Quotas are intrinsically divisive and discriminatory (in the worst possible sense) because the number of categories into which humanity can be divided is infinite: only some categories, therefore, can be favoured, leaving others resentful and liable to seek political redress as their supposed salvation. Quotas therefore not only politicise life but embitter political life itself. They formalise favouritism, thus reinforcing the very problem they are meant to solve. They necessarily inflate the role of government, for someone has to enforce them. Before long, the demand for equality (of a kind) undermines freedom because private associations are no longer able to make the rules they wish, a necessary condition for a truly liberal society in which government is not overweening or preponderant. The imposition of quotas is founded on the belief that everyone is a bigot unless forced by administrative fiat to be otherwise.
George Orwell said it more quickly:
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
With the Olympics having just passed, it’s too bad that we missed our chance for the Equity Olympics(tm)! Imagine if you will some low-level IOC apparatchik interfering with the snowboarders as they navigate the half-pipe, perhaps a helpful toe steering a too-well directed curling stone out of the rings, or a permanent power play for Canada’s opponent in hockey, all in the hopes of determining an outcome that is “equitable” for the fashionable underdog of the moment.
I’d certainly tune in; there’d be some anthems I’d never heard before.
Staying with the meme of gender equality and enforcement of such rather than other concepts in the “linked” article I have chosen enforcement.
As an 18/19 year old volunteer for Canadian military, had to be 19 to drink in a tavern then, but 18 in uniform was good enough, I frequently participated in an ongoing discussion on discipline.
Yes that is correct a group of 18 & 19 year old males without a high school education let alone access to post high school education could enjoy a discussion of significance over an alcoholic beverage, Draft Ale sometimes Draft Beer. We knew the difference.
Could the armed forces depend on something other than discipline to maintain order. Number 6’s meant stoppage of shore leave; number 5’s meant additional labour, usually non-productive, and stoppage of shore leave; Brig meant incarceration and much additional labour. We were all under twenty and our world of education and being educated was limited and subscribed.
But! these discussions, probably some what lubricated by the limited number of drinks we could JOINTLY afford were quite far reaching. Please remember this was a time when not having an high school education did not exclude one from putting their foot on the bottom rung of the achievement ladder.
One participant rose to become vice- president of a major electronics industry. Another to developing several small businesses into a small organized conglomerate.
Hopefully the stage is set to say these young men, patriotically or foolishly, joined an organization which literally could be a killer career. They were sufficiently cognizant to discuss why they responded to the discipline as it then was established. Discipline developed over millennium to insure immediate reaction to direct orders and against self interest.
I now wonder how the much better educated visitor to this site will think of the discussions by the group I described. Would or could the discussion be focused and as in most discussions would the conclusion for most participants be satisfactory or not. Just thinking, just wondering if a present day group of a similar make up would or could have similar discussions. Cheers;
Imagine the outrage if there existed a White Network Television, or White Colleges, White Newspapers etcetera. Change the race to Black and all is forgiven, even praised.
Suggest that an indigenous white country stop all immigration to protect their cultural identity, then change the name to Japan and watch the world praise their brilliance and fortitude.
Being an 18-year-old in similar circumstances to MikeSr (except that we could drink at 18 when the civvies were limited to age 21 – that dates me) we learned discipline and responsibility at an early age and it stood us in good stead for later life. I had my first management/leadership position at the age of 22, rose to senior rank and I didn’t get a degree until I was in my fifties. All that success while being a white, anglophone, heterosexual male – it must have been because I’m left-handed and therefore was discriminated against!
Big smile; Cheers;
MikeSr
when I was 19, I was foreman in a small plastics factory with 6 women old enough to be my mother working for me. Talk about getting an education, there is non better than real life experience, and that experience taught me that I needed more “education” before I was ready to be a foreman:-))))