Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 17892
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2025/05/27 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
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2000/3/30-31 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:17892 Activity:very high
3/30    I don't necessarily have a problem with affirmative action,
        but I think it's strange that some companies have affirmative
        action programs AND claim not to discriminate based on race.
        Affirmative action specifically discrimates in favor of certain
        races for an allegedly good cause, but it still discriminates.
        It seems like these companies should either say the have
        affirmative action progromas or say they don't discriminate
        based on race but not both.  What do other people think?  I
        am missing something or do most corporations and universities
        have contradictory policies?
        \_ If a particular race maintains a percentage of the population
           in general and a company tries to maintain that same representation
           in its work force, is that discrimination, or just attempting to
           keep the playing field equal?
        \_ If society maintains an unfair playing field by not providing
           funding towards lower income communities so we get a perminant
           lower class since they have no opportunity for education and
           thus no chance at a decently paying job, where would you try
           and create equal footing for all? Give more money to schools
           and social programs, have hiring preferences for unqualified
           individuals or build prisions?
        \_ Such companies can be sued (likely successfully) for discrimination.
        \_ Welcome to New Thought as created and promoted by the whacky left.
           It doesn't have to make sense, just make rich white people feel
           better about themselves at the expense of others.  It also keeps
           the blacks from rioting too often.
        \_ do you believe in AA based on income? or childhood
           living conditions?
           \_ I thought AA was a great thing. It helped me get over my
              alcholism. There should be an anonymous club for every other
              controlled substance.
           \_ Only merit should differentiate people.
             \_ how come white people with less merit before AA got the jobs?
                \_ though I commiserate with the sentiment, I think this point
                   is, at best, specious without some kind of justification.
                   \_ I don't see any 'sentiment' here, just a racist remark.
                      \_ If you see a racist remark, then you see a sentiment.
                         Learn the language before you try to split hairs.
                      \_ I'm just saying that it's hard to call it an
                         egalitarian society if the system is in any way
                         biased against a significant portion of the
                         population.
                         \_ Of course it is.  I am more biased against blacks
                         than whites because blacks robbed me and beat me up
                         a lot more often than whites.  I am merely learning
                         from data.  Would you rather I _wasn't_ biased against
                         them?  And don't give me this 'they are products of
                         an unfavorable environment' shit.  People have free
           \_ Your views on war are somewhat naive.  The idea in war is
              to destroy your opponents will and ability to fight by any means
              necessary.  If a high body count lands you this goal, great.
              Realistically, though, a high body count is very unlikely to
              be sufficient.  Look at Vietnam: the US killed something like
              10 times as many people as it sustained in casualties.  But
              the NVA were still willing to fight, long after American
              determination petered out due to POLITICAL and SOCIAL pressures.
           \_ [vietnam crap deleted]  oops.  sorry.
                         will.  They are not products of their environment.
                         Some just choose to be nasty.
                         \_ Yer walking home in the middle of the night and
                            you see a group of
                            (1) young black men in dark puffy jackets
                            \_ actually, you shouldn't feel ashamed about this
                             stereotype.  I was in a hurry to see my
                            friend one saturday evening and pay him back the
                            money i owed him ($40).  I passed a bunch of
                            young black men in dark puffy jackets,  although my
                            first instinct was to hang back and let them
                            walk ahead.  Anyhow, I pass them, I hear a bunch
                                           respect.  I made up my mind about
                                           such people on a case by case basis.
                                           But if forced to generalized about
                            of snickers behind me, didn't pay attention to it.
                            Anyhow...I get to the darkness of the bridge
                            at Moffitt Library, and suddenly hear rapid
                            footsteps behind me and I realize I am totally
                            fucked.  Before I have a chance to turn around
                            these same fuckers that I passed, one of them
                            puts an armlock around my neck and demands
                            my money.  and you know the rest...

                            what makes me angry is that they laughed when
                            they left, and i had to deal with a sore neck
                            from getting choked really hard and the
                            shitty task of canceling all my credit cards.
                            and of course the feeling of being violated..
                            i was already in a pissed off mood.  and
                            this happened at 10:30 p.m., northside...
                            be especially careful during summer folks,
                            and pay attention to those stereotypes, they're
                            not entirely a bad thing....

