Open your mind

Affirmative action is needed to get the best candidates, psychologist says

minddisclosure:

Good debate by thewomaninsideme:

Using the submission because it’s too big to the ask box.

How is it discriminatory to give a hand to someone that will be put down by society all their life? It’s not easy to succeed in a environment that is always trying to put you down. It’s more than fair to take “discriminatory” mesures in a discriminatory environment. You can’t judge by the same parameters people that are not treated equally by society, especially considering that some of then will have a head start and way less obstacles to overcame. You can’t give someone a great car and put then in a great road and give someone a shit car and put then in a shit road and then tell the one is better because they got in the end first. It doesn’t matter if the second was a better driver, she/he would have to be three times better than the other to succeed.

MD’s tainted and screwed views of the world:

I acknowledge there is societal discrimination happening, much in the form of racism, that is not what I am dismissing.  What I don’t believe to be a cure for that discrimination is further discrimination.  Giving any group an advantage, no matter if justified or not, is discrimination.  

Giving a hand to someone is charity and applaudable, giving handouts and special treatments to a whole group based on ethnicity is discrimination.  By doing so you are saying they are not good enough and need a crutch to lean on?

Disclaimer:  I am in no way being aggressive in my argument, I am merely pointing out another view.  My view is sadly based upon experience, I am not origingally from North America, I’ve lived through legistated affirmative action, while it provides leverage for some, it clearly conitines to paint whole groups with ‘minority’ status.  When do they ever get to rise above?  The scholars who I interacted with within the realm of affirmative action felt their achivements would forever be tainited by perceptions of assistance through affirmative action.  

I appreciate good debate and dialogue and do not wish to offend you #thewomaninsideme or any other person.  I am against racism in it’s every form,  but affirmative action is always a good controversial topic for discussion.

Actually, affirmative action is not charity and it does not mean that these people can’t do something. It is not charity to consider that some factors are going to make things harder for some people and it is not charity to take this into account when judging the performance of different people. If one group already have a head start, how is it discriminatory to give the others some help? Discriminatory would be to close your eyes to the disparity.

Affimative actions are just taken when there is some social problem to be fixed. And the important thing is that the aim of these actions is to end themselves after some time. Things will not be fixed by doing nothing, this is a way to try to fix things or at least to decrease the disparities. The goal is to make a more diverse environment, by creating a hole in the social barrier that is preventing some people to ascend. This make not only possible to break stereotypes, but also make possible to minorities to have more representation and this will make possible to the futures generations to see what they can do. Affirmative actions are just a way to make changes, for a more equal environment. Sure, this is a long term investment, but it is better than do nothing and wait for things to fix themselves.

And my view is also based in experience as I live in a country where there is the need to take affirmative actions and while it may be controvertial, I believe it can help build a more equal society.

