There are plenty of stories abounding out in the media about how Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are black! Why is that news? They are in the Super Bowl and all that you hear is that two black coaches are facing each other. In other news...Black athletes face each other in the Super Bowl, black college players are recruited to NBA, black man hired for mid-level manager in mid sized firm. What about the game? What about Payton Manning. Admittedly I'm not a huge NFL fan but I find this issue incredibly obnoxious. Oh guess what...last year two white coaches faced each other (at least I think they did) let's make headlines of that too.
I recently was watching late night cable TV and a talk show with 5 black men and while two of them seemed well grounded the host was making everything a racial issue. Essentially he felt that more black men and women should get upper management jobs simply because...well there black. I disagree with this and posit that it shouldn't be made a racial issue. If somebody is more qualified they should get the job. While recently applying for law school one of my biggest frustrations was the fact that I am a straight white male. Apparently law schools want more diversity than I can offer so slots are given to candidates because they are a certain race, gender or homosexual. Well if you look at dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discriminate, discriminate is defined as:
"to make a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing on the basis of the group, class, or category to which the person or thing belongs rather than according to actual merit"
Does not that apply to white males as well? I just wish that we lived in a society that Martin Luther King envisioned when he so eloquently put in his speech "I Have a Dream" http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
So do I Mr. King, so do I! I don't care who you are, what you look like, or what your sexual preference; if you are qualified and the best candidate I will hire you. I hope for a world where everything isn't made into an issue of race or gender.
Please read this for what it is: Not racist in anyway, rather it's the opposite.
I recently was watching late night cable TV and a talk show with 5 black men and while two of them seemed well grounded the host was making everything a racial issue. Essentially he felt that more black men and women should get upper management jobs simply because...well there black. I disagree with this and posit that it shouldn't be made a racial issue. If somebody is more qualified they should get the job. While recently applying for law school one of my biggest frustrations was the fact that I am a straight white male. Apparently law schools want more diversity than I can offer so slots are given to candidates because they are a certain race, gender or homosexual. Well if you look at dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discriminate, discriminate is defined as:
"to make a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing on the basis of the group, class, or category to which the person or thing belongs rather than according to actual merit"
Does not that apply to white males as well? I just wish that we lived in a society that Martin Luther King envisioned when he so eloquently put in his speech "I Have a Dream" http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
So do I Mr. King, so do I! I don't care who you are, what you look like, or what your sexual preference; if you are qualified and the best candidate I will hire you. I hope for a world where everything isn't made into an issue of race or gender.
Please read this for what it is: Not racist in anyway, rather it's the opposite.
posted by Mormegil at 16:35
5 Comments:
Sid,
Two months since your last post. I am badly disappointed...
It's been a while since you posted this, but...
I cannot agree with you more! Grah, I get so frustrated. We're still segregating, saying that "people of colour" or whatever, but especially blacks, are "handicapped" or something. Personally, I would feel insulted by this treatment as a black person.
It makes me sick when I hear terms like "reverse-racism," too. It's RACISM. Same. Thing. It doesn't matter who it's directed to or from, it's racism.
We're supposed to stop seeing black or white or tan or whatever, and just see people...but these crazy PC people keep harping on race so much that we're never going to get anywhere!
Anyway...yeah, great rant. ^_^
-Durelin
Hello Mr Mormy, 'tis TGWBS,
There was once a point when I agreed with you, but I changed my mind.
Yes, the current system is unfair to you. But life is unfair to black, Latinos and gays and that hasn't gone away. Until we get to a society free of discrimination, these checks should be in place to prevent minorities sinking to the bottom of the socio-economic scale due to prejudice.
Gays have been oppressed since the conversion of Rome, and blacks for centuries. If, for a relatively short time, to result in a non-discriminatory society, white straight men are "oppressed" (when jobseeking, and nowhere else), then so be it. My headteacher once described it as history balancing out.
TGWBS, so it's okay that it’s unfair to me but just so long as it is not unfair to others? Makes perfect sense.
History balancing itself out? How does that justify it? How does giving modern day blacks a settlement check because their ancestors were slaves even it out? I think you missed the point of it all. What I was trying to say is why do we make everything an issue of black and white? Straight or Gay? By perpetuating this you are only introducing new kinds of segregation and discrimination and saying that it is acceptable. Why should I pay a price for what happened 200 years ago (slavery) or what still happens today?
You say it is not right for somebody to discriminate against another because they are black, Hispanic, gay, or any other 'minority' why is it okay to discriminate against a majority?
I think that this is an issue because there are so few black coaches in the NFL, and in sports in general. Being a coach is sort of like a management position, so seeing two black coaches face off is kind of a first.
The reason why it's okay to talk about this is because in a society where historically there have been so few black coaches, we need to draw attention to it when there are. This has a two-prong effect in combating racism: 1) it shows society that a particular race can do a particular job. this has the same effect as advertising. When you hear of that job, you no longer think "white male" but "male". (We're still working on getting women coaches in the NFL. :) ; 2) it shows young black kids that their options are more varied than is immediately apparent.
Now, if it were two tall, white, male, blonde, German descendants facing off in anything, I would hope that no one would notice. ;)
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