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Double Standards
I suspect we’re all hypocrites to one degree or another. God knows, as does my wife, that I am. Regardless, this post from Prof. Bainbridge is a good reminder to keep our contradicting values in check.
4 Responses to “Double Standards”
Sounds like an even better reminder to leave our racial and social baggage out of policy debates. That’s what logic was invented for.
I normally don’t agree with much of Bainbridge or Volokh but I do admit that I’ve always thought the claim that minorities can’t be racist was foolish. When I was very young I lived in a “changing neighborhood”. The elementary school was close enough so that I walked. One time when I was in the first grade an older kid (Sixth grade, I think.) told his little brother to beat me up. Why? I was white, that’s why. Possibly the last white kid in the neighborhood. Can’t be racist, my behind.
While I do not believe that people who are not white cannot be racist, nor do I think that any professor should ever call a student what this professor did, to say that race has no room in policy debates in 2006 to me seems wrong.
The Fair Housing Act in the United States until 1968. Less than four decades ago, it was legal for white people not to sell their house to a black person (and sometimes Jewish) purchaser — even if they were willing to pay more than everyone else. While I would dream of a day where there was no oppression based on race and no need for race-based affirmative action, we are too close to the day where it was the law of the land for that to be realistic any time soon…
But it shouldn’t be taboo to bring up reverse-racism. That creates a backlash among the majority. Racism is hurtful no matter who initiates it-that is the message that should be broadcast. I think we have to recognize the signs of progress since 1968. Can you imagine a black candidate for president being taken seriously in the ’60′s? But Obama is taking the country by storm- breaking down barriers by his mere presence. Isn’t that a great way to combat racism???