Hacker News Reader

Comment by hondo77 | Hacker News Reader

No, it means it prevented someone else's father from attending that school. There are others. That's why you apply to more than one.

View on HN

In the end, higher education is a scarce resource. Making it harder for group X to get in is absolutely discrimination, and does reduce the amount of people from group X who can attain higher education.

Affirmative Action is talked about as positive discrimination, but it is still discrimination none-the-less.

> Affirmative Action is talked about as positive discrimination, but it is still discrimination none-the-less.

Every decision is discrimination. Basis and purpose is what matters.

> Every decision is discrimination. Basis and purpose is what matters.

That is true, which is why it is illegal in my country to discriminate based on things that you are. In my country, we value equality and believe that everyone should be treated fairly and without discrimination. Laws are in place to protect individuals from discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, religion, age, disability, and other protected characteristics.

Discrimination based on who you are, such as your inherent traits or characteristics, is considered unjust and contrary to the principles of equality. The focus should be on a person's abilities, qualifications, and merits rather than factors that they have no control over.

There's a saying in my country. "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."

I doubt the poor likes having their bread stolen.

The poor are overwhelmingly the victims of petty crime. The rich can live in gated communities and afford security systems.

Or even a small private army for their protection. The poor have to rely on the mercy of the law, the police, and the courts. They don't like having their things stolen, they don't like being accosted in the street, they don't like disorderly conduct around them -- but they don't have nice villas or townhouses to retire to.

I don't think Anatole France really had thought things through when he wrote that quote...

That's poverty related, not race. Keeping fighting over the skin color instead of joining forces together against these money-addicted thugs.

There aren't any beggars or any people sleeping under bridges in my country who don't want to do that themselves. We have social security for everyone, and homeless shelters for those who cannot behave well enough to not be evicted from apartments.

> any people sleeping under bridges in my country

Snooping at your comment history, you're talking about Finland?

In general, there are massively fewer people sleeping under bridges in places that get seriously cold. How much of this is just climate?

(Ex: in the US, Boston and San Francisco have very different numbers of people sleeping rough, while both being very liberal places for the US)

What if Group X has their own country where they will get that preference but Group Y is native born and gets a taint? The top class of Group Y will be fine. It's the lower ranks of Group Y who lose out to Group X and the higher ranks of Group Y who cement their own status by cutting off their native competition.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com