On Oct 23, 2008, at 4:55 PM, Jon Louis Mann wrote: >>> I agree with John and all the others who think that >> the best man or woman >>> for the job is the best man or woman for the job! >> If you believe that then you must also believe either >> a) white men are remarkably better at important jobs >> than other people, or >> b) there is a distinct bias against people who aren't >> white men for important jobs. >> If you believe (b) don't you think something should be >> done about that? >> Ideals Maru >> William T Goodall > > i absolutely do believe there is a distinct bias against people who > aren't white men for important jobs in government. do you deny it? > i also believe something should be done about it. > do you believe that white men are remarkably better at important > jobs than other people? > jon
1) I believe an inequity exists that grants disproportionate advantage to white males in this country's key leadership positions. 2) I believe that one of the primary mechanisms driving that inequity is an educational system that, historically, has favored wealthy upper class students who a) come from families more able to afford to pay for participation in that educational process; b) are part of a subculture that has been raised for many decades with the expectation of entitlement to leadership; and c) enjoy favorable treatment from older generations of that subculture and those families who are currently holding most of those positions of power already, and until about the past generation or so, the vast majority of those successful in that educational system have been white males. Bearing in mind the average age of this country's leadership, most of the people making up that establishment graduated from college sometime in the 1950's, so the inequities that contribute to the white male club currently in charge of this country are historical ones, not current ones. 3) I believe that the inequity should indeed be dealt with decisively. 4) I believe that the current state of higher education in this country has, with a few notable exceptions, largely addressed the inequities that in the past created the white male power structure, and in addition to that, the culture of the country has changed significantly during that time and now no longer equates aptitude to govern exclusively with success as judged by that educational system, which will, on its own, cause those inequities to balance out over the next generation or so, which to me, largely satisfies 3), other than the remaining exceptions which pose entirely different problems than the historical source of the current imbalance. 5) I believe that using gender, ethnicity, religion, or other statistical distinctions as a means of artificially enforcing the statistical makeup of this country's leadership does a disservice to both the country and the people chosen to lead it. This applies both ways, however, and as I said, I find drawing any kind of racial/gender/ belief system boundaries racist and offensive. (I would apply the double-blind method, myself, to make sure *only* the metrics relevant to actual performance of the job were considered, but I'm a little odd in that respect.) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
