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- cross-posted to:
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- [email protected]
Why YSK: because what seems like equal situation from surface isn’t always equal opportunity for all. And even when equal measure of help is provided, it might not be equally useful.
We have need based programs to address people who need help. Why not bolster to those? Why focus on shifting resources/programs away from the poor to people who objectively don’t need it as much? We know how much people need, we can measure income.
How much money/time/reaources are going into programs, grants, scholarships that target single demographics?
We should certainly be helping the poor universally. Education should be free. Food should be a basic human right.
But, racism is well and alive in modern society. And it actively pushes people down based on race. So, we should address both issues.
I noticed that when I was trying to apply for scholarships.
And yet, you still have a statically better chance at upward mobility than the people who obtained these scholarships. And, don’t get me wrong. I’m white from a poor background with a lot of student loan debt. I feel your pain. But I’m not interested in fighting other poor people for scraps. Education should be free. We should be asking the wealthy and powerful why they are keeping education and other resources artificially difficult to obtain. Why is education and health care only this expensive in the US compared to other western and developed countries?
You mean people of my skin color have a statistically better chance. You don’t know me though, or how I was raised or whether or not I had two, one, or zero active parents in my life. Or their income, whether or not we owned a car, had proper access to food. factors like these are what we should be measuring, but today, skin color trumps all to most institutions.
I’m not asking for anything for me. I want people to be treated fairly. I want systematic means of discrimination destroyed, not constructed. Racism, racial tensions, bigotry are empowered by creating racially targeted policies.
No objection to your points on the ultra wealthy.
You’re right. I don’t know you. I assumed you aren’t black due to context. Perhaps you are native, but that’s the only group that is statistically less likely to have upward mobility compared to black people. But I haven’t really made any other assumptions other than you’re probably not part of a group getting race based scholarships thus you are part of a group statistically more likely to have more upward mobility than groups that do get race based scholarships. I think that’s a fair contextual assumption. And I don’t feel like playing the oppression Olympics with you, I just was trying to explain my position and that I have no benefit in defending affirmative action.
People should be treated fairly. We agree there. But, they aren’t right now. The bonus that certain groups get in admissions is to counterbalance more impactful lost opportunities they had earlier in life. And, until we address those, the counterbalance is necessary. But, you don’t seem to actually care about people being treated fairly at all stages. You only seem to care about people being treated fairly at stages that may give others opportunities you don’t have.
Because, if you actually cared about the root of the issue then your argument wouldn’t be focused on anti-affirmative action but realistically on creating a system that is equal from birth to death for all of us. Instead, you play into the desires of the ultra wealthy which is to create race based animosity to prevent either group from working together. Instead of arguing to lift others up so they don’t need affirmative action in the first place, you decide to squabble over peanuts in the dirt with over some false perception that someone else might be getting a few more crumbs than you.