I'm convinced that I have no idea what to think about Affirmative Action. This should be the end of my post. But I can't leave it at that, I have to stew about it for a while and come up with a good non-committal answer. Basically, I like the concept of assisting the disadvantaged and giving them the same opportunities as the advantaged. However, I also think that this can be debilitating for quality applicants who once admitted to a workplace or a university are viewed as receiving their admittance based on affirmative action grounds. I guess the problem is that affirmative action is based on race not other factors. If students know that minority students (I hesitate to use "minority" because Affirmative Action doesn't apply to Asian Americans) are favored in admissions because of race, it raises the spectre of racial stereotyping. The deserving are mistaken for the undeserving. Not fair for those who deserve to get in and also not fair for those who were aided in getting in but now face the pressure of adapting to a difficult situation where they feel inadequate. Not to mention the consistent embittering of white males who somehow feel they are disadvantaged by the system. So, if the whole purpose is equality, what about means-tested admissions standards. The minorities that the system is concerned about helping are invariably the poor ones who come from lousy high schools and have no means to get to college. The system is not concerned about the minority applicants coming from wealthy families who attended prep school. They will get into whatever school they want or whatever job they want because they have had similar advantages to the rich white kids. Means tested affirmative action would apply to all races thereby removing the face of affirmative action. No one would know who was getting preference because the results wouldn't be visible. I guess you could argue their clothes might be ragged, but that's true of the indie kids too. Okay, so maybe I did have an idea on Affirmative Action, but the idea was embedded by a final remark from my professor. I think it's a wise choice. It's kind of like the magic perfect town designed by Prince Charles where all the homes look the same on the outside but one out of three families in the community are receiving welfare assistance (and the streets are designed so that you can't get going faster than 20 MPH before you need to make a turn. Seriously! I learned about it in Urban Sociology back in undergrad)
In continuing commentary, De Stijl by the White Stripes really has made a claim for Album of the Year in 2000. My own personal one anyway. It's great great stuff. Apple Blossom, Bound to Pack it Up and Truth Doesn't Make a Noise are perfect songs. I never know why they threw that last song on there. Doesn't really fit. I can only guess it's intended to be ironic about the South. I think it's their strongest album, although the first 12 tracks of White Blood Cells is pretty ripping. Any Top Ten song list of 2001 (I think it's 01) should include Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground or Same Boy You've Always Known. So, for those (no one) who are keeping a running tab here's what we've got. De Stijl is a top 5 album for '00, American English and the Scientist are top 5 songs of '02 and Run is the best song of '03. Some more Irving songs tried to push their mighty way into my '06 top 5 (the Longest Day in the Afternoon grabbed me by my ears and slapped me silly yelling, "Listen to me and appreciate me!" So I did. I'll Write a Song, You Sing for Me was a little more subtle in its approach)
That's it. The Giants are 8-5 and Bonds has done nothing. It's nice to see. I think my next post is how terrible it is to be a Giants fan because Bonds consumes your entire team and no one talks about Randy Winn, Omar Vizquel, and Moises Alou playing well enough to take charge of the NL West (for now). Oh and no crap about the NL Worst business. Last I checked, the NL East had exactly one team (the Mets and if you think that's going to last...well....at least they have Lo Duca who has managed to play for every reprehensible team in the NL and yet is still difficult to hate)over .500 too and the AL West was being led by two teams with .500 records. Not that I believe tha the Giants will win the Series or anything, but I would like to see the Team of Ancients do well. I figure one of them has to drop off the map this year ala Marquis Grissom last year. At some point, you suddenly get too old. I'm betting on Durham or Bonds.
No comments:
Post a Comment