The Argument Of Strong Affirmative Action Between Hettinger And Pojman

The Argument of Strong Affirmative Action Between Hettinger and Pojman
After the era of the Civil Rights Movement swept how people think, Americans and business have tried to find ways in order to help promote diversity and equality into establishments such as the workforce and higher education. One of the ways that America has decided to do this is by promoting affirmative Action. Affirmative action a policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, also know as positive discrimination. We encounter two authors that both seem to have different opinions on the view of affirmative action. Edwin C. Hettinger is on the side calling affirmative action “reverse racism” itself suggests that it is discrimination: discrimination towards …show more content…
He believes that the person who is the most qualified has the right to the job, even though it might just be a white male. Choosing the white male would not be racism towards the minority candidate for the job since he is the most qualified and will benefit the company. One the other hand, we have Louis P. Pojman, who is a believer in affirmative action. His justification for affirmative action is that it is needed in order to restore all the damage that has been done in the past during the Civil Rights movement and the Civil War. He also states that role models of different races are needed for the children of different races. Pojman also understands that there can also be some negatives in affirmative action, such as the argument of merit. My stance on this argument is that I agree with Louis P. Pojman and disagree with Edwin C. Hettinger. In this paper, I will argue that affirmative action does have its advantages and disadvantages and that using it to restore past discrimination is a justifiable reason …show more content…
Edwin C. Hettinger brings up many great points about how using affirmative action as “reverse discrimination” is discrimination in of its self. He believes reverse discrimination has the same effect that regular discrimination has but the ones being attacked are the white males instead of women and people of color. Affirmative action then becomes discrimination-sanctioned law, and under the guises of quotas and statistics, reverse discrimination has plagued the productivity of businesses. Discrimination directed at innocent white people only creates another form of discrimination. Hettinger also brings up the argument of failing to hire the most qualified person. This argument affects the merit of the company. If a company were only to be worried about not discriminating against a minority group, then they would tend to lean back from hiring the white male and would hire, for example, the African American female. But while doing this, if the white male were to be more qualified for the job, then that is an argument of merit. Members of a historically discriminated group are in effect not necessarily victims; consequently, compensation is not necessarily owed, in this case, hiring the African American female. Hettinger has a list of reason of how failing to hire the most qualified person is unjust. It would affect the efficiency of the company if the less qualified person were hired. Lastly he says that the most