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From: robertp@weitek.UUCP (Robert Plamondon)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.social,net.women,net.flame
Subject: Re: Discrimination and Affirmative Action
Message-ID: <197@weitek.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-May-85 12:28:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: weitek.197
Posted: Wed May 29 12:28:45 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 31-May-85 06:05:28 EDT
References: <566@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
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In article <566@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>, beth@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP
(Beth Christy) writes:

> So what else can we do but require people to ignore whatever prejudice
> they have and hire a black/woman/hispanic/handicapped_individual?  And then
> hope they recognize that the above-mentioned individual *is* performing
> well.

Well, the Irish and the Jews have pretty much overcome prejudices against
them without government aid.  I'm always irritated by the presumption that
today's minorities are too incompetent to do the same.

For that matter, the idea that government intrusion into people's lives
would ever LESSEN resentment strikes me as absurd.  OSHA insists that
they're regulating working conditions for the workers' own good, but have
you ever heard a kind word about them? Why would you assume that regulation
of YOUR causes would be less inept than other regulation?

The nazis in Germany felt that the Jews had been oppressing them for
centuries, and were excluding good Aryans from professional positions. So
they set up government programs to restore the balance...

The side effects were unpleasant.