                            (2) young, bald white men in torn leather jackets
                                and spiky hair
                                \_ How can you be bald and have spiky hair
                                   at the same time?  Sounds like a good
                                   depiction of Cafe Berlin.
                            (3) computer geeks

                            I think it's safe to say that most white people
                            fear 1 > 2, and most black people fear 2 > 1.
                            I think the poster above is white.
                         \_ That's an extremely ego-centric and short sighted
                            view point that sounds much too focused on self-pity
                            to be real.  Are you trolling?
                            \_ I am not trolling.  I care about myself more
                               than about people who beat me up.  I am sorry
                               if this is perceived as ego-centric.
                               -- original poster
                               \_ *sigh*  Ever heard of objectivity?  It's
                                  kind of useful when devising laws that apply
                                  to _everyone_ and not just your victimized
                                  little self.
                                  \_ I thought it was blacks who were bitching
                                  about being 'victimized.'  I am not bitching
                                  I am just telling you why _I_ personally
                                  discriminate against blacks.
                                     \_ Two wrongs don't make a right? *shrug*
                                        I still think I'm being trolled, but
                                        whatever.  You might want to learn
                                        how to format your motd posts
                                        correctly, though.
                                        \_ It really isn't a troll. I have
                                           worked with intelligent, successful
                                           black people, whom I admire and
                                           respect.  I have made up my mind
                                           about such people on a case by case
                                           basis.
                                           But if forced to generalize about
                                           blacks as a whole, my view will be
                                           negative, based on my past
                                           experiences with blacks as a whole.
                                           \_ You have experience with blacks as
                                              a whole?  Wow.  How much time did
                                              it take to meet all of them.  Or
                                              did you mean that you had
                                              experience with a statistically
                                              significant random subset of
                                              blacks?
                                              \_ I generalize data that I have.
                                                 If there is more data, I will
                                                 change my opinion, if the data
                                                 tells me to.  If you don't
                                                 like my opinion argue with my
                                                 data.
                            \_ Actually, it sounds more real than troll to me.
                               It has a thread of logic.
                         \_ Were they right-handed or left-handed?  Surely
                            you're more biased against righties or lefties as a
                            result, right?
                            \_ The aforementioned acts were committed by blacks
                            far more often than is warranted by the relative
                            percentage of blacks in the general population.
                    \_ actually, it's historically backed.
                       \_ What is historically backed?  This 'sentiment' is not
                          even semantically valid.  Less merit than who?
                \_ Less merit than who?
                  \_ what about white only bathrooms?
                     \_ What about green-only trolls?
        \_ <SARCASM>
           It's not right to kill people, but in war the idea is to kill
           as many people as possible.  What do other people thing?  Am
           I missing something or does society have contradictory mores?
           </SARCASM> (Markup was necessary to reduce further confusion.)
           \_ [vietnam crap deleted]  Oops.  Missed the sarcasm.  Sorry.
        \_ Short answer:  It's not federally-defined "discrimination" if
           it's affirmative action.  The word when used in HR policy has
           the federal meaning.
            \_ i.e. "Welcome to New Thought as created and promoted by the
                whacky left. It doesn't have to make sense, just make rich
                white people feel better about themselves at the expense
                of others.  It also keeps the blacks from rioting too
                often."
                \_ Notice that short answer was more fact than opinion based.
                   \_ Notice that the short answer obsequiously (or
                      perhaps conspiratorially) accepts that the government
                      can redefine english words in whatever way happens
                      to fit thier political agenda or best obscures
                      (contradicts) reality despite all/any reason.
                      \_ ^redefine^add a legal definition to
                         Please reflect on the relative benefit of AA in
                         the 1960s and whether AA is a successful policy
                         today, in 50 words or less.
                          \_ The benefit (or lack) of AA is irrelevant to
                             *my* criticism of the perversion of the
                             language.  What is so damn hard about
                             actually saying/writing what is meant?  That
                             society has a "legal definition" of a word
                             that is actually contradictory to the
                             original definition is an obvious sign of
                             intellectual/legal dishonosty and/or sloth.
                             \_ I agree.  This is the point I was addressing
                                when I started the thread.  Whether or not
                                AA is good is independant of the fact that
                                Equal Opportunity statements are contradictory
                                to AA.  Does anyone have a response to this
                                abuse of language issue?  I'm not trolling.
                                It's just that the AA policy and the
                                Equal Opprutnity statements which every
                                organization makes seem blatantly
                                contradictory.  When something that seems
                                so obviously wrong is accepted without
                                question it makes me wonder if I'm missing
                                an important point.  Therefore, I would like
                                to see a response or URL making the case
                                for the other side of the issue.  Thanks.
                             \_ Please reflect on why it's okay for black
                                people to make jokes about black people
                                and white people, but not okay for white
                                people to joke about black people, in
                                50 words or less.