Weakened at Bernie's

[footnotefetish]

These über-conservatives have a love/hate relationship with affirmative action. There's hate for the program but looooooove for its existence since they can use it as an excuse when minorities get ahead of their white, pimply asses in business. They can claim race preference rather than have a self-realization that they might not be the sharpest

Comments

Convenience

[flw]

Reminds me of a joke I was trying to write:

What do you tell the unqualified, alcoholic, unshaven, one shirt tail not tucked in, late for the interview, friend of your bosses nephew prospective employee was the reason you couldn't hire him?

Affirmative Action.

There are so many situations when you can't hire someone who is white and you need to give them an excuse... or someone who is white needs an excuse for why they didn't get hired. This is the primary function of Affirmative Action if you ask me. Some people are astoundingly persistent and will call and call and call even though they are desperately under qualified or possessing other obvious mental deficits that you can't bring up, and a good old, "Between you and me, we had to hire a black woman." gives these people the excuse they need to lay off. Then they tell everyone at the bar... and then before you know it... everyone at the bar is telling the same story

[footnotefetish]

lexanlet quoted something by Heinlein a while back--something to the effect of every guy thinks he would have been the baddest motherfucker around if he'd been dealt different cards at the beginning of his life, or perhaps at some crucial turning point. It's sort of a combination of braggadocio and a delusion of martyrdom. I think affirmative action lends well to that whole mentality.

What's really telling is that other types of unfair preference happen all the time in hiring, like nepotism and picking the more physically attractive candidate, but they never stir up the same ire. When someone non-white is hired because of his or her ethnicity (whether this is fact or just imagined), suddenly it's some great outrage. This is classic conservatism right here. Be pro-life until birth. Be indignant about immigration, but only mention Mexicans. Be upset about hiring preferences, but only if they're race-based. Say you believe in academic freedom, but not if it applies to Ward Churchill. Of course, if you ever get called on it, you'll say

[minervarain]

I thought I'd add this this with more from Occupied America about "ethnic politics":

"In New York and Chicago pundits openly calculate the 'Jewish vote' or the 'Polish vote' or the 'Irish vote.' It is only when pundits judge people of color that this vote suddenly becomes un-American."

Rodolfo Acuña

[footnotefetish]

Touché! I once read an article in The New York Times about a conservative teacher who was claiming that his academic freedom was being infringed upon. Among his beliefs was the idea that multiculturalism was un-American. Well, if that's the case, I'm as un-American as hell, and I would gladly like to drag his American ass out into the street and kick the shit out of him.

Just wanted to say

[bejeezus]

as a pink--Someone who often passes, but is not white and through conversation, dress, and in "White" circles "physiology" has been "outed"--I can tell you that Rodolfo Acuna is onto something, I'm not sure what because I'm having trouble understanding his semantics. I'd like to think what he is saying is that there is more to ethnic prejudice than skin color, but then the next sentence makes me wonder if he's saying that courting votes of "color" is what nativists find unacceptable and therefore un-American whereas suddenly kykes, poles, and micks are whitewashed. Semantics I suppose.

Re: Just wanted to say

[minervarain]

I tend to interpret it as saying that in America, it's acceptable to be Irish-, Polish-, or Jewish-American, but it's unacceptable to be Mexican-American because of the US's shady history with Mexico. But then, of course, you'll have groups that hate Jews, and groups that hate Poles and Irish; I think what he's getting at is these are more accepted Americanized cultures. Also, it seems since Bush is using illegal immigration to divert attention from the failure of the Iraq war these days, the number of Mexican-haters is much larger. But again, the book was published in 2004, I think. I guess you're right; this subject matter could be interpreted in eight hundred ways that are different from the author's intention. Guess we'd have to ask him:)

level field

[flw]

Yes, exactly! Imagine the story Mister Sweat Pants told Missus Sweat Pants when he didn't get the job... And of course, the reverse can be true. Minorities can dot every "i" and cross every "t" and not get jobs and then attribute it to racism. Or worse, they can walk in in sweat pants and an attitude, not get the job, and then claim they failed because of racism. So, Affirmative Action really levels the playing field for self-destructive, passive aggressive, white male martyrs!