[Vision2020] Reverse Racism?

[Joe Campbell]

Good question, Gary.

Here is an example of affirmative action that is not reverse racism.

Suppose a philosophy department in a state university wants to hire  
one of two applicants, who are equal in all respects. One is a man,  
another is a woman. Suppose someone decides to vote for the woman  
because (a) it is a state university and the state should hire  
teachers that represent the demographics of the state and (b) there  
are no women in the department.

I see nothing racist about this.

Joe Campbell

On May 30, 2009, at 1:05 PM, "g. crabtree" <jampot at roadrunner.com>  
wrote:

> Yeah what, exactly, does distinguish "affirmative action" from  
> reverse discrimination or racism? After all, it couldn't be a case  
> of "mean ol' white guy discriminated against (fill in the blank) so  
> it's only fair that we discriminate against him for awhile to even  
> things up." That would seem to be  "a variation of the Two Wrongs  
> make a Right fallacy" and we all know that rationalization won't fly.
>
> g
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> To: "Joe Campbell" <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>
> Cc: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 11:14 AM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Reverse Racism?
>
> > And your definition, Joe, would be . . . ?
> >
> > Tom Hansen
> > Moscow, Idaho
> >
> >> According to this definition, any kind of affirmative action  
> would be
> >> an instance of discrimination and racism. That strikes me as  
> absurd.
> >>
> >> Joe Campbell
> >>
> >> On May 30, 2009, at 8:10 AM, "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>  
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Courtesy of Wikipedia at:
> >>>
> >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_racism
> >>>
> >>> "Reverse discrimination (sometimes called "reverse racism") is,  
> in its
> >>> simplest form, the practice of favoring members of a historically
> >>> disadvantaged group at the expense of members of a historically
> >>> advantaged
> >>> group."
> >>>
> >>> Tom Hansen
> >>> Moscow, Idaho
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> What is "reverse" racism?
> >>>>
> >>>> Ellen A. Roskovich
> >
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