A Dialogue With My 86-year-old Grandmother About LGBT Rights & Marriage Equality

I saw this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/gay-activists-grandparents-marriage-equality_n_1310537.html
earlier this afternoon and I got suddenly curious how my 86yo grandmother felt about marriage equality and LGBT rights. Since she's often hilarious, I decided to interview her on the phone and post it here. I put it on speakerphone, recorded it, then transcribed it. She's in Miami, and Cuban-born, so this is translated from Spanish. She's a pretty feisty lady. I want to be her when I grow up. Here's what she said:
Me: Grandma, what do you think about this couple in their 90s supporting their gay grandkids in the fight for marriage equality?
Grandma: I think it's very nice. You have to support your family, no matter who they are. You can't reject people for things like that.
Me: If you had gay or lesbian family, would you do the same?
Grandma: I don't know if I could make a video like those people. They speak English.
Me: What about in Spanish? Would you make videos supporting marriage equality in Spanish.
Grandma: Ay... don't get any ideas. I don't want to make a video.
Me: But is it okay if I post this on the Internet? On one of my websites
Grandma: Ignorant people might yell at you.
Me: Oh, that's okay, I don't mind.
Grandma: Yes, you can put what I said on the Internet.
Me: Okay. So do you support gay and lesbian people getting married?
Grandma: I think gay people should be able to get married. Times have changed. Even my ideas have changed. There used to be a lot of ignorance and rumors about gay people, mostly because they had to live in hiding, you know, you couldn't be yourself out in public like they can be sometimes now. So I think people just made things up. But think gay people should be allowed to live their lives like everyone else.
Me: Would you go to a gay wedding?
Grandma: Yes, I would. It would probably be more lively than a regular one. I hate weddings. They're so boring.
Me: They really are. What do you think about people who protest gay marriage?
Grandma: Oh. Idiots.
Me: They're wrong?
Grandma: Idiots. Dumb people with nothing better to do. Out of all the things to protest. They should be out trying to do some good in the world instead.
Me: Do you think you would have felt the same way when you were my age?
Grandma: (Pauses) I don't think I gave it any thought. People didn't talk about these things back then. There was a lot of ignorance. Everybody knew gay people, of course, but people didn't talk about it in normal conversation, much less in public like on the news now. I think that's good. Talking is always good. When people know things, they can make up their own minds.I would like to think that maybe with a little information and thinking about it, I would feel the same way.
Me: Do you think gay people should be able to adopt kids?
Grandma: Of course.
Me: As a Christian, what do you think the Bible says about gay people?
Grandma: The Bible is very clear that Jesus doesn't care about race or gender or where you came from or anything. He loves everyone.
Me: What about the parts of the Bible that says gay people should be stoned to death?
Grandma: We don't stone people to death anymore...
Me: So you don't think that applies?
Grandma: I think God gave us some common sense to be able to figure out what parts were meant for forever, like "don't kill" and "don't steal" and "be good to people," and what parts were just a record of the society people lived in back then. We don't hide women in the dark during their periods anymore, either. Things like that.
Me: What about gays in the military? Do you think that should be allowed?
Grandma: You know, when I heard President Obama had helped made that legal, I was surprised it already wasn't. If you're willing to pick up a gun and go fight in some war somewhere for my freedom, I'm not willing to do that, so if you are, I don't care if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or fifteen cats.
Me: Yeah, I think most people supported that one.
Grandma: It's like I told you. God gave us common sense for a reason.
Me: I know you've had a few close gay male friends. Have you ever had a lesbian friend?
Grandma: I did in Cuba. She was my neighbor and she did everyone's hair on the block. You couldn't really tell she was a lesbian, but she told me, after many years of knowing her.
Me: What do you mean by "you couldn't tell she was a lesbian?"
Grandma: Well, she was very glamorous. She looked like a movie star all the time - that's why she did everyone's hair. Some lesbians, you can tell.
Me: In English, they call the ability to tell if someone's gay "gaydar." Like "radar" but for "gay."
Grandma: Oh! I think I have that.
Me: You think you have good gaydar?
Grandma: Well, I was an artist, so I was around a lot of gay men. And I can usually tell, but Paula fooled me.
Me: The slang term for lesbians who are very conventionally feminine in English is "lipstick lesbian."
Grandma: She did wear lipstick!
Me: Do you think a lot of older people think like you do?
Grandma: I think so. A lot of older people keep up with the news better than you think. And you get to be my age and you realize a lot of past mistakes in your thinking. You realize that a lot of things you think mattered, really don't. And the people who don't think like that, it's mostly because they don't know any better. But even at my age, people can be taught.
Me: Thank you, Pupa.
Grandma: You should show me your website when you put this up. I hope a lot of people read it.

hellolmc:

I Want To Know What It’s Like (by RyanJamesYezak)

❝ The third, and perhaps most challenging, issue arises when people cite religious or cultural values as a reason to violate or not to protect the human rights of LGBT citizens. This is not unlike the justification offered for violent practices towards women like honor killings, widow burning, or female genital mutilation. Some people still defend those practices as part of a cultural tradition. But violence toward women isn’t cultural; it’s criminal. Likewise with slavery, what was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights. ❞

- Hillary Clinton

❝ Queer people do not need to offer excuses or defend their own existence. If one could become queer by simply waking up one morning and deciding to become queer, for a day, for an hour, it wouldn’t change the fact that being queer is just as good, as valid, as worthy, as being straight. Providing straight people with reasons or excuses for our queerness simply confirms their suspicions that our sexuality really is their business and that we need to justify our existence to them. This allows heterosexists to continue to believe there is something superior about heterosexuality, and that being queer is a deviation from some kind of normal or default sexuality. There isn’t and it’s not.

