Is this descrimination legal?

kwmlondon

I guess that I can see how very lucky I've been my entire life, how the choices I've made have been from a very good selection in the first place and that my successes are as much down to sheer chance as much as hard work and talent on my part.

I can certainly relinquish plenty of my advantages in life and still not even notice.

The whole idea that because one small charity offers an internship just to black kids is unfair is so laughable that it's a nonsense. What are internships? They are a way to give people experience and help them get a careers. What do you need to get an internship? Connections, good interview skills, drive, self-confidence, the financial background to be able to work for nothing. In short, it's a great way to ensure that those with privilege get their kids more privilege.

And that's how it all goes, on and on until someone has the guts to stand up and break the chain.

Merit? Nonsense. The term merit was coined by Lord Young and is a misnomer. He derided it wholly as a way for the middle classes to concentrate power and influence among themselves and so it has transpired. Look at banking, the media, politics. Information and power is concentrated by those in power and they tighten their grip ever further.

And when even a few small crumbs of privilege are offered to people outside this group it's like seeing a spoilt child throw a tantrum when suddenly faced with the prospect of fair play.

kwmlondon

Oh, and I really wish we were having this argument in a pub! It would be so much better with beer and pork scratchings!

lukerichardson40

kwmlondon wrote: »

The whole idea that because one small charity offers an internship just to black kids is unfair is so laughable that it's a nonsense. What are internships? They are a way to give people experience and help them get a careers. What do you need to get an internship? Connections, good interview skills, drive, self-confidence, the financial background to be able to work for nothing. In short, it's a great way to ensure that those with privilege get their kids more privilege.

So basically it is fine to allow those with privilege to get their kids more, so long as they are black?

lukerichardson40

kwmlondon wrote: »

Oh, and I really wish we were having this argument in a pub! It would be so much better with beer and pork scratchings!

Cant disagree with that! Not seen a beer for over a week being stuck on a gas production rig in the middle of the sea. :beer:

mattcanary

A white middle-class male may have been regularly bullied or sexually abused, for example as a child. Even if he also went to a public school for example.


In contrast, a black girl from an inner-city environment may have been brought up in a loving, stable home with a very happy upbringing.


I think it is rather foolish to label someone just because of something as simple as their sex, colour, etc.

lukerichardson40

Of course it is, couldnt agree with you more. I think really we are on the same page.

Mishomeister

Would it be OK to set up a charity that would only feed BAE homeless people? And if someone white comes for some soup to tell that person that this is only charity for black etc people and the white homeless guy should be happy that there is a majority of them in the parliament.

BillJones

kwmlondon wrote: »

I suspect that anyone who feels that as a white person they are discriminated against in this country they are simply not very successful in life and are looking for someone else to blame.

The irony!

So when someone from your favoured group fails, it is not their fault, but when someone who you don't like fails, it is!

You'll be pleased to hear that I'm at the other end of the scale, and haven't failed (so far...) despite coming from a poor Northern mining town, and attending a state comp. It's clearly down to my hideous privilege that I'm now one of the 1%...

BillJones

kwmlondon wrote: »

What do you need to get an internship? Connections, good interview skills, drive, self-confidence, the financial background to be able to work for nothing.

We pay our interns £40k (pro rata). Please, stop making things up, you are looking more and more foolish at this point.

kwmlondon

mattcanary wrote: »

A white middle-class male may have been regularly bullied or sexually abused, for example as a child. Even if he also went to a public school for example.


In contrast, a black girl from an inner-city environment may have been brought up in a loving, stable home with a very happy upbringing.


I think it is rather foolish to label someone just because of something as simple as their sex, colour, etc.

Yes, Prince Charles had a pretty rough upbringing by all accounts, and a black friend of mine has had a fairly pleasant childhood but that's not adding much to the debate really is it? My friend can't become King.

No, what you have to do is look at the facts, and statistics are very handy.

When you've got scary numbers you need to deal with them.

There are just 85 black professors out of 18,510 in the UK and the number has barely changed in eight years. The percent of black professors (0.4%) shows a striking disparity with the proportion of black students, which has increased steadily each year and now stands at 6%.

85.

Out of 18,510.

Come on.

When you've got bare statistics like that it needs a response.

If it was a bit of a difference I'd understand some reticance, but the numbers are just appalling.

We don't have much in the way of obvious discrimination in UK universities, so why are so few black people becoming professors?

Because it's much easier for white people.