blindness

One thing, which is imperative we discuss immediately, is the idea of blindness. Our society today has evolved to possess perfect vision. We are able to visualize and make decisions based on the information our eyes process because everything is so clearly visible that it is difficult to convince yourself that what you are seeing is in fact less of a reality then it appears. This clarity must be addressed because the lack of blindness in our nation has lead to some very negative consequences. One area that our blindness would be better suited would be in the hiring practices of workplaces since the introduction of affirmative action. In modern America it is taught to our children that everyone should be treated equal regardless of ethnicity, cultural background, or religious beliefs. It can be argued that this is the very cornerstone with which our nation's foundation was laid. I wonder, then, how a business or publicly traded company can use a persons ethnicity as grounds for hiring them over another person. Quota based hiring practices are using visual and cultural stereotypes about an applicant to make judgments about their work ethic and merit. Applicants must check a box indicating their ethnicity, even though there is a fancy, law-jargon disclaimer explaining that the reason for such knowledge will not be used in the business's decision to offer a position to that person. Sure, and Elena Kagan is a strict constructionist. Society uses affirmative action hiring practices to boost the demographic breakdown of minority citizens in the workplace, which seems great, but does so in such a way that the ideals of merit based achievement are squashed by political correctness and a self-righteous sense of fairness. I spoke with a dear friend about his recent endeavors and learned of his application to a technical college near his home. He was eager to explain to me that the $900/semester he was saving on his tuition had nothing to do with his resume, interview, or test scores. He was paying less for college then similar applicants because his mother was born in Mexico, rendering him a person of Mexican decent, further decreasing his tuition by $900 beyond that of any white student at his technical college who had the same ACT score and GPA. His Mexican ancestry is being rewarded, not his competency. If the future generation has any chance of learning from the mistakes of their fathers, they will learn that affirmative action based hiring practices only perpetuate the segregation of individuals beyond their merit or scholastic achievement. By choosing not who is best for the job, but who is the best minority for the job, we will continue to separate our citizens into senseless groups that have no place in modern society. We as Americans need to start seeing each other as fellow Americans if anything is to change for the better. Blindness, though forgotten, is in desperate need of a revival.