White men need not apply!

[waterproofbob]

This is just genius

White men could be legally blocked from jobs or promotions under controversial government plans to help women and black employees achieve equality.

Employers would be allowed to give jobs to qualified minority candidates in preference to other candidates under a change in discrimination law being drawn up by the Equalities Minister, Harriet Harman. The 'positive action' tactic, already used in the United States, has been a legal minefield in the UK and Harman's plans are likely to upset MPs who believe that merit alone should determine who is hired.

This is equality gone full circle and backwards. If this happens then what is already happening would be publicly accepted and it's just nuts.

It seems to make up for years of oppression over race and sex issues we are going the other way to compensate.

 

[PsiSoldier]

Isn't it already like that with benefits etc? Sounds crazy to me.

 

[DocBot]

OTOH, it's a known fact that "merit" more often than not (and probably unconsciously from the employers side, at least let's hope so) includes being white and male.

 

[Taffy]

But that is the fauly of the employer: why should the potential employee ever be punished for their race or gender? I'm all for equality: positive discrimination goes against that.

 

[Sephiroth]

buh... positive discrimination... im confused there's such a thing as positive discrimination? you know i was under the general impression that discrimination already only went one way, and thats against white males but now they're trying to make it legal? (that is my crude understanding of this)

 

[DocBot]

why should the potential employee ever be punished for their race or gender?

No, see, the thought with this is that this evens the playing field, so to speak; since every one but white males are discriminated against by default, this will make for equal opportunity. So, yes, the potential employee (Mr. Man A. Whiteypants) will be discriminated against up to the horrendous level of having to compete on equal grounds with everyone else!

 

[DocBot]

i was under the general impression that discrimination already only went one way, and thats against white males [...] (that is my crude understanding of this)

Well, imho you should refine that understanding. Classic example: two comparable applications are sent in, one a bit better than the other. The one that's a bit better is signed by Mr. Foreignmacdoo or Ms. RuralLady but gets rejected in favour of Mr. NativeGuy. Happens all the time, and I'm not at all sure I wouldn't make the same mistake myself, were I in the posistion to make it.

 

[Sephiroth]

The one that's a bit better is signed by Mr. Foreignmacdoo or Ms. RuralLady but gets rejected in favour of Mr. NativeGuy.

Really?
If your a sensible employer then you dont need this silly positive discrimination thing going on, i mean you choose the one with better qualifications because it surely means more profit (or whatever) for you/your company.
And it probably depends on where your living, because if the employer happens to be Mr. Foreignmacdoo or Ms. RuralLady then your Mr. NativeGuy is at a disadvantage anyway, plus in the area i live in, the employment seems to be spread fairly i mean the shops down in the square are run equally between the three if one (messed up) town can handle it you'd hope the country could without the need for such things... though i imagin that its largly because most of the places down here (apart from dominos yum yum) are i think private or independant shops. But the same goes for down in MK centre.
Edit: And what i said earlier was a generalization, since in my experience things like racism charges appear to only exist when the racist is the native? Of course i have very little input into the real world and blank most things said to me *selective hearing* so my knowledge on such things isn't great.

note: first time used quoteations *yay me* my english teacher would kill me if she knew i used them online rather then in my work

 

[Zooggy]

Ahey,

Just wanted to add this:

The 'positive action' tactic, already used in the United States, ...

... where it is called Affirmative Action, has, to the best of my knowledge, been deemed unconstitutional and is now largely discontinued.

Note that I'm not an autohrity on the issue, or anything, but I seem to recall reading about that somewhere, a number of years back...

Looks to me, therefore, that either Ms. Harman is trying to score cheap political points by shouting to the four winds in favor of the "underprivileged", or, more charitably, that she just got stuck in time somewhere back in the 80's or 90's and is actually making an honest effort of trying to do her job, whatever she deems it to be...

Or, a third possibility and my personal favorite, she's drawing up legislation that she really doesn't need or believe in, in hopes of sparking much needed debate on racial and gender equality in society at large, in which case, kudos to her.

Cheers,
J.