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It's pretty obvious that certain groups are trying to draw the focus of the public away from the Asian American discrimination scandal at Harvard and other top
by coralcross 8y ago
It's pretty obvious that certain groups are trying to draw the focus of the public away from the Asian American discrimination scandal at Harvard and other top schools and instead dangling these stories of preferential treatment being given to a few children of mega donors as a distraction.
Of course the difference in scale of discrimination between these two cases is huge, but it's convenient for certain groups to be able to say "hey, hey, look at how Harvard is favoring these predominately white students! Forget about how they're discriminating against orders of magnitude more Asian Americans!"
I suspect this is because the uncomfortable fact of affirmative action policies actually causing discrimination against racial minorities is a significant source of cognitive dissonance in the minds of many, and it's easier for them to just focus on preferential treatment being given to children of the mega rich than focus on the problematic aspects of racialized admission in the first place.
- sincerely 8y agoI've had the same suspicion as you regarding these stories, and I suspect most people are much more "okay" with the idea of people who donate tens of thousands of dollars getting preferential treatment when their kids apply than racial discrimination.
- Terr_ 8y agoI'd say that cuts both ways, ex: "It's pretty obvious that certain groups are trying to draw the focus of the public away from the socioeconomic rich-get-richer phenomenon at Harvard and other top schools, instead dangling these stories of preferential treatment between the poorer 99% as a distraction."
- coralcross 8y agoI would agree with you however the stories focused on the super rich only began coming out after the story about Asian American discrimination broke, not the other way around.
- tdb7893 8y agoI don't think you need groups actively working against you to have a lot of stories about admissions right now. Any story about it will get attention right now so while some may groups doing stories purposefully there's also probably journalists just cashing in on a trend.