("You do not have permission to post on this thread.")
By Nicholas Stix
If I weren't permablocked everywhere at The Atlantic, this is what I'd post. (And yes, I tried yet again to post there, and was yet again notified,
"You do not have permission to post on this thread.")
Affirmative action is unconstitutional (it violates the 14th Amendment), illegal (it violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act), and a moral outrage.
As for those who say that whites owe blacks reparations: Whites have already paid blacks several trillion dollars in reparations, and blacks have enjoyed obscene, ever-growing racial privilege for app. 50 years.
To those who say that blacks were discriminated against in higher education, because they weren't given the same chance as whites to attend Harvard: That's beside the point. Jews were discriminated against by Harvard from the early-to mid-1920s until sometime after The War. Are you saying that Jews deserve reparations, too? If not, then what are you saying?
The class of blacks who could have legitimately gained admission to Harvard was microscopic. That is still true, and almost all blacks now admitted are unqualified, and get in through AA. Under segregation, academically-oriented blacks had their own, segregated colleges. Those who condemn that situation can only do so by saying that black colleges are inherently inferior to white ones. That is, indeed, true but only because they are attended by blacks, who have an average IQ 15-22 points lower than whites, a much weaker work ethic, and are overwhelmingly anti-intellectual at all levels of income and education.
During segregation, only approximately 10 percent or less of whites attended college at any level. Almost all of the rest worked in factories, or on farms or ranches, or sweeping floors in stores, the sort of work that blacks and their white allies call "menial," when blacks did them.
Unlike the black Africans and Arab Moslems who enslaved the blacks who ended up here during slavery, white Americans have never owed blacks anything. Not even chattel slavery in America was founded by whites, but by Anthony (Antonio) Johnson, a black man. What whites "did to" blacks was emancipate them.
* * *
So, I was blocked from commenting, and my votes were all reversed. How many other people's comments are blocked or deleted by The Atlantic's thread Nazis, and led to believe that they can vote, when their votes are in fact reversed? That is exactly the world that the racist white writer of the piece, David A. Graham, strives for.
* * *
Americans Oppose Affirmative Action for Race, If You Only Ask White Americans
What do polls show about racial preferences in college admissions? Don't take the overall number at face value.
May 31 2013, 12:53 P.M. ET
The Atlantic
0
Abigail Fisher, who was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin, is challenging race-based affirmative action at the Supreme Court. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)
Updated
With the Supreme Court set to hand down a decision on a controversial affirmative action case in Texas in college admissions -- and expected to deal a blow to traditional race-based measures -- The New York Times has a thoughtful look at socioeconomic affirmative action, which is often presented as a preferable alternative in the 21st century. The argument, proponents say, is that while race is still an issue, race quotas often end up perpetuating class privilege, and that colleges and universities should focus on poor students instead. The upshot? "But many educators see real limits to how eager colleges are to enroll more poor students, no matter how qualified -- and the reason is money."
The story also drops this seemingly innocuous fact: "Polls show that while most Americans oppose racial or ethnic preferences in college admissions, they also think colleges should give extra help to the poor."
That's a deceptively complex statement. When you actually take a look at the polls, the truth is more like this: A majority of Americans oppose racial or ethnic preferences, but only because a majority of Americans are also white.
For example, look at this Pew study from 2009. The toplines are clear: Many more respondents oppose affirmative action for race than support it.
But when you look at the breakdown by race, it's a radically different picture. Note that against 1100 white respondents, there are barely 250 black and Hispanic ones -- and that their support for race-based remedies is 30 to 35 points higher.
This isn't hard to suss out: There are more white people in these polls, and in the U.S. white Americans, who don't benefit from these programs directly (setting aside arguments about the essential value of diversity and social inclusion), see less reason for them -- it's not necessarily racial malice; they just don't see the need. The minorities, of course, who stand to benefit directly, see things rather differently.
The pattern is reasonably consistent. For example, another 2009 poll, from Quinnipiac, found that 55 percent of voters favored ending affirmative action for minority racial groups in hiring, promotion, and college admissions. But drill down: Just a quarter of whites supported continuing the programs, a whopping 78 percent of blacks did. Hispanics were evenly split. (The poll doesn't appear to show how many respondents were black, white, and Hispanic.) The breakdown is consistent over time, too. Here's a Gallup poll from 2005; the poll's topline found Americans support racial preferences 50-42.
