Comments on: Unbearable Minds

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 27 May 2005 15:42:29 +0000

You got it wrong, Donald. He IS a foreigner. He was asked to come and run this campus, not to challenge the will of the voters of this state. If he believes that he cannot do his job in a state that prohibits discrimination, then he should say so - and then resign. And yes, skin color is a dead issue. The people have spoken and said clearly that that’s they way they want it. In the most ethnically diverse society on earth, there is simply no place for special treatment for anyone based on skin pigment.

By: Donald

Donald — Thu, 26 May 2005 01:44:58 +0000

I love the pejorative use of the word “foreigner” in Scott’s post. If only Birgeneau were an AMERICAN, then he�d have a right to criticize laws that directly impact his job. As if �when we pass laws here we MEAN IT� is any more or less true in that third world conclave of people dropping dead from their supply of penicillin known as Canada.

And I�m sure there are many perfectly �dead issues� that Scott desires to see changed. That�s what open discourse in a democracy is presumably about� so long as they�re not uttered by a FOREIGNER.

It�s nice to see the Know-Nothings never really died.

By: patr

patr — Wed, 25 May 2005 23:47:30 +0000

Dajesus: Do you agree with Thomas Sowell’s studies that most recipients of race based affirmative action are middle to upper-class blacks and Latinos? This is the kind of preference that was outlawed by 209, and that Birgeneau is trying to return to.

Economic and environmental considerations are a part of post-209 comprehensive review. But the admissions statistics still shock Birgeneau. Are you proposing that we implement a class-based quota system? As in set aside slots for lower and middle class applicants, and possibly caps on upper class ones? Is this not discrimination, though of a different sort?

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 25 May 2005 16:20:37 +0000

What is it going to take to convince this foreigner that when we pass laws here we MEAN IT? Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. I don’t give a crap what the discrimination is for, or for whom, or because of what. In California, skin color is a dead issue. If the chancellor doesn’t get it, he doesnt’ belong here. And while I’m at it, I propose that the use of the term “of color” by outlawed with violators subjected to being bleached like Michael Jackson.

By: anon

anon — Wed, 25 May 2005 16:12:39 +0000

I saw the show. Were these scholars? They sounded like the village idiots!

By: Dajesus

Dajesus — Wed, 25 May 2005 12:13:01 +0000

Just to finish fleshing out some of the arguments both Birgeneau and now your bloggers seek to mystify. First, you’re right that Birgeneau is a nincompoop when it comes to preventing any platform of affirmative action. Hell, because of his (and so many other liberals) flagrant abuse of the term I shudder to employ it. Thus, I shall clarify. The program that Birgeneau is misrepresenting (in your eyes) as racial discrimination is in fact a program for the adjustment of student ratios to equalize opportuinity. If the university brings no consideration of environment into its admissions reviews, it only acts to further skew the university’s population (i.e. we have only upper-middle class kids, from upper-class backgrounds). The problem here is that most Californians aren’t upper-middle class (this includes residents of all races), so by admitting students without additional consideration to their economic heritage, the university acts to reinforce an existing order, that in terms of opportuinity IS discriminatory.