There is nothing that winds me up more than affirmative action. In Australia it’s a problem, but nowhere near the level that it is in America where they have affirmative action doctors. God help me if I ever get sick there. However, we have a situation at the Melbourne Fire Brigade (MFB) that desperately needs to be nipped in the bud:
The MFB recently applied for an exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act to give preference in pre-training to indigenous people and ethnic minorities, while the gender plan was trying to boost the number of women firefighters.
Thankfully, the backlash has been significant. And guess what, the main opponents for this moronic plan are the same people that these arseholes are claiming to help.
The Lefty Age reports that:
NEARLY half the women firefighters at the Metropolitan Fire Brigade have publicly rejected claims of a ”closed culture” and say setting diversity targets is ”patronising and forever taints applicants”.
Can we hear that again? Can I underline it, bold it, highlight it, etc. etc. without appearing to labour the point?
”patronising and forever taints applicants”I couldn’t have put it better myself. This is the evil, yes EVIL, that is affirmative action. When you give a group a preference for employment that trumps merit, you forever doom that group to be looked down upon. This is because you have undermined them. Before, their employment meant that they had met the standard, that they were qualified to deal with the real life demands of the job, that they were competitive and that they deserve to be there. It means that the people they work with view them as equals – they are good enough.
The moment you change that, you instantly destroy all the hard work of the people of that group. Suddenly, they don’t deserve to be there. Future employees of that group may not deserve to be there. They might, because they are hard working and qualified for the job, but they also might not, because there is a short cut available to them. And the reality is that the question mark is how they will be viewed forever.
If you want to help, do it at the source. I don’t have a problem with proactive help to those who were disadvantaged from the moment they were born. But reactive “help” at the point of employment is fucked. It is patronising and it leads to resentment.
If a minority goes for a job who is qualified and hard working, and if they are then denied the job on the basis of their gender, country of birth, or their race, I will be the first to complain. That simply isn’t fair and it goes against the principles of Equal Opportunity. But if you favour a person over others on the basis of their country of birth, gender, or race, then you are basically saying to everyone else who belongs to that group that you can’t cut it… that you are so worthless that the only way you can contribute to society is by hand outs.
That’s bullshit, and it is contrary to everything I believe in.
We need to stop this insanity before it spreads.
No comments:
Post a Comment