Let's see if I have this right. When affirmative action and gender balancing are seen to be working FOR the people they're designed for, it's viewed as a public good (even though they're usually basically thinly-veiled policies of reverse-racism/prejudice).
HOWEVER, if those same policies eventually, and predictably, start to IMPEDE those who they were meant to empower. . . well, we can't have that.
MONEY QUOTE: What are the consequences of young men discovering that even if they do less, they have more options? And what messages are we sending young women that they must, nearly 25 years after the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, be even more accomplished than men to gain admission to the nation's top colleges?
Duhhhhh, us lazy men can do less and have more options, duhhhh. Me see bird, ME SMASH!
Let's see, men can now do less, and women have to be more accomplished than that? Good, solid argument.
Is it wrong that this is amusing me so much?
You Don't Say. . .
One thing that I think a lot of people don't realize about journalists is that we're not, as a whole, drastically informed on many of the topics we cover. In fact, it's standard practice for many newsrooms to rotate beat reporters to ensure a fresh take on articles, so a city council reporter may be shifted to the court beat, or a business reporter may be shifted to a metro beat. Not all newsrooms do this, but it was taught to me as such in college, so I assume quite a few do.
Factor into this the fact that journalists, in my mind, are writers first, and thinkers second. Myself, I got into the field because I was decent with the written word, and I realized I'd never have to take another math-related class via the journalism route.
All of this is just my way of pointing out that journalists, by and large, aren't some great pool of mental giants, which explains why something like this can be written, and then missed by several editing passes:
Among other things, the legislation would make it a crime to be in this country illegally.
Or maybe, just maybe, a lot of people just can't make the distinction between immigrants and ILLEGAL immigrants.
UPDATE: Holy fuckin' shit.
Posted by Ryan at March 30, 2006 09:27 AM | TrackBackNo, you're not wrong. It's pretty amusing.
I notice we're fighting the same battle on two fronts. In addition to the immigration thing I was just accused of claiming reverse sexism and asking for reverse-reverse sexism as a remedy.
I swear. It's the kind of thing's like to make a man start voting Republican.
Posted by: Joshua at March 31, 2006 01:57 AMAffirmative action/gender balancing has been one of those issues that has been pissing me off since forever. I spent an entire class period in college arguing with a professor about it. He said he admired my conviction, but I still got a C.
Posted by: Ryan at March 31, 2006 09:44 AM
Stumble It!
