It’s Tuesday, June 30, 2009 and I again wasn’t going to, but alas, “I done changed my mind!” again.
A group of Connecticut firefighters, (19 white and one Hispanic) saw justice yesterday in that the US Supreme Court ruled in their favor in their reverse discrimination suite against the city of New Haven. These 20 firefighters were denied promotion in spite of having passed the promotion exams because too few minority firefighters scored high enough to be promoted.
Basically, the city of New Haven hosed these guys because there weren’t enough non-whites making the grade to allow them to look unbiased in the next round of promotions. Somehow, promoting 19 white and one Hispanic would make the city look racist. And to people who have shit for brains, it would.
Whenever governments (city, county, state, federal) start trying to make things fair, someone gets hosed. This isn’t a “rising tide lifts all boats” kind of deal. You can’t fill a hole without taking dirt from somewhere else.
Let’s put it this way: Suppose your house is on fire. Which is more important to you: a racially diverse crew of firefighters, or a crew of the best qualified firefighters?
To the city of new Haven, it’s more important that their firefighters be racially diverse than promoting only the most qualified firefighters.
Scratch that town from the list of places I might retire to.
There are of course those who would contend that written test are unfair to non-whites.
I want to know how this is figured. I mean the test was in English. It was about stuff the next level of firefighter should know. How is this unfair and if it is, how can a test be made that is fair to both whites and non-whites? I mean we have GOT to hold everyone to the same standard…..
Oh, wait a minute… I get it now. Whites and non-whites can’t be held to the same standard! That would not be fair! If a white person needs 90% in order to qualify for promotion, it’s not reasonable to expect the same from non-whites. Some bonus needs to be figured in to make the test fair to both whites and non-whites. Maybe we should spot the non-whites say, 10% at the start of the test. That way they could get more answers wrong on the unfair test and STILL get a passing score.
Then we’ll send ‘em to YOUR house when it’s on fire. You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that your fire will be addressed by firefighters who have been tested fairly and without regard to their race, color, sex, creed or sexual preference.
Seriously though, unless a fire responds differently to a white person than a non-white person, how is the color of a person’s skin a factor? I remember when I was teaching in the IT program at Rocky, I had professors and program managers tell me that I should adapt my teaching style to be more “Native American” friendly. I could never get anything specific on what exactly I needed to change, but gathered that I was being unreasonable by expecting Native American students to read the same amount of material in the same amount of time and to require them to turn in assignments within the same time constraints as my non-white students.
This! It’s shit like this that’s gonna turn me in to a robe-wearing, cross-burning, Arian douchebag. I try to treat everyone equal, only to be told that my treating everyone equal is unfair. I gottah treat some people just a little better in order to be fair and equal. I mean what exactly does “equal” mean, dammit?
I’m all for equal opportunity. I think a non-white man should have the same opportunity as I have. What I don’t agree with is that a non-white man should have the same success as me without putting in the same effort. We seem to be wanting to cut out the earning it part.
But fortunately, the Supreme Court doesn’t see it that way and called “bullshit” on the city of New Haven and on the appeals court that upheld the original decision.
In other news, we got a manager here that’s got some serious bi-polar shit going on. Some days, he’s nice, he’s engaging and pleasant to be around. Other days, he chugs both the Carnation Instant Bitch and Instant Dipshit and rides the rag worse than all the chicks I work with put together.
So when he writes some whiny, condescending bullshit in one of my trouble tickets, it takes a good deal of restraint to not go upstairs and beat an explanation out of him. Ten years ago there’d be a trash can bearing at least one impression of his face. Now I have to gripe to my boss who will gripe to her boss who will or will not bring the young manager to heal. So, we be good, we be patient, we be kind and tolerant.
Hey, I don’t look half bad as a saint!
In other news, a few days from now, our country will turn 233 years old. Damn, but she’s still beautiful after all these years. We may even be getting better at a peeve of mine too in that I’ve had to correct fewer people this year than in the past.
Because, we’re not celebrating the 4th day of July, we’re celebrating our nation’s independence. It’s Independence Day, knucklehead! Anyone who wishes me a “Happy 4th of July” is immediately corrected with “Happy Independence Day! (you jackass)”
Yes, “4th of July” is one syllable less than “Independence Day” but given the sanctity, the near holiness of this one day, couldn’t we prevail upon ourselves to utter just one more syllable? This is our country’s birthday we’re celebrating, not the fact that 4 days have occurred in the month of July. Be mindful of what “Independence Day” means and what it took to make that day so special, so utterly precious.
Make sure your children are mindful of it, for it is unto them that we hope to secure the blessings of liberty.
Gonna push this up now because we have moar training.
