SCAPEGOATING DIVERSITY

New York Post ^ | 5/15/03 | WILLIAM RASPBERRY

[kattracks]

May 15, 2003 -- ONE of the advantages of being around for a while is that no matter what happens, you've seen something like it before. I've seen something like Jayson Blair, the reporter for The New York Times who deeply embarrassed his employer by manufacturing or stealing information that he passed off as original work - and who, by getting away with it so long, earned himself a place in journalism textbooks for decades to come.

[goldstategop]

William Raspberry gets it. The New York Times top management still doesn't and never will.

[RWG]

they will give the green light only to the near-perfect black applicant. And there aren't that many near-perfect applicants of any color...sure there are. Problem is near perfect white applicants like 1600 sat scores don't get any credit while gnagsters from the hood who can play b ball get free rides. This is the real crime. When a white person complains that color mattered more than ability that white person is accussed of being a racist. When a minority is accussed of being a criminal that, more often than not black, person is defended as a victim of racism.

[garbanzo]

But Blair is black, and for too many of my colleagues that fact trumps everything else.

Even among "liberals" this seems to be the case. Blair can't simply be seen as a failure - his failure has to be seen in racial terms. It does remind me why I'm politically unaligned though.

[KeyWest]

There is one problem with his analysis, which is he does skirt around the problem, since there are memos and email out that show that Blair was retained because of race. By not addressing them, it is easy to say "might have" been race, when it was.

There are quotas, official or not. There is misplaced condescension toward blacks, like at the NYT. There are race baiters, like J. Jackson, who make life miserable for any company who fires a high profile black.

It would be nice if we were judged by our work and not by our color. That works both ways. With the potential problems that come with race and sex, some are not hired just to keep away from what may happen in the future. There are companies who help business work the race/gender problem so they stay legal, but discriminate.

[raybbr]

But Blair is black, and for too many of my colleagues that fact trumps everything else. If his credentials weren't checked, if he was promoted beyond his level of competency, if he ended up lying and stealing to support the image he worked to sell, and if his bosses believed the lies longer than they should have - don't you see? It's because of affirmative action.

Why are people surprised when the focus of this situation is on the color of Blair's skin? After all, for the past ten years we have had diversity shoved down our throats. And, what is diversity if not a concentrated effort to focus on that which seperates us from each other.

Down with diversity.

Up with unity!!!

[aristeides]

Affirmative action is dying, and Jayson Blair is the con artist who administered the coup de grace.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

It's because of affirmative action.

Raspberry is trying to be sarcastic with his last sentence. In actuality, he has inadvertently hit the nail on the head. Newspapers, colleges, and businesses of all kinds need to learn a lesson from professional sports, where winning and losing is there for all to see each and every day. Sports teams put the best player they can at each position and don't give a rat's rear end about race, creed, religion, or country of origin. If that means that the NBA is predominatly Black and the NHL is predominantly White, then so be it. The only issue is whether candidates are excluded because of their race. They need not be specifically included because of their race.

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

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