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You can segment the human population in any way and assign equal power to each of these groups. Why segment the population by race? Life is inherently unfair.

You can segment the human population in any way and assign equal power to each of these groups. Why segment the population by race? Life is inherently unfair. There will always be differences in power. The goal can't be to assign equal power to everyone because it is impossible. The best goal is to ensure that there isn't a huge difference in power. Equal opportunity provides that guarantee.

majormajor 11y ago
In regard to the US, the obvious answer is that some races were literally oppressed on that very basis for decades/centuries. That was not a passive activity. So is it any real surprise that it might have long-lasting effects that need active, rather than passive, countering? EDIT: your comment reads differently after your addition of the second paragraph so now I don't know if I'm disagreeing with you or answering a rhetorical question or what. Regardless...
- hueving 11y ago
  No, an individual's circumstances cannot be determined by their skin color. Forcing a company to take a candidate that is objectively worse than others with different skin colors or genitalia is stupid and makes everyone else bitter when they realize the incompetence. Government sponsored education for the unprivileged is much better than the ham fisted bandaid of making companies match percentages of different segments.
  - majormajor 11y ago
    Forcing employment would be a rather extreme attempt at a remedy, but the graph here[0] illustrates rather nicely a problem that race-blind attempts at fixes will run into. What works in one environment may not work in another, and their are dramatically different environments for different races in the USA. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/12/black-poverty-differs-from-white-poverty/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/12/black...
- home_boi 11y ago
  The problem is that reparations in the form of equal representation hurt people that have nothing to do with the original oppression. It is a zero sum game. The groups that suffer the most from "equal representation" are immigrants and their children. These people tend to be high achievers, competing in the upper echelon where every little difference counts. It is unfair to punish these people for actions that were done when they were not even in the country. Even if there is some way to only target the children of the perpetrators, it isn't fair to punish people for simply being related to the perpetrators. What happened in the past is wrong and unfair, but reparations will just displace the hurt from one group to another.

majormajor 11y ago

In regard to the US, the obvious answer is that some races were literally oppressed on that very basis for decades/centuries. That was not a passive activity. So is it any real surprise that it might have long-lasting effects that need active, rather than passive, countering? EDIT: your comment reads differently after your addition of the second paragraph so now I don't know if I'm disagreeing with you or answering a rhetorical question or what. Regardless...

hueving 11y ago
No, an individual's circumstances cannot be determined by their skin color. Forcing a company to take a candidate that is objectively worse than others with different skin colors or genitalia is stupid and makes everyone else bitter when they realize the incompetence. Government sponsored education for the unprivileged is much better than the ham fisted bandaid of making companies match percentages of different segments.
- majormajor 11y ago
  Forcing employment would be a rather extreme attempt at a remedy, but the graph here[0] illustrates rather nicely a problem that race-blind attempts at fixes will run into. What works in one environment may not work in another, and their are dramatically different environments for different races in the USA. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/12/black-poverty-differs-from-white-poverty/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/12/black...
home_boi 11y ago
The problem is that reparations in the form of equal representation hurt people that have nothing to do with the original oppression. It is a zero sum game. The groups that suffer the most from "equal representation" are immigrants and their children. These people tend to be high achievers, competing in the upper echelon where every little difference counts. It is unfair to punish these people for actions that were done when they were not even in the country. Even if there is some way to only target the children of the perpetrators, it isn't fair to punish people for simply being related to the perpetrators. What happened in the past is wrong and unfair, but reparations will just displace the hurt from one group to another.