Social justice

This is a phrase with a unique meaning that might not be obvious.

But what is social justice? I’m not naïve. From Sharpton to Wright social justice has come to means redressing the wrongs of the past in the form of government benefits or reparations. The expression has a hint of retribution as in “you owe us.” In actuality, the words haven’t any real meaning. There are always those who grieve, and as long as the government attempts to satisfy those with a gripe, the plaintive cry for social justice will have irresistable appeal. More...

Damned lies

P.A.P.'s articles on statistics are always enlightening.

A certain company discovered that 40% of all sick days were taken on a Friday or a Monday. They immediately clamped down on sick leave before they realised their mistake. Forty percent represents two days out of a five day working week and is therefore a normal spread. Nothing to do with lazy employees wishing to extend their weekends. They are just as sick on any other day. More...

Affirmative action explained

I post on Aff-Act a lot. I abbreviate it A-A in my flows. It is a subject of great interest, because it takes what would otherwise be random chance in life and manipulates it. And of course, present thinking on SCOTUS is making it look very much like all sorts of minority supports could be eliminated in the future because we don't need them any more.

...one's qualifications in the present are a function of one's opportunities in the past. There are very talented white children born in the lap of luxury on the upper west side of Manhattan, and there are equally talented Hispanic children born in poverty in the south Bronx. It should surprise exactly no one, except possibly Pat Buchanan and Michael Goldfarb, to learn that they will not get the same SAT scores. An affirmative action system that corrects for this lack of balance is not taking a "less qualified" person and putting her above a "more qualified" person. It is giving equally qualified people the same opportunities. This is liberalism 101, not rocket science. More...

Diversity on SCOTUS

With Sotomayor being grilled, there's lots of discussion everywhere of just about everything to do with the law and judges. This is a good explanation of two possible pros for affirmative action.

A good angle into the question might be to think about two different ways you could justify an affirmative action program. One argument would be that affirmative action is needed to correct a lack of opportunity: You might say (indeed, I would say) that certain groups face historic disadvantages that are worth correcting. A second and distinct justification would be that diversity creates social benefits. The usual argument is that diverse classrooms have better discussions, and a diverse officer corps runs a better military, and a diverse business force helps navigate that cliche of an "increasingly globalized world." More...