so diversity is bad? a threat? ... White males claiming victim status= pathetic....
Rez O. Lewshun – sometimes, in order to fight the political correctness battle, the ACLU types ‘invent’ a new language, or new ‘terms’ whenever the original meaning of the words seem offensive to some people.
"Affirmative action” is one of those taboo terms.
I fully realize that there are many forms of discrimination in America AND in many other countries. However, I doubt that you can win the battle against the discrimination and racism by imposing new forms of discrimination.
The affirmative action might have some very good intentions however, when people get preferential treatment over others due to their gender or their race (or any other reasons) - in affect you create a
reverse form of
discrimination, some even call it
revenge discrimination.
Having said that - I will never fault minorities and/or women for using all the tools available to them in order to get the jobs they’re hoping for; all of us would do the very same thing.
In fact, I have personally been to several women-in-aviation seminars although I am a man.
Why? Well, I was using all the tools available to me as well – after all, the seminar catered primarily to women however it was open to both women AND men.
So what’s my point?
Sometimes, it’s easier to look in from outside. Having been born and raised in Europe I find the whole affirmative action debate truly perplexing. People mean well but end up causing even more problems.
Every now and then, when I type a letter to my folks back home I use free online translation services whenever I run into a technical term I can’t seem to remember in Swedish (my native tongue). One website I frequently visit is:
Swedish is a Germanic language and I know that you speak German so this should be easy for you.
I typed “
affirmative action” into the search window and notice the Swedish interpretation I got.
(
I translated the Swedish words 'verbatim' into English and typed them in blue text for everyone else)
English entry word:....affirmative action
Swedish translation:...positiv diskriminering; kvotering (substantiv)
English (verbatim):.....positive discrimination; quote system (noun)
»»» Well, if the discrimination is deemed “
positive” to some it must be “
negative” to others, wouldn’t you say? If so, wouldn’t that be
reverse discrimination?
Also, this online dictionary explains the meaning of different words. Here the term "affirmative action" is explained in Swedish:
“tillvägagångssätt vid till exempel tjänstetillsättning då man
prioriterar svagare grupper, till exempel kvinnor och invandrare,
före andra grupper.”
And here’s my swenglish translation, so please bear with me:
“
a way to, for example through legislative means, prioritize weaker groups, for example women and immigrants, over other groups”
(Blue text is my translation to English)
»»»
Here’s something else that
you’ll appreciate. Go to this website and try to translate the very same term into German instead. (Even though I’m sure you already know the answer)
English:...............
affirmative action
German:..............
positive Diskriminierung
English verbatim:..self-explanatory?
» » » « « «
Do you see my point? Discrimination is discrimination no matter how pretty we make the words that describe it. We call it affirmative action because people didn't like the more accurate term of “positive discrimination” so instead we, the society, invented a term that appears to be less offensive.
I do not know the solution to this problem. However, until we start call things for what they really are, we’ll never be able to find a solution to discrimination in this country.