woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) (08/31/83)
> In reference to "net.women.only might be illegal" > where the author cries reverse discrimination- > it seems to me that the tone here puts women > in the guilty position. In reality it is > white men who are the guilty ones and Affirmative > Action is a process to rectify the situation. > Shelley Heretyk Uh, oh. I knew this was coming sooner or later. As a white male, I have been accused of being personally responsible for all the problems faced by women and minorities, and I resent it. I have done nothing to warrant such a charge. This is an example of negative stereotyping which is just as bad as any stereotyping of women and minorites by those currently in power. Basically, I support the feminist cause, but how can I help being turned off by statements such as this? What, exactly, am *I* guilty of? Why is it that the feminists first claim that white males hold all the power, and then do everything they can to alienate us? It seems to me that you should be trying to win us over to your side, so that something real (i.e. in terms of legalites, such as the ERA) can be done. I know I'm going to receive a lot of flames for this, but I am not a chauvinist, just a poor essay writer. I'd like to ask a serious question: What can we (sympathetic white males) do to help? Do you even *want* our help, and if not, how do you propose to bypass the current power structure? -- GREG {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!brl-bmd | harpo!seismo | menlo70} !hao!woods
jimph@ihuxv.UUCP (09/01/83)
I just read the article from the man who was "symathetic to the feminists cause" in which he was responding to the woman who stated that men were responsible for necessitating affirmative action programs and I thought he was doing fine until he started talking civilly to her. I am sick and tired of anyone (male,female,black,white,purple, or any other class) making generalizations and blaming another group for societies' problems. There is no group of people who is any better than another group. Any group of people, placed in another group's position from birth, would react the same way as the other group. Society dictates how we act and if you don't think something is right, don't blame one particular group, blame society. We're all in this together and until we realize that, our outlook is going to continue to be warped and Shelley Heretick is going to continue to blindly place blame where it doesn't belong. sssssssssssssssss! There, I feel better now that I let that steam out.
mjk@tty3b.UUCP (09/01/83)
Aren't you sick of "sensitive, caring" people "sympathetic to your cause" moaning about being stereotyped as opponents? If you don't have the sense to see that if you're not part of the problem, then you aren't, too bad. Characterization of white males as the problem obviously doesn't apply to those who aren't part of the problem. Is that so difficult to comprehend? So quit moaning; we're all tired of this "reverse discrimination" BS. It's a smokescreen. Mike Kelly ..!ihnp4!tty3b!mjk
regard@ttidcc.UUCP (Adrienne Regard) (05/17/85)
Re the question "Why do _I_ have to pay because of something that happened hundreds of years ago?" Answer:(possibly not a very good one) "Because the government says so." Nobody said that affirmative action guidelines are fair. The claim is that affirmative action guidelines were put in place 'in the interest of fairness.' Which is a different thing. None of the people who were discriminated against for hundreds of years did anything special that deserved discrimination, either. They aren't doing anything right now that is particularly worthy of discrimination, but it's still happening. So, your answer is above. This _isn't_ and equal world yet. Some white males now get the short end of the stick. It isn't personal, ya know. It's never been _personal_. The only real advantage is that affirmative action has the goal of eventually equalizing the workplace by a fait accompli. It's not really working to change attitudes, since laws can't really ever do that. Sorry it upsets you. Sorta.