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American Airlines plane crash

Pilot just came over the PA asking for a moment of silence for the DC crash.

I get it, but kinda the last thing I wanted to think about before they closed the door.

BTW, both white dudes. Look like early 40s. Only whiff of alcohol I caught was the G&T in first class as I walked back to steerage.

Did you ask about if they did explosive cardio?

Please report back.
 
Correct. So Harvard did not accept Blacks in 1880 when some White family started a run of Harvard Men. A second wrong, putting a new member of that family in ahead of someone else today is a second wrong. It doesn't make it right.

Otherwise I think you are misinterpreting what I said when I said I favor a meritocracy. Let's have one. Get rid of DEI. But then we ALSO have to get rid of other things such as legacy. I'll pick on CO, I believe he represented the city of Fort Collins. How I have seen it work in Indiana, if he wanted his kids to get a plum summer job for the city parks, he would pick up his phone and call a contact. My son is looking for a lifeguard job at XYZ pool. Sure, have him stop by, we'll get him on. All that has to go. If we want a meritocracy we have to get rid of all of this. I'm not saying bring back DEI, I am saying let's get rid of it all. All jobs. No more hiring the frat brother, the church friend's son, etc. It all has to be meritocracy. Do we all agree with that?
You brought up legacies a year-and-a-half ago. This wise poster agreed with you:

 
You brought up legacies a year-and-a-half ago. This wise poster agreed with you:

That was a bot
 
Just blaming DEI because of anybody's race, ethnicity, sex, etc. makes no sense. I'm open to that conclusion if it can be demonstrated that somebody got into a position they shouldn't have because of DEI or anything that looks like demographic preference. But to just point to it because "Hey the pilot was a chick!" isn't of any help at all.

If you're in favor of evaluating people on their individual merits, then jumping to conclusions because of the pilot's sex is a major disservice to that.

The primary problem with DEI as public policy is that most iterations of it I've seen seem like violations of Equal Protection. I firmly believe that the Equal Protection Clause mandates total neutrality in preference for race, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. We've got to stop picking and choosing when Equal Protection applies. It always applies, to everything the government touches.

But it's also a terrible waste of resources -- which is why I think private entities should stay away from it as well. They're not mandated to do so (as long as they don't come under the aegis of Title II or Title VI) and can do as they want.

We need to strive for neutrality in matters dealing with race, ethnicity, sex, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
DEI initiatives are many and varied. Some arguably violate the 14th, some probably don't. DEI is much more than just affirmative action in hiring.
 
DEI initiatives are many and varied. Some arguably violate the 14th, some probably don't. DEI is much more than just affirmative action in hiring.
I totally agree.

And, even in cases where it has amounted to affirmative action in hiring, I'm not a fan of people running around saying that any bad thing that happens with (say) a female Blackhawk pilot was necessarily the result of some DEI policy. For all we know, she was a terrific pilot who made a bad mistake. Or maybe it was a white dude in ATC who screwed up.

And we're just going to jump to the conclusion that she wasn't where she was due to merit?

I mean, it may be the case. I have no idea. Maybe we'll find out. But can we at least wait to find out before we start tossing that allegation around?

That said, for those things which do amount to racial preference in hiring, I wouldn't attach the "arguably" qualifier. To me, it's virtually impossible to say that race/sex/ethnicity/religion are factors in public entities taking some beneficial action (hiring or otherwise) without it running afoul of Equal Protection...

...if, anyway, we're actually serious about Equal Protection. Some people tend to be very selective about when that applies. But I'm not one of them.
 
Man, I don't know.

Privilege is real. But there are plenty of black people who have it. And plenty of white people who don't.

The fact that a higher percentage of white people have privilege than black people doesn't mean that our society has "white privilege." It just means that everybody comes from different backgrounds and has different exposures to things. Everybody has different parents -- some have shitty parents. Some have great parents.

And, for a number of reasons (including past discrimination), it's true that white people are, on average, better off than black people.

However, all people make different choices along their lives that have impact on their well-being. If somebody spends their life making lots of bad choices -- gambling, using drugs, dropping out of school, blowing off work, being lazy, having children in unstable family situations, spending more than they make, etc. etc. -- then they are far more likely to be in bad life situations than people who haven't made as many bad choices.

Screaming "No fair....privilege!" at people in better life situations isn't necessarily going to engender a lot of sympathy from me. Yes, some people are born into good or great circumstances. Some people are born into terrible circumstances. And it's absolutely true that success in life is going to favor those born into good ones. Deal with it. It's always been the case, always will.

But people can do themselves a huge favor by making good decisions. They will get better outcomes if they do. And they can live their lives and raise their families in such a way that their children can be said to come from a favorable environment rather than an unfavorable one.

I know many, many parents who came from meager circumstances and raised kids who did fantastically. If you weren't born into privilege, try to make it so that your kids were. You don't have to be rich to do this.
Preach.
 
You brought up legacies a year-and-a-half ago. This wise poster agreed with you:

Whatever happened to that wise poster?

That was a bot
I am not sure which is the bot. New Brad seems very bot.
 
Whatever happened to that wise poster?


I am not sure which is the bot. New Brad seems very bot.
You had a post the other day that I actually laughed at bc you cited google ai. For weeks/months I’ve googled shit and that pops up and like a dummy I’m goin “where is that coming from. Where’s the damn source”
 
  • Haha
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