Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Read this backward.

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Supreme Court ruling in favor of white New Haven firefighters who said they were victims of reverse discrimination will probably leave employers confused, civil rights advocates and labor attorneys say.
I don’t know about the employers, but it’s leaving me confused. I’ve seen the term reverse discrimination several times and I’m never sure what it means, except that it sounds ridiculous.
The dictionary defines discrimination as “treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.”
If that’s the case (and it is) then what is “reverse discrimination?” Why is the term discrimination confined to people of color and “reverse” when it happens to white people? If something is discriminatory, it doesn’t matter whom the action is against.
By definition, reverse discrimination means you are treating people fairly, and wouldn’t that be nice?
I think if we could
reverse discrimination
the world would be great.

2 comments:

annabkrr said...

Yeah, I agree...BUT...people generally suck, and well, they are always going to be asshats.


Not you and me though.

:D

howard said...

great haiku. what made it all the more for me was that I kept reading the middle line as a noun, rather than a verb/object combination.

yes, I'm fascinated easily.