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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Discrimination [A Digreesion]
Message-ID: <177@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-May-85 13:09:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.177
Posted: Fri May 24 13:09:54 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 25-May-85 09:56:36 EDT
References: <482@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <436@sftri.UUCP> <1500@orca.UUCP>
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Irvine, CA
Lines: 43

> > > Imagine a highway 10 miles wide and stretching from coast to coast.
> > > Further imagine that there's a silver dollar on every square foot of
> > > the highway.  Now in 1776, we all started a race to see who could get
> > > the most money.  Except that all black men, all women, and all
> > > foreigners were tied up , effectively preventing everyone except white
> > > men from getting more than a mile down the road.  So now, 200+ years
> > > later, it's time for the referees to prevent discrimination.
> > 
> This kind of self assesment is only available to people who can
> afford it.  You don't need to measure yourself by money because you
> have money.  If your kids were going hungry (which a lot of kids in
> this country are), you'd be a good deal more concerned about money
> than now, when you really don't feel you'll ever have to worry.
> 
> The people who use this net don't realize how lucky they are, or how
> unusual when compared to the majority of people in the world.  Very few
> of us went hungry as kids.  Very few of us had to watch our folks
> struggle (I mean *really* struggle, not just pay the credit card bills,
> but pay the food bills) to make ends meet.  Much of the world
> (including plenty of families in the US) is still occupied with keeping
> body and soul together.
> 
> It behooves us to stop every so often and look beyond our campuses
> and high-tech employment areas to get perspective on where we are
> and where the rest of the world is.  I'm not going to preach charity
> or anything like that, but at least take a moment to think about
> where you are and how you got there (not just personally, look at
> your parents and ancestors).
> 
> Ariel (I worked hard, but I was also lucky) Shattan
> ..!tektronix!orca!ariels

I came from one of those families where there wasn't enough money
to buy food some times; clearly my family wasn't one of the beneficiaries
of the mythical "silver dollar highway"; yet the discrimination against
white males that prompted the "silver dollar highway" takes place
against me.  When are the people who believe in government promoted
racial and sexual discrimination going to WAKE UP to the fact that
economics hasn't worked along these neat boundary lines of race, sex,
and national origin?  We are all individuals --- viewing everyone as
a member of a race, ethnic group, or sexual class, and assigning
collective guilt, responsibility, or economic oppression based on
our membership in a category is identical to the approach of the KKK.