This is a contribution to the Quantum Magic group.
Monday, January 29, 2007,10:28
Discrimination . . .
We've all heard about the on-going "Politically Correct" fight to end discrimination.
I'm here to tell you, today and forever, that ending discrimination is an impossibility.
Every time you choose Starbucks over 7-11 coffee (and, after trying both, who wouldn't choose Starbucks?), you are discriminating. Every time you go to Sears instead of Wal Mart, you discriminate. Discrimination, in and of itself, is NOT a bad thing. It is a necessary component to your being able to think for yourself, and make decisions for yourself. Do you prefer pie over cake? That's discrimination.
Where discrimination got a bad rap was when someone decided to mis-apply the term to people causing harm to others because of prejudice. There are lots of other terms for that, also. Racism. Biggot. Neanderthal.
There is nothing wrong with being able to discriminate, and articulate our preferences. Like I said yesterday, make a choice and take responsibility for the fact of having made a choice.
Oh, there is the rub. Our society doesn't like responsibility anymore. Unless someone else is responsible. THAT we like. But, if we make a choice to drive drunk and kill a car load of teens going home from a football game - it HAD to be either the car manufacturer or the brewer's fault - we're not responsible. BULLSHIT!
Nobody put the keys in your hand and told you to start the car when your blood-alcohol level was .09 or higher. The same is true with faulting handgun manufacturers for making a pistol. Nobody else put the gun in a guy's hand and told him to kill during a robbery - he alone pulled the trigger.
Those are extreme examples of people poorly using their ability to discriminate. We see other examples every day - the secretary who spends hours clipping grocery coupons at work, the junior exec who surfs porn sites while he's on the clock, the business owner who's secretary was hired more for aesthetic reasons than skill. It's all about choices - and figuring out what are the best choices.
An absolutely ideal choice is one that has nothing but positive results for everyone involved. But, before you can know that, you have to be able to look at a situation and say, "If I do this, that will happen." Cause and effect. What effects will your actions cause today? Tomorrow? Next year?
The absolute ideal is barely ever obtainable. A far more practical guide for most of us is this: What is the greatest amount of good for the highest total number of people that this decision will impact? Would it be worth the risk of 10 people dying in a medical study, if the result was a permanent cure for 80% of all cancer? How about if 1,000 mice died to develop an I-V 1-use serum that would cure diabetes? Or, if you knew a way to time travel, would you risk being charged with murder yourself to prevent Adolf Hitler from becoming Chancellor of Germany?
Those are all choices. Being able to weigh them and reach a decision is, by definition, discrimination. It's way past time that we remove the negative taint from such a useful word.
I'm here to tell you, today and forever, that ending discrimination is an impossibility.
Every time you choose Starbucks over 7-11 coffee (and, after trying both, who wouldn't choose Starbucks?), you are discriminating. Every time you go to Sears instead of Wal Mart, you discriminate. Discrimination, in and of itself, is NOT a bad thing. It is a necessary component to your being able to think for yourself, and make decisions for yourself. Do you prefer pie over cake? That's discrimination.
Where discrimination got a bad rap was when someone decided to mis-apply the term to people causing harm to others because of prejudice. There are lots of other terms for that, also. Racism. Biggot. Neanderthal.
There is nothing wrong with being able to discriminate, and articulate our preferences. Like I said yesterday, make a choice and take responsibility for the fact of having made a choice.
Oh, there is the rub. Our society doesn't like responsibility anymore. Unless someone else is responsible. THAT we like. But, if we make a choice to drive drunk and kill a car load of teens going home from a football game - it HAD to be either the car manufacturer or the brewer's fault - we're not responsible. BULLSHIT!
Nobody put the keys in your hand and told you to start the car when your blood-alcohol level was .09 or higher. The same is true with faulting handgun manufacturers for making a pistol. Nobody else put the gun in a guy's hand and told him to kill during a robbery - he alone pulled the trigger.
Those are extreme examples of people poorly using their ability to discriminate. We see other examples every day - the secretary who spends hours clipping grocery coupons at work, the junior exec who surfs porn sites while he's on the clock, the business owner who's secretary was hired more for aesthetic reasons than skill. It's all about choices - and figuring out what are the best choices.
An absolutely ideal choice is one that has nothing but positive results for everyone involved. But, before you can know that, you have to be able to look at a situation and say, "If I do this, that will happen." Cause and effect. What effects will your actions cause today? Tomorrow? Next year?
The absolute ideal is barely ever obtainable. A far more practical guide for most of us is this: What is the greatest amount of good for the highest total number of people that this decision will impact? Would it be worth the risk of 10 people dying in a medical study, if the result was a permanent cure for 80% of all cancer? How about if 1,000 mice died to develop an I-V 1-use serum that would cure diabetes? Or, if you knew a way to time travel, would you risk being charged with murder yourself to prevent Adolf Hitler from becoming Chancellor of Germany?
Those are all choices. Being able to weigh them and reach a decision is, by definition, discrimination. It's way past time that we remove the negative taint from such a useful word.
