Our Post Racial Society
I have never gotten as bent out of shape by reverse discrimination charges as have many Conservatives. If private organizations, for whatever reasons, choose to relax standards to let certain groups into their businesses or universities in larger numbers, so be it. I find it outrageous that this is considered "progressive" when done in favor of certain races, and "racist and evil" when done entirely symmetrically in favor other other races, but I am still all in favor of letting private organizations set their own admissions or hiring standards. Public organizations, of course, are held to a different standard, and my reading of "equal protection" has always been that standards really should not vary across races.
That being said, I found this amazing. For the reasons stated above, I am not ready to get up in arms about it, but I do think the extent of the asymmetry in standards is much greater than most people would guess.
GU:
It is much the same in law school.
http://www.debatingracialpreference.org/GRUTTER-Rates.htm
August 7, 2009, 7:29 pmthebastidge:
I rarely hear anybody getting worked up over "reverse discrimination" in private organizations. When people call out "affirmative action" for what it is, it is usually to oppose it in government mandates on private organizations.
August 7, 2009, 8:09 pmJim:
While many of these schools may be private institutions, the Government has effectively delegated authority to them to decide which of our citizens may legally practice medicine. Consequently, I think they should be held to the race-nutral requirements of the 14th amendment in their selection of candidates.
August 8, 2009, 10:07 amMesa Econoguy:
For the reasons stated above, I am not ready to get up in arms about it...
I’ll do it for you.
I went thru the process, and was routinely denied admission, losing out to many inferior "minority" candidates.
I gave serious thought to law school, medical malpractice specialty, so I could sue the incompetent morons they admitted. I continue to believe this will be a lucrative field in the coming years.
Had I known about this at the time, I likely would have brought action against these schools.
August 8, 2009, 10:46 amgreg:
Yeah, I'll get up in arms about it as well. I've never subscribed to this brand of libertarianism. If a specific act is deemed morally wrong, then just because it is practiced by a private organization (or a "lower" form of government) doesn't suddenly make it ok in my mind. That's not to say I would use the power of government to correct it, just that it shouldn't get a pass.
To use a concrete example, take Bob Barr's current position on the drug war. To his credit he has at least seen the light of federalism. However, he is still ok with state governments waging this war, and I assume private companies doing things like drug testing it's employees.
So yes, private companies discriminating based on which identity group you belong to is still a wrong that should be corrected in society.
August 8, 2009, 2:21 pmgreg:
Yeah, I'll get up in arms about it as well. I've never subscribed to this brand of libertarianism. If a specific act is deemed morally wrong, then just because it is practiced by a private organization (or a "lower" form of government) doesn't suddenly make it ok in my mind. That's not to say I would use the power of government to correct it, just that it shouldn't get a pass.
To use a concrete example, take Bob Barr's current position on the drug war. To his credit he has at least seen the light of federalism. However, he is still ok with state governments waging this war, and I assume private companies doing things like drug testing it's employees.
So yes, private companies discriminating based on which identity group you belong to is still a wrong that should be corrected in society.
August 8, 2009, 2:21 pmProf Frink:
Maybe you won't get up in arms about whites being denied entry into medical school, but seeing this chart, how would you feel about having a black doctor?
August 10, 2009, 9:18 am