Some People Are More Equal Than Me
What does equality mean to you? Does it mean treating everybody equal? Does it mean that everybody – regardless of race, religion, gender, or beliefs – gets the same opportunities? That’s what it means to me. Equality means being blind to one’s skin color, one’s religion, what particular apparatus they have between their legs, and what they believe in.
Treating somebody equal means that when it comes to selling a house, I’ll sell it to the best offer – not the best male offer, or best offer from a white family, or not even the best offer from a straight couple.
Equality means that I’ll admit people to college based upon their grades, community service, and extracurricular activities – and I won’t do so just to fill a quota.
Michigan’s proposal 2 aims to do just that. Opponents of the proposal claim that it’ll cut funding for women and minorities – and it will. It’s part of being equal. Being equal means NOT giving blacks and asians an extra tenth of a point on their college applications. It means not hiring somebody just because they’re female, but because they’re qualified for the job.
ADL.org defines racism as Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities. Princeton defines prejudice with one simple word: bias – and that’s exactly what affirmative action is: Bias.
It’s Bias toward minorities, but bias nonetheless. I’ve still yet to hear a compelling reason why a minority deserves preference over a non minority, and I’m convinced that there isn’t one. Given the definitions, it doesn’t make sense to use “equality” and “affirmative action” as the same thing – they’re 100% opposites.
You may have heard the opponents of proposal 2 claim that it would cut funding for programs like breast cancer checks for women – and it will. The reason is simple: There’s no such thing for men. There’s no free programs that offer prostate checks for men, and proposal 2 says that’s not fair. It’s certainly not equal.
You may have heard them talk about college makeups, and how there’s more whites than blacks at certain colleges. I propose that this isn’t about racism – it’s about statistics. The same goes for prison populations. Take Detroit for example. Most of the population is black. It only stands to reason then that most of the Detroit prison population would also be black. I’m not saying blacks commit more crimes; they probably don’t. I’m just saying that if 80% of the population is black, and all races have the same tendency to commit a crime, then 80% of the criminals should also be black. The same holds true for students. If 80% of california is white, then 80% of UCLA students will probably also be white.
Anyway, I don’t want to tell you how to vote this November 7th. Just vote, either way. But please stop handing out pamphlets telling me that your prejudicial ideas are about equality.
November 2nd, 2006
