Salon had an article a few weeks back on the Sotomayor's confirmation hearings and I was debating on it's comments thread!
Article here
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/17/ricci/index.html
Comment thread here
http://letters.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/17/ricci/view/?show=all
Well, the thing about Salon's comment thread is ... someone can respond to you, and sometimes when you finally see their responses, the comment thread is closed, giving your opponents a false sense of victory, when their only victory is their timing, not their ideas!
Here I demolish the arguments of a commenter called "Jomama"
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What if you, a non-white male with mediocre test scores- acceptable scores, but nothing to write home about- applied to a different college and did not gain admission, while 15-20 of your white male friends with LOWER scores than you did get accepted? Would you still be singing the anti AA blues?
My whole point wasn't to "brag" about my test scores, just to say I got into my university by meeting the standards!
I'm for (Oh my God ... NO!) having all students gain acceptance into college following the same standards!
Jim Crow didn't allow for that, NEITHER does Affirmative Action!
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What if you had to take a test that was structured around cultural questions on something you knew absolutely nothing about, like Susan's wine test, west coast vs. east coast rappers, the brand names in a high end clothing store, whatever... You wouldn't cry foul?
LAMEST ARGUMENT EVER!
The SAT tests I took a decade ago already had reading comprehension questions on Black History and Latino culture!
I don't think it changed since. Or if it did, they probably added questions on Middle Eastern culture, Asian-American history, etc.
By the way, the reading comprehension section of the SAT is about how well you understood what you just read. If there's a paragraph about sharks and the SAT is asking you questions about it, IT IS NOT TESTING WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT SHARKS! It is testing if you understood what the author said about sharks!
The Radical Left rhetoric of "SAT is culturally bias" is evidence-free rhetoric! They're starting to remind me of those Radical Right losers complaining about Obama's birth certificate!
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Yes, there are problems with AA. But discrimination still exists.
Yet Jomama didn't explain what he/she thinks the problems with AA is! Jomama is too busy denouncing me with lame arguments!
I never said "discrimination doesn't exist"! Only those who never read my blog can accuse me of thinking that way!
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What is wrong with at the very least, attempting to make sure that everybody is given a level playing field?
I am attempting to give everyone a level playing field!
It's the Jim Crow and the Affirmative Action that doesn't give people a level playing field!
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Sounds like you are firmly in that Republican pull yourself up by your bootstraps crowd. Which would be fine in a world where we all had the same set of boots, or at least a set of boots to start with.
I NEVER even used the words "bootstraps"! And I'm pro-abortion, for legalizing same-sex marriage, for ending the militarized war on drugs, and for sex-ed! That's NOT Republican!
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PART TWO
Another lame debater, this one named thisrainyanorak
Others have deconstructed your inane and intellectually dishonest NBA analogy that conveniently disregards the FACT that Blacks were actively discriminated against and excluded from NBA teams for decades so I won't go over that ground
That policy ended in 1950! NONE of the current NBA players were born yet! Most of their parents weren't even born yet! My parents weren't even born yet! You can come out of your time-warp now!
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I think affirmative action is very flawed and there are reasonable arguments for dismantling it
And you never said a single one of them! You are an AA supporter! You can come out of the closet now!
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Many college administrations have determined that having a racially diverse campus is important and the Supreme Court agrees that this is a "compelling interest."
That's why I brought up the NBA example in the 1st place!
The AA supporters complain that there's "too many Asians in our colleges, we need lowered standards for African-American and Latino students"
If the AA crowd had any sense of consistency, they'll demand the NBA to give lowered standards to Latino and Asian ballplayers!
The real humane standard is for colleges and NBA teams to (Oh my God... NO!) get the most qualified individuals even if it doesn't satisfy the diversity bean-counters of the AA crowd!
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Egregiously lowered standards are the bastion of legacy and athletic-based based admissions. Should those be outlawed too?
YES and YES!
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Oh, and pompously and repeatedly pointing out that you were able to meet a laughably low admission standard and comparing yourself to favorably to others who may not have IS "bragging" and your repeated denials of that don't say much about your self-awareness.
You're missing my point! My point is if me (an under-represented minority ) can get into a college of my choice following the same standards of European-Americans and Asian-Americans so can others! What's wrong with saying that?
