Meh
So, I got through my ethics presentation today, but I'm getting a bit of an upper respiratory thing, so I sounded rather terrible. Add in nerves and it was kinda pathetic. Ah, well.
The capper, though, was the presentation about the book that claims diversity is killing journalism.
Oh, dear.
The book, as far as I can tell, was one giant anti-Affirmative Action screed. The conclusions the author was making were completely devoid of logic. He was doing things like holding up how a black doctor, who had gone to med school thanks to Affirmative Action, was later stripped of his license for repeated malpractice. And then he went on about how some police force somewhere was hiring minorities who had criminal records.
Say it with me, folks: the plural of anecdote is not data.
Claiming that Affirmative Action is causing unqualified people to get hired is silly. Is that happening in some cases? Sure. Are neptotism, racism, sexism, looksism and a host of other isms that have traditionally favored white guys causing a lot of unqualified people to get hired, too? Undoubtedly. Let's see this guy write a book about that.
Just because some people cry wolf and play the race card, or some unqualified people get hired by some idiot who has no clue what Affirmative Action is for doesn't mean racism doesn't exist and doesn't need to be addressed. Affirmative Action done right does not require people to hire someone unqualified for the position. It merely acknowledges that diversity in any organization is a good thing, and therefore when given a choice of two equal candidates, it's better to go with someone who isn't a white guy if your organization is 99% white guys.
The number of success stories for Affirmative Action--particularly in schools--vastly outweigh the stories where something went wrong. And most of those latter stories are based in user error. Just because some idiot drives their car into a ditch doesn't mean there's something wrong with the car.
And on another topic inspired by this...
( just the facts, ma'am )
The capper, though, was the presentation about the book that claims diversity is killing journalism.
Oh, dear.
The book, as far as I can tell, was one giant anti-Affirmative Action screed. The conclusions the author was making were completely devoid of logic. He was doing things like holding up how a black doctor, who had gone to med school thanks to Affirmative Action, was later stripped of his license for repeated malpractice. And then he went on about how some police force somewhere was hiring minorities who had criminal records.
Say it with me, folks: the plural of anecdote is not data.
Claiming that Affirmative Action is causing unqualified people to get hired is silly. Is that happening in some cases? Sure. Are neptotism, racism, sexism, looksism and a host of other isms that have traditionally favored white guys causing a lot of unqualified people to get hired, too? Undoubtedly. Let's see this guy write a book about that.
Just because some people cry wolf and play the race card, or some unqualified people get hired by some idiot who has no clue what Affirmative Action is for doesn't mean racism doesn't exist and doesn't need to be addressed. Affirmative Action done right does not require people to hire someone unqualified for the position. It merely acknowledges that diversity in any organization is a good thing, and therefore when given a choice of two equal candidates, it's better to go with someone who isn't a white guy if your organization is 99% white guys.
The number of success stories for Affirmative Action--particularly in schools--vastly outweigh the stories where something went wrong. And most of those latter stories are based in user error. Just because some idiot drives their car into a ditch doesn't mean there's something wrong with the car.
And on another topic inspired by this...
( just the facts, ma'am )