Culturism, Affirmative Action, Marxism and Sotomayor

The Supreme Court overruled a decision by President Obama’s choice for that Court, Sonia Sotomayor. To get a promotion as a firefighter in New Haven Connecticut, you must pass a test. In one round of testing few Hispanics and no African Americans passed. As New Haven was afraid of a Federal lawsuit, they tore up the test results. White applicants sued. Sotomayer ruled against them.

The Court decided on the grounds of whether or not potential discrimination against one group amounted to actual discrimination against another. This 5 – 4 decision was a blow against Affirmative Action. And thus, liberals contended, knocks the legs out from the Civic Rights Act. Is this racial discrimination or not? Unfortunately, none considered the possibility that it might be culturist discrimination.

Culturism notes that some cultures study more. Thus some cultures have higher literacy rates. Thus some groups do better in school. Affirmative Action assumes that cultural differences do not exist and, therefore, all distinctions in academic and economic achievement are irrational and due to race. Using this logic America is unfair and racist. Social justice chants echo these sentiments. These lead to lawsuits, resentment, racial discord and – most importantly, no incentive for African – Americans to study harder. Taking a culturist view that black applicants need to study harder, would serve all concerned better.

Liberals claim that the tests are culturally biased. I am not familiar with the details of the test, but it seems that knowledge concerning fire-fighting procedures would likely be fairly objective. If ebonics versus standard English were the issue, black people should take this as proof that they need to master standard English. To expect China, the international business community and the majority of Americans to write tests in ebonics is silly. Refusal to acknowledge this fact does not provide a way forward. If pandered to, ebonics can only lead to ghetto-ization.

Marxism uses the same culturally neutral logic as Affirmative Action. In assuming that all differences in achievement are due to unreasonable bias, it also undermines values. Rather than hard work, anger at injustice becomes the way forward. It also undermines motivation. In the USSR the failure to understand human nature cost tens of millions of lives. In America it seeks to create equality from the bench rather than individual effort. The laziness of the human who has been given excuses undermined the USSR. Freedom leads to disparity. If we crush initiative in the name of equality we may follow the direction of the USSR.

In failing to consider the impact of cultural diversity, Sotomayer and her potential colleagues on the Court become dangerous. Following their logic, they will not stop blaming America until all people achieve at equal rates. As this culturally neutral outcome is impossible, such a stance can only lead to permanent discontent, resentment, and grievance. If Asians are beating whites in college admissions, or whites are beating blacks in passing fire-fighting tests, the answer is personal or cultural responsibility. Those groups need to study harder. This is the way to productivity. Equal opportunity does not lead to equal outcome. Culture is important. Replacing the lefts constant reliance on racist and Marxist thought with culturist thought is vital.