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Affirmative Action Hoax: Diversity, the Importance of Character, and Other Lies
What is called “affirmative action” is one of the greatest of contemporary hoaxes. First passed off as compensation for discrimination, then as a means to achieve “diversity,” it is nothing less than official, government-mandated discrimination against whites.Professor Steven Farron of Witwatersrand University in South Africa, has written the definitive account of this pernicious policy, which whites have chosen to impose on themselves. Drawing on extensive academic experience and exhaustive research, he has written a uniquely undeceived and devastating analysis that will leave neither partisan nor critic unmoved.
341 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2005
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September 7, 2019
Extensive overview of affirmative action policies
First of all, this book is about the US experience -- nothing else. For some reason I was mistaken that this book would be more internationally oriented, focusing on affirmative action policies in other countries, say, Brazil. (But I can't fault the writer for that of course.) It's also hugely focused on the period between the 70s up until the time of release (the 2010s). Farron does mention discriminatory acceptance policies in academia against Jews in the 20s, but this is a relatively small part of the book.
Second, I always read about the "provocative", "controversial", "racist" book "The Bell Curve" on American blogs. To me this is a dead giveaway that the person didn't read TBC, because TBC is a very long, boring and scholarly book full of statistics which have nothing to do with race at all. This book "The Affirmative Action Hoax" is mostly about race though; the writer, Steve Farron, takes a very polemical tone against the establishment and minorities who profit from AA (especially blacks). I could see why TAAH would receive an equally polemical counterreaction like TBC did, but, apparently, the book went under the radar.
Third, there are some damning facts uncovered in TAAH which are noteworthy and depressing. I think any sane person prefers equal rights for everyone, so I can definitely understand how and why AA got started in the 70s. However, when it comes to something like Medical School, it's startling to uncover that top US universities prefer race over merit. Saving lives is my kind of social justice.
Call me ignorant, but as a European, I thought AA was about giving minorities a chance in organisations, like, say, police forces, which voluntarily didn't open up to outsiders -- for reasons of culture, history, or whatnot. Farron extensively shows this to be a myth, and proves AA is a cradle to grave thing. You get preferences if you're a minority, from kindergarten until your pension and everything in between (school, scholarships, work, promotions, etc.) An AA proponent might argue that it's fair to give struggling people a bump to equalize opportunities, but if you're giving people "bumps" for the rest of their lives, you're de facto and de jure giving them more rights than others. In my opinion, this is unacceptable in a democracy. Farron rightly points this out.
Another thing which was kind of amusing, is the bureaucratic mess AA has become in the US. If you're a Latin American millionaire, you're considered a Hispanic, so your kids are entitled to AA, while the kids of a dirt poor Albanian immigrant (say, the son of goat herder), who works double shifts in a minimum wage job to make ends meet, do not! This is absurd on its face.
Finally, I do not recommend this book. The chapters are too repetitive in content (I sometimes skipped a few pages, just to see if I would miss something and I did not) and the tone is just way too activist for me. After reading I can understand why Steve Farron is agitated about an injustice he feels pressing, but the facts are strong enough to speak for themselves; there's no need to lose your academic impartiality, and to veer into activism.
First of all, this book is about the US experience -- nothing else. For some reason I was mistaken that this book would be more internationally oriented, focusing on affirmative action policies in other countries, say, Brazil. (But I can't fault the writer for that of course.) It's also hugely focused on the period between the 70s up until the time of release (the 2010s). Farron does mention discriminatory acceptance policies in academia against Jews in the 20s, but this is a relatively small part of the book.
Second, I always read about the "provocative", "controversial", "racist" book "The Bell Curve" on American blogs. To me this is a dead giveaway that the person didn't read TBC, because TBC is a very long, boring and scholarly book full of statistics which have nothing to do with race at all. This book "The Affirmative Action Hoax" is mostly about race though; the writer, Steve Farron, takes a very polemical tone against the establishment and minorities who profit from AA (especially blacks). I could see why TAAH would receive an equally polemical counterreaction like TBC did, but, apparently, the book went under the radar.
Third, there are some damning facts uncovered in TAAH which are noteworthy and depressing. I think any sane person prefers equal rights for everyone, so I can definitely understand how and why AA got started in the 70s. However, when it comes to something like Medical School, it's startling to uncover that top US universities prefer race over merit. Saving lives is my kind of social justice.
Call me ignorant, but as a European, I thought AA was about giving minorities a chance in organisations, like, say, police forces, which voluntarily didn't open up to outsiders -- for reasons of culture, history, or whatnot. Farron extensively shows this to be a myth, and proves AA is a cradle to grave thing. You get preferences if you're a minority, from kindergarten until your pension and everything in between (school, scholarships, work, promotions, etc.) An AA proponent might argue that it's fair to give struggling people a bump to equalize opportunities, but if you're giving people "bumps" for the rest of their lives, you're de facto and de jure giving them more rights than others. In my opinion, this is unacceptable in a democracy. Farron rightly points this out.
Another thing which was kind of amusing, is the bureaucratic mess AA has become in the US. If you're a Latin American millionaire, you're considered a Hispanic, so your kids are entitled to AA, while the kids of a dirt poor Albanian immigrant (say, the son of goat herder), who works double shifts in a minimum wage job to make ends meet, do not! This is absurd on its face.
Finally, I do not recommend this book. The chapters are too repetitive in content (I sometimes skipped a few pages, just to see if I would miss something and I did not) and the tone is just way too activist for me. After reading I can understand why Steve Farron is agitated about an injustice he feels pressing, but the facts are strong enough to speak for themselves; there's no need to lose your academic impartiality, and to veer into activism.
Displaying 1 of 1 review