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From: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.social,net.women,net.flame
Subject: Re: Discrimination and Affirmative Action
Message-ID: <394@mtxinu.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 31-May-85 13:21:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtxinu.394
Posted: Fri May 31 13:21:19 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Jun-85 12:04:38 EDT
References: <566@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <879@mnetor.UUCP>
Reply-To: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley, CA
Lines: 34
Xref: linus net.politics:8634 net.social:562 net.women:5087 net.flame:9440

In article <879@mnetor.UUCP> clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) writes:
>
>For most people in a position to hire people (at least in the computer
>industry) I believe that the primary criteria for hiring people is that
>they find the best person for the job.  I don't think racial/sexual
>biases are particularly prevalent anymore especially in highly technical 
>areas (though handicapped *might* be).

A study just released by a group at Stanford shows that women in technical
fields make less than men, and hold fewer management positions, by *more*
than the natinal average.  In other words, discrimination in the high-tech
world is worse.  My own observations seem to yield the same conclusions
about minority races, with the possible exception of Asians, whose
culture predisposes them to work inordinately harder than us honkies.

> ...
>
>Considering the long way society has come since the '30s and '40s it
>would be far better to let things alone and the problem of discrimination
>will disappear as it has been doing - things have been happening
>without anybody really noticing.

Things have been happening - maybe without people noticing, but if
so only because they're happening too slowly - only because people
continue to *do* things about it.  If we stop actively striving for
equality, then we'll surely degenerate back to where we were - maybe
as far back as the early 19th century and beyond.  Remember those times
from your history lessons (you *did* study basic history in school,
didn't you) when people were actually *bought and sold*?  I sure don't
want to go back there, nor, I suspect, do you.

-- 
Ed Gould		    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146