Yesterday, the supreme court announced a non-decision decision on the issue of affirmative action by universities. The ruling itself makes no significant difference to the status quo, but it got me thinking about the issue. As regular readers know, I think economic and social mobility is very important. For this reason, I am opposed to affirmative action.
Tag: Racism
Obama and Personal Responsibility
Last weekend Barack Obama gave a commencement speech at the historically all-black, all-male Morehouse College. Why we still have colleges that are segregated on race/gender lines is beyond me, but that’s not my topic today. My topic is what Obama said and the positive reaction it has gotten, despite the indisputable fact that if someone like Mitt Romney went to Morehouse College and gave the speech Obama gave, we would all be apoplectic.
The State of American Racism
As black history month approaches, the question occurs to me–what’s going on with racism in the states these days? Paul Krugman drew my attention to a Gallup poll that seems to indicate that things are headed in a positive direction, and it got me thinking.
Examining the Word “Retard”
There is a considerable effort presently ongoing to get the word “retard” banned from broadcast, and to make it socially considered on par with negative terms that deride various races, ethnicities, or sexual orientations, that is more or less the same as them in terms of what it means and what it does. While I agree that abusing or mistreating those who are now clinically considered “intellectually disabled” is a cruel, hurtful, and unnecessary act, I do think that there are misconceptions surrounding the word “retard”. It is not quite like the other words it is being compared to. Here’s why.
Moral Absolutism: The Detriments of Deontology
Today I’d like to discuss deontological ethics, the notion that an act or behaviour is right or wrong in and of itself, irrespective of the consequences of that act. Deontological ethics are illiberal and come at the expense of free thought and human autonomy. Here’s why.
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Benjamin Studebaker 