in place to enforce their disdain, whereas males had damn well better love women and whites had damn well better love blacks because they DO have the power, i.e. patriarchy, and prejudice + power = racism.

Get it? Without power, prejudice can't really do much. That's Feminism 101. Oh, so some girl hurt your feelings by commiserating with her girlfriends about how men suck? Or some black guy offended you by talking about how whites are still keeping blacks down? Too bad, they get to, case closed, that's final.

Examine yourselves, men. How much of your desire for 'merit' is really a desire to keep women down?

...

Just kidding, merit should always be the deciding factor, bigotry is bigotry whoever does it, etc.