Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!vax135!ariel!hou5f!hou5a!hou5d!hou5e!mat From: mat@hou5e.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics Subject: Re: A Flame at Affirmative Action Message-ID: <558@hou5e.UUCP> Date: Tue, 14-Jun-83 00:42:21 EDT Article-I.D.: hou5e.558 Posted: Tue Jun 14 00:42:21 1983 Date-Received: Wed, 15-Jun-83 16:15:39 EDT References: trw-unix.303 Lines: 60 Look, to put it bluntly, we've all got to start somewhere. If you continue to keep a significant portion of society in the economic cellar, sooner or later they're gonna get sick and tired of it. And somehow the bandaid [This is a trademark, folks ... MAT] of AAP on the wound of oppression is far better than the misery, squalor, and perhaps violence that wound could cause. Besides that, all we really want is a chance at your society. jobe Let me fill you in on a side of the AAP/EEO business that you probably didn't see. Billions of dollars were and are spent on paperwork to comply with the regulations. Where it is impossible to comply (ie,the job requires skills equated with, say, three years experience or a college degree, and there aren't enough ``protected class'' people within 300 miles to fill them) billions more were spent in court battles that often turned into circuses where attorneys and judges could show off their wisdom by making or proposing truly outrageous decisions. And the problem of not enough PC people can occur easily. Women are counted as bodies just like men in the EEO rules, but many more women than men stay home or work part time. Those gigabucks could better have been spent on inner-city and rural ghetto education. They could have helped thousands of economically and historically disadvantaged people get through college. They could have allowed the easing of property taxes on minority businesses that remained and employed in the inner city. Remember, the legal system is nothing but overhead. The (small) firm I used to work for took in several million dollars a year consulting for lawyers. The lawyers often employed several such firms. The lawyers earned a great deal of money themselves. And the firms that could not hire under the rules could not expand and withered -- just as the economy was heading toward one of the most persistant recession/inflation periods of recent history. Who benefited? I don't argue that people who come from depressed backgrounds shouldn't have an extra shot, or a better shot, than they would otherwise receive. I don't think that body counting and pushing paper is the way to do it. Oh, and if inner city police forces were now to be beefed up, and if money were spent on block associations, crimewatch programs, counselling for those who have only seen violence as a solution to problems, and credit and financial planning aid, how much better off would we ALL be? My father's business is located in a poorer area of Brooklyn. Since the iron shop has been there (about 7 years now), there have been two murders on the block. These were not muggings, but family quarrels. The people involved have only known anger and violence as solutions. How can we hope that they will take places of responsibility in our society. OUR society, jobe -- not white society or black society, but yours and mine. If it is too late for the adults of 53rd street, have we a chance at reaching the children? (now let's start a flame on busing for racial integration ...) Mark Terribile Duke fo DeNet