tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276574.post114238584697595441..comments2023-04-26T07:21:13.977-04:00Comments on The Doncast: Hornet's Nest...Shaken Not Stirred...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07329040926365391153noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276574.post-1142609516480875622006-03-17T10:31:00.000-05:002006-03-17T10:31:00.000-05:00I sat down here yesterday and read your blog, and ...I sat down here yesterday and read your blog, and started to type. But in doing so, after I finished-don't ask me how or why, perhaps cause I was rushing, I erased everything I wrote. And yet here I am again and I finally read the article and my opinion has not yet changed. I feel this is a touchy subject and I can see both points of view but my view however, leans to having race-based actions are still needed to this day. Unfortunately racism-sexism or any other -isms are still very real in today's society.Until you can prove that society has "grown=up" to a point where they will not judge a person simply based on race/sex/or any other discrimination form, I cannot yet see them taking what is necessarry. I have been discriminated as such and when you say people have united over cash-it is no secret the rich run the country but there needs to be checks and balances for them. I could go on but perhaps I will write more within my blog. until then ta-ta for now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276574.post-1142476909873256122006-03-15T21:41:00.000-05:002006-03-15T21:41:00.000-05:00There is a new book out called Strapped: Why 20 an...There is a new book out called Strapped: Why 20 and 30 Somethings Can't Get By. I read it a couple weeks ago...well most of it. I forget the author. It touches on something closely related to this.Jenny Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06690196056614521503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276574.post-1142438977730152372006-03-15T11:09:00.000-05:002006-03-15T11:09:00.000-05:00Very well-thought out comments, Don. I'm in the pr...Very well-thought out comments, Don. I'm in the process of applying to PhD programs myself and had just read this NY Times article when I stumbled upon your post. I think the main thing missing in those programs, which you touched upon, is this: class. It's our nation's generally untalked-about dirty little secret. <BR/><BR/>We have a fairly rigid class system, whether we're willing to talk about it or not. Many would say that the much-romanticized Horatio Algers ideal is a myth, and that it only feeds capitalism (and our nation's ever-rising level of individual debt). <BR/><BR/>And in any case, how do you quantify discrimination based on race? Or on class, for that matter? We seem to be a people who want to measure and moderate everything, but race and class issues (especially where money is involved) are simply not that easy to pin down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276574.post-1142398383026562332006-03-14T23:53:00.000-05:002006-03-14T23:53:00.000-05:00Oy, what a mess, but in a way it shows progress. ...Oy, what a mess, but in a way it shows progress. I think these specific programs had their place and served their purpose, and I would hope that the challenges and reconfigurations would mean that the original purpose is no longer necessary in this day and age. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that may be an over-optimistic view. I think you could look at these minority-based judgments as a check and balance on a system that could easily have been abused, and probably very often was abused by the powers-that-be, a group that was (is?) inherently untrustworthy, no? Very cynical, I know. Have we, as a country, made enough progress in eradicating bigotry to trust the powers-that-be to be fair and color and gender blind? I don't know the definitive answer to that, does anyone? I'd like to think that we have, but am I willing to bet a minority individual's future on it? This is why I'm no politician. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, in an ideal world, skin color and body parts would have no bearing on perceptions of competence. But I do live in the real world, and it is far from ideal. I'm afraid it may be premature and overly-optimistic to take these minority grants away now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276574.post-1142390647833525682006-03-14T21:44:00.000-05:002006-03-14T21:44:00.000-05:00Very interesting article. I could tell by your ty...Very interesting article. I could tell by your typos that you had a lot of thoughts just busting to get out in writing.<BR/><BR/>So, here's what I think: Orphans deserve a free ride--allow them a scholarship, fellowship, a "free education for three years" program. Single, Eskimo mothers of two deserve a low interest student loan; African-American males in Detroit with the potential to become gang bangers but decide they'd rather "stick it to the man" legally deserve low interest loans; an Anglo-Saxon girl from a family living just above poverty level in Orange County, CA deserves a low interest loan; nothing fancy, just something easliy paid off from the annual salaries they'll earn after they "better" themselves through education. <BR/><BR/>And yes, rich people can create any scholarship they want, it's their money to do with as they will. If they wish to set up a scholarship for cleft palate sufferers, they will; and there's always going to be someone afflicted clamoring to take advantage of that scholarship. It's the American way.<BR/><BR/>Race will always be an issue, there's too much diversity for it not to be, but I agree that it shouldn't be the determining factor in whether or not someone gets a free education. And the same goes for gender. I don't have a realistic suggestion on what should be the determining factors for assisted education, but I think intelligence and perserverance should be more important than pigment or ovaries.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com