We don’t need to justify ourselves to anyone. We don’t need a reason to be queer. Maybe we were born this way, maybe we weren’t. Maybe sexuality is fluid for some people and not for others. It’s totally irrelevant either way. The message we need to send to heterosexists is not that our sexuality was foisted upon us and that they should be “tolerant” and “understanding”. The message is: our sexuality is perfectly valid and none of your business, we offer you no excuses, and we are never going away. ❞

- » Fauxgress Watch: “Born This Way” Social Justice League (via sexisnottheenemy)

❝ I don’t care who anybody sleeps with. If a couple has been together all that time—and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones—I think it’s fine if they want to get married. I don’t know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don’t worry about other people so much. ❞

- Betty White - on Gay Marriage (via liquidinterpretations)

(Source: comingoutjournal)

❝ It happens when a father realizes he doesn’t just love his daughter, but also her wife. It happens when a soldier tells his unit that he’s gay, and they tell him they knew it all along and they didn’t care, because he was the toughest guy in the unit. It happens when a video sparks a movement to let every single young person know they’re not alone, and things will get better. It happens when people look past their ultimately minor differences to see themselves in the hopes and struggles of their fellow human beings. That’s where change is happening. ❞

-

President Barack Obama  (via ihopeyouthinkofme)

Even if I don’t love everything you do, I definitely love this one thing you do. 

(via unzipy0urheart)

(Source: cloudsofecstasy)

❝

“Don’t women have female privilege?”

No, what is commonly called “female privilege” is better described as benevolent sexism. Systems like the draft and chivalry often seem advantageous to women at first glance, but when examined more closely they in fact reinforce sexist institutions that keep both women and men from true equality. Also, it should be noted that, while men have what’s called male privilege that doesn’t mean that there must logically be a “female privilege” counterpart. This is because, although many strides towards equality have been made over the years, women as a class have not yet leveled the playing field, much less been put in a position of power and authority equivalent to that which grants institutional power to men as a class.

❞

- http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/faq-female-privilege/  (via deviantfemme)

(Source: whattheactual)

browneyedamazon:

“I want you to know, I’m entirely for sex equality”

I love that a male cartoonist drew this

❝ I think one of the key ways for women to gain and keep power is education—education on their own fertility (in order to control their own bodies) and formal education as a means of becoming economically independent. If women can’t control their bodies or their income, how will they ever control their own destinies? Both bring autonomy, independence and empowerment. ❞

-

Sandra Cisneros is the author of “Caramelo,” “Loose Woman, Woman Hollering” and “The House on Mango Street.”

Notable Women: Advice to Generation Next.

(via sexismandthecity)

❝

I believe men have an incredible capacity. They are our partners in creating a society based on equality, respect, and non-violence. They do wonderful, caring, compassionate, artistic, and beautiful things every single day.

I also believe that men are done a disservice by sexism. It assumes the worst of them: unaccountable, uncontrollable, violent, and savage.

In contrast, feminism assumes the best of us, regardless of where we fall on the gender spectrum. It assumes that we all can treat each other fairly, that we can practice non-violence, that we will be held accountable for our own actions.

I don’t hate men. I hate those who tell men that they have to be limited by their gender, just as I hate those who tell women, queers, and everyone else that they have to be limited by their gender.

❞

- deviantfemme (What? I’m allowed to self quote! It’s not narcissistic!)

(Source: deviantfemme)

❝ I like the diversity that my children are exposed to every day. I love the way their brains work. Joe [her son] turns to me the other day and says, ‘One day, I will have a girlfriend. But I might have a boyfriend. If I’m gay.’ He’s 7! And I said, ‘You might have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, darling.’ And he said, ‘Which would you prefer?’ And I said, ‘My love, that would be entirely up to you, and it doesn’t make any difference to me.’ But that he knows! It’s a real privilege. Talk about the best education. ❞

- Kate Winslet in V Magazine (via loverhusband)