16 votes

Topic deleted by author

12 comments

  1. [5]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. [3]
      DMonitor
      Link Parent
      I think affirmative action needs to be retooled. It never will, due to politics, but it's silly that a wealthy black student would receive more benefits than a poor white student. A better system...

      I think affirmative action needs to be retooled. It never will, due to politics, but it's silly that a wealthy black student would receive more benefits than a poor white student. A better system would give endowments based upon income, while also favoring people from minority majority (is that the right term?) areas of the country

      9 votes
      1. dont_panic
        Link Parent
        The thing that always bugs me is that using income as a criteria for scholarships isn’t fairer than intelligence. Or we can go to an extreme and say that we will help ugly people or something like...

        The thing that always bugs me is that using income as a criteria for scholarships isn’t fairer than intelligence.

        Or we can go to an extreme and say that we will help ugly people or something like that.

        I’m not convinced that the criteria has to be income. I think it needs to be a formula of several variables, but unfortunately I don’t know which variables to use.

        I think I like the French way. Rich or poor, the engineering schools are 600€ per year. But only the smartest can get it.

        But then you get a problem in a step before, rich people go to better high schools and can hire tutors so they can have better chances of getting into such school. It’s not perfect either. It’s a complex problem.

        With the income criteria you will always have a group too rich to get help and too poor to actually succeed in their own.

        I’m just throwing ideas. I don’t know what is the best way.

        1 vote
    2. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. Catt
        Link Parent
        Maybe in that case they should only qualify for 5% of what would otherwise be given :p Seriously though, outside of what I think about affirmative actions and such policies, I don't believe it's...

        Maybe in that case they should only qualify for 5% of what would otherwise be given :p

        Seriously though, outside of what I think about affirmative actions and such policies, I don't believe it's necessary to change laws based on one guy trying to abuse it. That's what courts are for, and from the article they already pointed out that ultimately he had no proof that he was discriminated against for being black.

        3 votes
  2. [8]
    demifiend
    Link
    Does this guy know he's invoking the "one drop rule" and thus playing into the hands of white supremacists?

    Does this guy know he's invoking the "one drop rule" and thus playing into the hands of white supremacists?

    2 votes
    1. knocklessmonster
      Link Parent
      I think that's sort of the point. If, genetically, he has African ancestry, and there is no definition for "how African do you have to be to be African American," then either a definition is...

      I think that's sort of the point. If, genetically, he has African ancestry, and there is no definition for "how African do you have to be to be African American," then either a definition is required (which would, IMO, go too close to the "one drop rule"), or the whole thing needs to be seriously reconsidered, if not thrown out.

      7 votes
    2. [6]
      CALICO
      Link Parent
      That always seemed really foolish to me. Is it not widely understood that H. Sapiens evolved IVO the Horn of Africa? Meaning that all humans have a genetic lineage that goes back to sub-Saharan...

      That always seemed really foolish to me. Is it not widely understood that H. Sapiens evolved IVO the Horn of Africa? Meaning that all humans have a genetic lineage that goes back to sub-Saharan Africa.

      2 votes
      1. [5]
        demifiend
        Link Parent
        Many USians still take Genesis literally. If you tell them that H. Sapiens involved within a day's walk of the Horn of Africa they'll assume you're some kind of secular humanist and a commie who's...

        Many USians still take Genesis literally. If you tell them that H. Sapiens involved within a day's walk of the Horn of Africa they'll assume you're some kind of secular humanist and a commie who's out to corrupt their precious bodily fluids.

        5 votes
        1. [4]
          CALICO
          Link Parent
          Something I take for granted, apparently. Willful scientific illiteracy is something I will never be able to understand, and I was raised religious. Even when I held faith, I had interpreted...

          Something I take for granted, apparently.
          Willful scientific illiteracy is something I will never be able to understand, and I was raised religious. Even when I held faith, I had interpreted evolution and the Big Bang as the mechanisms God had used to make Creation. It made sense to me that the Bible would have been written in metaphor and allegory, considering the level of civilization and scientific knowledge in the Bronze Age Levant where Judaism developed. How a person could look at the world, all the life on it, the cosmos beyond it, believe that God made it all and did it for us, and NOT be so fascinated to learn all they can about it.. I really am not capable of understanding people like that.

          2 votes
          1. [3]
            demifiend
            Link Parent
            I don't know what denomination you were part of, but we both know that not all Christian sects are created equal. You've got branches like the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans, and the Lutherans...

            I don't know what denomination you were part of, but we both know that not all Christian sects are created equal. You've got branches like the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans, and the Lutherans where the clergy are educated and can make a case for understanding the Bible in allegorical and metaphorical terms, but adherents of these denominations aren't usually the problem.

            The problem comes mainly from Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Baptists. Their clergy consists of anybody capable of talking big and thumping a Bible. They have no theological sophistication whatsoever, which is one reason why so many of them insist that the Bible is the literal and inerrant Word of God™. Telling a biblical literalist that Genesis is an allegory could throw them into an existential crisis as they start wondering if the whole thing is a great big pile of Darmok at Tanagra.

            Once that happens, it's Boomshakalaka, when the walls fell.

            4 votes
            1. [2]
              CALICO
              Link Parent
              According to my folks it was "non-denominational"; I understand this largely means Evangelical Protestant. Although I feel a bit distanced from those guys, and my pastor was going to school for...

              According to my folks it was "non-denominational"; I understand this largely means Evangelical Protestant. Although I feel a bit distanced from those guys, and my pastor was going to school for history and focused a lot of what clearly interested him academically. I have to imagine I didn't get the most common church experience. Plus, I am incredibly ignorant of the sects and what they consist of. I'm familiar with their labels, but beyond that they hold no meaning in my mind. Catholic is one I kind of understand, and that's only because of some extended family.
              I really can't empathize with the viewpoints of any of my staunchly religious fellow compatriots. I've never understood the religious opposition to the things they oppose, and how little they seem to have taken the teachings of Jesus to heart. I just can't understand their mindsets.

              A+ reference, btw

              1 vote
              1. demifiend
                Link Parent
                Thanks. I honestly couldn't resist. You could even say I had Mastema whispering in my ear.

                A+ reference, btw

                Thanks. I honestly couldn't resist. You could even say I had Mastema whispering in my ear.

                1 vote