I was driving in the car a moment ago,and Rush Limbaugh is trying to use the Jayson Blair scandal as a reason to end affirmative action.
Look- there may be a number of plausible and well-founded reasons to get rid of affirmative action. This is not one of them. This is a reason to get rid of lazy editors, disinterested middle management, and lazy fact-checkers at the NY Times. Period.
RHJunior
Why is this NOT a valid argument for ending affirmative action?
Blair was hired, not because he was the best or the most qualified, but because he was black.
He was given his position, and all his subsequent titles and promotions, not because of the quality of his work, but because he was black.
He was spared FIFTY TIMES not because he was the best reporter, but because he was black.
Do you grasp this? He was permitted to steal from other reporters and lie to the american people with impunity because of affirmative action. He didn’t just damage his bosses; he damaged society by using the platform of “the paper of record” to feed false information to the entire nation.
That alone should underline the destructive policy that “affirmative action”— otherwise known as INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM— truly is.
John Cole
Why is this NOT a valid argument for ending affirmative action?
Because one person screws up, you end a whole program?
I am not in favor of affirmative action for many other reasons, but this is a weak argument to end it.
Robin Roberts
It may be a weak argument by itself for ending it, but it is an anecdote that buttresses the main argument against AA – that it results in unqualified hirings/promotions and discriminates against the more qualified on the basis of race. Blair is a classic example of the first and will remain so for years.