The beliefs that were necessary to create the affirmative action plan were as racist as the ideals they thought they were trying to counter attack. By selecting people based on qualities other than individual skill, preferential treatment shows itself to be greatly unjust. By giving minorities this advantage, the programs have also implied that these people are victims and incapable of accomplishing anything by themselves. By simultaneously putting whites at a disadvantage and treating minorities as “presumptively defective,” the creators of the programs wind up ironically offending just about everyone, and as if this weren’t enough the policies haven't even worked as planned. They only serve to increase white dissent towards minorities and by decreasing the quality and integrity of colleges and business that are forced to accept people who may not be at all qualified.
Furthermore, the quotas that this system creates have ruined the lives of many hard working people by taking away their jobs without even helping those in need in the first place.
Here's the deal. I certainly believe that diversity is a good thing, but not at the expense of hard working individuals. Minorities should not be given shortcuts simply because they are minorities, and neither should the majorities. If someone who is underprivileged works hard and succeeds, then good for him. He deserves it. But once moot qualities like race and sex become involved, the fairness of everything is thrown off balance. Choosing people based on these traits is as ridiculous as choosing them based on height, weight or hair color. Maybe once the advocates of affirmative action learn that minorities do not need any help and that skill is the only criterion that matters for job selection, they will discover not only that the policies are unnecessary, but that they are harmful to almost every group of people.
For further ranting see the satire paragraph in the "My Position" post below.
