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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!qubix!steven
From: steven@qubix.UUCP (Steven Maurer)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: 59 cents and catch-22
Message-ID: <543@qubix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Sep-83 23:07:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: qubix.543
Posted: Mon Sep 26 23:07:44 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Sep-83 02:02:00 EDT
References: <318@ut-sally.UUCP>
Organization: Qubix Graphic Systems, Saratoga, CA
Lines: 70

>  I paraphrase:
>       "It's not our fault that we don't pay the [colored folk,women] as
>       much as the [whites,men] even though it may seem to the casual
>       observer that they do the same work.  They just don't have the
>       requisite [experience,education,intelligence,enthusiasm,qualifying
>       skills,luck(!)] to rise to the appropriate level of authority in
>       the company."
>  It sounds to me like a good catch-all excuse for  a n y t h i n g .  Who
>  decides what constitutes "authority" and who has what it takes to get it?
>  The people doing the discriminating, that's who!
>
>  To which I might add: any company or indeed any system which "places people
>  at a disadvantage" because they "enter the job market after taking time off
>  for child-rearing" is so inherently anti- p e o p l e  that the fact that it
>  is anti- w o m e n  is secondary.
>                                      -- Prentiss Riddle
>                                         {ihnp4,ut-ngp}!ut-sally!riddle
>                                         riddle@ut-sally.UUCP

>  (This isn't really a flame at Steve Maurer.  I'm not sure he sees the same
>  implications in his statements that I do.)

==================================

    I certainly do NOT.

    Prentiss Riddle seems to be living in a make-believe world where
everyone gets to have the job they always wanted.   I, on the other hand,
live in a world where there are a large number of people competing for
the same select number of high-pay/high-enjoyment/low-work positions.
You can see that living in my world is a bit more difficult, because
the companies (& universities & governmental bodies, etc) that offer these
positions must "DISCRIMINATE" against a large number of people, by not
giving them the positions they want.

    How do *they* [whites,men] do this??

    *They* judge on such considerations as how *QUALIFIED* someone is for
the position (GASP!!! HORROR!!! SHOCK!!!).  And maybe, how *INTELLIGENT*
these people may be (OH!! NOO!!!).  And even, how *LONG* & *LOYALY* these
workers have been. (LOOK LOYALTY-ISM!!!).

    It sounds to me like a good catch-all excuse for  a n y t h i n g .
			RIGHT???

----- 
    The fact of the matter is that it has never been illegal or immoral
to discriminate in this country --  a fact that should be obvious to anyone
who isn't a fool, and to quite a few who are.  "Discrimination" is a normal
part of our lives; we do it when we buy goods & services, just as companies
do when they hire.  It is only illegal and immoral to discriminate because
of Race, Creed, Color, Gender, and a host of other small things which our
founding-fathers decided that it was nobodies-damned-business to know.

    The real problem with talking about discrimination, is that most people
mean "discrimination against me" when they say it.  It is always easier
to assume that someone has it out for us, than to admit we were not good
enough for whatever we are trying to get.  This fact alone probably accounts
for half the discrimination charges you read in the newspapers, of course
including "reverse-discrimination".

Steven Maurer

p.s.  Prentiss Riddle states that any system that "places people at a
disadvantage" because of large amounts of time taken for child rearing
is anti-people.   I laugh at this for many reasons, such as: India,
Overpopulation, Who-would-pay, etc.   Children are their own reward. If
you expect another from society, then that society is putting pressure on
you to have them.  To consider children only as a supply-side resource,
THAT is anti-people.