[lit-ideas] Re: How to Draw a Crowd
- From: "Veronica Caley" <molleo1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:34:47 -0500
...is for people to expect
equal treatment as individuals right now.
I don't know what world you live in or what you read. The latest statistics
show that both Blacks and women earn significantly less than white males.
There could be many reasons for that, education being one.
Latest evidence to refute your position here is the latest Supreme Court
decision. The Lilly Ledbetter case in which the Supremes ruled that there
is a statute of limitation on suing for unequal pay for equal work. The
fact that salaries are kept secret in most places and that she couldn't know
about it until someone tipped her off is irrelevant. Certainly one can't
expect much justice from this Supreme Court.
Veronica Caley
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Yost" <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 10:48 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: How to Draw a Crowd
Simon: If you see these leaders as being in a position to ensure that such
measurement remains, then I'm not sure you recognise the problem. When you
can accuse such leaders of measuring what isn't there ...
I know this is taking Donal's joking quote, transforming it into a
diatribe, and then arguing the merits of the diatribe ... but why not?
In my opinion, the activists and self-appointed spokespeople for subgroups
have gone the way of the revolution in _Animal Farm_. What began as a
noble demand for equality changed into an institutionalization of
lobbyists seeking self-enrichment under the banner of social progress.
There are plenty of laws on the books, plenty of lawyers ready to argue
cases, and a general sensibility that racial discrimination is both wrong
and, in many cases, illegal. Done deal.
Economic inequality is the most pervasive inequality right now and that's
not something that can be legislated away. So racism is promoted instead.
As our recent election shows, Americans are quite ready to think in terms
of "best candidate" rather than "candidate of my subgroup," but there's no
way to milk that cow.
So what do activists (i.e., lawyers and lobbyists) do?
*Maintain the integrity of the subgroup. If your subgroup of, say,
Filipino-Americans is resisting their Filipino-American identity and they
increasingly prefer to think of themselves as just plain Americans, it's
important to identify (or manufacture) instances around which the
Filipino-American "community" can unite.
*Resist the melting pot at all costs. The Mexican activist group called La
Rasa ("The Race" ... hmm ... fancy that) has a name that says it all.
An alternative to _Animal Farm_ is for people to expect equal treatment as
individuals right now.
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