Is It Equity or Affirmative Action?
Answering the question posed by the title: it’s both.
If you’re into acronyms, AA stands for Affirmative Action and EE stands for Employment Equity.
Employment Equity refers to a workplace that employs the ‘right’ number of people from different race and gender groups and Affirmative Action is a way of reaching Employment Equity.
An AA/EE vacancy is therefore one where employers will hire a specific person of color or gender to fill a position regardless of qualifications.
If you still think we’re living in the country of 70, 50, or even 30 years ago, where there was sometimes blatant discrimination re: color and gender, you’re right up to date with the present because we’re back to seeing it again.
To be honest, as a person who hired people in the past, there were times I did feel that I would have like to hire a qualified person of a certain color or gender, and several times I did so. But I always tried to hire the most qualified person for the job, regardless. Like others, sometimes I had to let employees go for various performance reasons, regardless of race or gender.
But as a society we’ve regressed under the guise of progress. Discrimination has returned the guise of ‘equity.’
President Biden is really big on discrimination. Oh, excuse me, equity.
He made it clear during his campaign that he would make his administration “look like America.” Many voters fell for this BS and still do. The most important thing for citizens is not to consider what it is, it’s what it looks like. As announced, he chose his running mate from the equity column. He’s now announced his choice to replace a retiring Supreme Court judge will be a black female.
The antonym of “equity” as a social standard of justice is “merit.” The opposite of an equitable society is a meritocracy. Progressivism increasingly argues that an important impediment to enlarging equity is “the tyranny of merit.”
So, you’re a young person, you’ve worked hard and got good grades in elementary and secondary school and just graduated from college with a degree in a major that you and others thought would make you a good, competitive job applicant. You’ve done all the right things and look forward to your career.
You’ve just had a job interview that went well and expect to be offered the job. But – when that employer call comes you hear that you are wished well, but the employer relates they need to hire a member of the opposite sex or a different skin color to make their workforce more racially and gender diverse.
So, do you say to yourself you totally understand and accept the reason given for not getting the job – or do you feel like you’ve just been shafted because of the way you were born? Do you understand this is social justice or do you realize it’s not justice at all?
Fact is, most of us would feel the latter, and ‘justifiably’ so. This is not the America you thought it was.
On a larger scale, what happens in our little scenario does not bode well for a successful society, a successful country.
Government leaders who subscribe to this equity stuff are not interested in doing the best job possible for its citizens. Corporate leaders who make employment decisions based on diversity rather than merit are doing their shareholders – and other competent employees – no favors. Most of us are not surprised when this happens it results in disfavor and friction. Equity employees too often can be, and many are, ducks out of their ponds.
Where one starts determines where one ends up. If it starts with ‘equity,’ it ends up as ‘discrimination.’ Which, by the way, is against the law.
If we start with the decision to fill the next job opening (or college admission) with a person of a particular gender or skin color, we’ve already eliminated the objective of hiring the most qualified. That’s not to say the prospective employee is of a particular gender or skin color can’t be the most qualified. But that’s not where you start. Undeserving candidates don’t deserve legitimacy. That’s not a personal affront, that’s how workplaces and workforces work successfully – with people with the experience and/or skills to provide the employer the best chance at success in meeting the expectations of customers/taxpayers.
On the other hand, there are ideologues and organizations thereof that believe equity is the most important thing in society. For example, an organization called “Race Matters Institute” is quoted: “The route to achieving equity will not be accomplished through treating everyone equally. It will be achieved by treating everyone equitably, or justly according to their circumstances.”
If you need to, read the description of ‘equity’ described above again and tell me what it means.
Recently this space was devoted to the inadequacies of primary and secondary, public education. That many kids weren’t getting the same opportunities as others to learn and achieve. So, a kid gets a lousy education compared to others whose parents can afford better. And to fix that unequal opportunity for a good education we make concessions – called equity – to hire them over those more qualified. Is it so difficult to define the problem? Do we spend our time and resources on equity rather than demanding the real fix?
Our government doesn’t owe it citizens equity. It owes it citizens equal opportunity. After providing equal opportunity the individual assumes the responsibility for success or failure.
Equity, as it is being espoused and implemented today, is bald-faced discrimination.
And discrimination has no righteous place in America.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://onlinepublichealth.gwu.edu/resources/equity-vs-equality/
SPIDER Bites
Russia invaded Ukraine last week. That resulted in our placing financial sanctions on Russia. It would appear Putin doesn’t care. The chess game continues as sanctions on Russia will cost U.S. (and European/NATO) citizens more for energy at a time when energy inflation is already raging. Of the EU oil/natural gas imports, 61% comes from Russia. Germany relies on 50% of its energy imported from Russia. This past year the U.S. itself imported an average of 538,000 barrels/day from Russia. With this mess we also open up a potential tit-for-tat war of hacking which could play havoc with our water supply network and our energy grid – which would make a bad situation worse for Americans, not to mention the bomb. A recent poll indicated a whole 26% of Americans support the major U.S. involvement in Ukraine. As the price of oil approaches $100, Putin can poo-poo sanctions as he chuckles all the way to the bank. So, who’s winning the game as pressure bears down our being checkmated as an energy squeeze benefits Russia?
By the way, some experts are now predicting $150 oil this year.
What I don’t hear being talked about much is how this would be an opportune time for China’s attack on Taiwan. Who knows where that one might end?
Speaking of trying to be a deterrent to tyranny, I haven’t heard a word from the WH about what’s happened to the truckers in Canada. One would think we’d have more interest in a country trampling on human rights with a country which we share 5,525 miles of border.
I learned another thing last week I didn’t know. Placing a wooden spoon across the top of a pan/pot of boiling water when cooking starches like potatoes or pasta helps prevent bubbly overflows. Knowledge is power.
The NYTimes reports that for a year the CDC has not released COVID data, including cases, hospitalizations, and vaccination status for the 18–49-year-old population. A CDC spokesman indicates the CDC didn’t want to dis-incentivize people getting jabbed and boosted. In other words, citizens are to be treated as children and therefore information can be withheld for their own good. Can you believe this?
I heard a physician last week describe the COVID virus particles are so small that wearing a cloth mask in like building a chain link fence to keep out the mosquitoes.
The stock market was on a roller coaster last week, once again showing that geopolitical risks are generally short lived as the Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies. Attention quickly turned from Putin to Powell. The market ‘correction’ was long overdue for simply financial reasons as so many company P/E ratios were out of whack. If your holdings are quality companies with low P/E ratios, hang in there as what goes up will come down and vice-versa. I expect 2022 to be just a year for lackluster returns – as long as we don’t see mushroom clouds on the horizon.
Toyota and Yamaha are collaborating on building a new, hydrogen-fueled, 8-cylinder engine with no emissions. The idea is to compete with electric vehicles.