A couple of caveats. The conservative pollster Rasmussen has also found support for ending race-based affirmative action, but doesn't make their crosstabs publicly available, so it's unclear what the race breakdown is like. Furthermore, few of these surveys include Asian-Americans as a separate category, usually because there aren't enough respondents for statistical significance. However, Asians and Asian-Americans are an important part of the higher-education debate, as those groups' enrollment has skyrocketed. As Inside Higher Ed reported, there's some disagreement in the demographic, with some arguing that Asians and Asian-Americans now constitute such a large part of college populations that race-based preferences aiding blacks and Hispanics actually disadvantage Asians and Asian-Americans.
But the overall point is clear: When someone says that most Americans oppose race-based affirmative action, what they really mean is most white Americans oppose it.
Update: In a poll this week, the Public Religion Research Institute found stronger support for affirmative action than others: Almost two thirds of respondents "favor programs which, in order to make up for past discrimination, make special efforts to help blacks and other minorities get ahead." But the disparity in answers between respondents of different races is present here, too:
0
David Graham is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Politics Channel. He previously reported for Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and The National.
[Some of the best comments follow.]
- o stevesailer to Tyler Dillon•9 hours ago "but only because a majority of Americans are also white."" Deporting white citizens could solve that problem quick.
- Aaron Grossan hour ago
Addie•11 hours ago Cool post. Let's try another example. Instead of affirmative action, let's create a policy where everyone gives me money and I do nothing in exchange for it. Now, let's poll everyone and find out who is in favor and who is not. What a surprise, most people are against it. But, according to you, that's not fair. Let's break it down by categories. I am 100% for getting free money from everyone else! Shows you what those stupid pollsters know.
Americans Favor Tough Prison Sentencing, If You Only Ask Non-Criminals
"But the overall point is clear: When someone says that most Americans
oppose race-based affirmative action, what they really mean is most
white Americans oppose it."
And as white Americans outnumber all other Americans combined, their beliefs tend to dominate. You seem to act as if the racial breakdown somehow makes the results illegitimate. What? Should white votes count less than black/Latino ones? That's what you seem to be implying.
- 24Ahead to DotCom maxonepercent9 hours ago
- "It is like we are being punished simply for being white at this point"
That's not a bug, it's a feature. Those whites leading the AA charge tend to have a Tim Wise mindset.
This Black male supports affirmative action.
at last, a black male who supports affirmative action.
- Ed4 hours ago
- So Blacks favor programs that help them and Whites disfavor programs that harms them. In other news the sun sets in the West.
Almost like race is a social construct we should discard as rapidly as possible... [I didn't post this because it's good, but because it is necessary to understand Glaivester's response.]
Glaivester to Gruntan hour ago
No, it isn't. Race is a biological thing; it's an extended family that inbreeds to some degree. African-Americans are distinct from European-Americans because ultimately all European-Americans can trace their ancestry to one group of people, and African-Americans to a different group of people. Ethnicity is more of a social construct, as it can contain people of completely different ancestries.
it's *mostly* biological but not completely. There is a socially constructed aspect to it in the united states at least. Of course, dumb people conclude then that race is purely socially constructed but that's what dumb people do, they can't help it.
- JRapp10 hours ago
- People oppose racially discriminatory polices that racially discriminate against them? SHOCKING! Next on The Atlantic, a majority of African American oppose Jim Crowe laws, Gays support Same Sex Marriage, and Jews aren't too fond of Kristalnact.
- "That's a deceptively complex statement. When you actually take a look at the polls, the truth is more like this: A majority of Americans oppose racial or ethnic preferences, but only because a majority of Americans are also white."
PC UNTRANSLATOR ACTIVE!
That's a deceptively complex statement. When you actually take a look at the polls, the truth is more like this: Boy, aren't you glad we have defacto open-borders to get rid of whitey?
- stevesailer8 hours ago
"Don't take the overall number at face value."
Why don't we just hurry up and disenfranchise white people, anyway? Why are they still allowed to vote?
Sounds like your own headline is dishonest, and should read "Americans support affirmative action for race, if you only ask black Americans".
Or to be even more blunt about it: "Black Americans think White Americans should be compelled by law to give them stuff".
The way the Stupid Party acts, they must already believe that white people aren't allowed to vote.
ReplyDelete