Dr. Mario Posse
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
kick fucking ass jon, that was awesome
I was pissed today, so I wrote this-- it's long, but-- if you want, Read Away!
"I have a dream, that all men are created equal..." Power. Intergrity. Hope. The words of Martin Luther King Jr. will live in our hearts forever, void of time, space, change. His central purpose was for freedom, to allow minorities to explore America with the same principles and guidlines in which white citizens were experiencing.
Cultural views have been widley debated among politicians, families sitting together at the dinner table, men in the lockeroom, and citizens extending from the Atlantic Coast to islands of Hawaii. A variance in beliefs extends the invite to provocative bullheadedness and the all familiar egocentric pride. But where should we stand? What is the justification of equal rights movements?
I am not racist. I hold no prejustices. But, by no means will I hand over a silver platter of the finest meats and cheeses to those who are undeserving. In our current state, we hold the truths of hyperpluralism to be our foundation for action. Ninty-nine students can not recite the pledge of allegiance because the buddist mother of the hundreth child has religious conflicts with it. The majority of kids will not be religiously influenced by saying God once during a recitation. The absurdity of radical minorities has taken over the peace of comprimise. I find anyone over six feet tall to block my view of the sun while walking; do you see anyone chopping off limbs because of my discomfort? The individuals in control are nail-biting to find a solution to the discomfort of America, but we will never arrive at a compromise with our current mental schema.
The best is rewarded to the best. Seems rather fit, does it not? Our Nation has taken a simple principle and flipped, skewed, spun around this elementary concept. Looking back at the idea of Martin Luther, the civil rights activist, who had an agenda to create equality amoung varying racial, social, and cultural enviornments; it appears the public-proclaimed leader of the African American movement has been critically misinterpreted. He wanted every human to be equal. Current ideaology wants equality, and then some.
The University of Michigan is a premier institution to study at. The academic challenge at Michigan is of the highest in the country, comprable to many ivy league universities. This being said, admission to the University of Michigan is more than challenging, it is down right impossiable. Or is it? As we plunge back in to the world of equal rights, we find Michigan addressing this issue with questionable reasoning. The undergraduate admissions at the University is based on a 150 point scale, each element of education and extracurricular activities carrying a certain weight. In an attempt to live the dream of MLK, the university generously gives 20 points to individuals checking a race other than plain, old, boring white caucasion. Nowm hopefully you just re-read that last sentence to let it settle in. Lets look at this in perspective to other point assignments. Twenty points out of 150 leaves you with a touch over 13% influence upon admissions. A perfect score of 1600 hundred on the SAT's must carry a weight of, say 25%, maybe 30%? According to the U of M point system, that perfect score on the SAT's amounts to 12 impactful points in your total of 150. If we all pull out our mathmatical devices, we can figure the percentage of a 1600 on the SAT's is worth 8% of total admissions consideration. Interesting. Indeed. A simple breakdown of figures gives validation that the admissions system is flawed. Would you rather be the 1/1000 to score perfect on your SAT's or be a non-white citizen? In the case of admissions to Michigan, your marginal benefit would be check a box of ethnicity.
In a attempt to complicate, yet validate, we will look at a similar scenario to the admissions system in lovely Ann Arbor, Michigan. Everyone put on your thinking caps to embark on a journey of proposterous proportions. In the quaint city of Sperryville, Missouri, a high school has taken the initiative to start up a sports program for their high school students. In the inaggural year of Sperryville High Sports, Principal Louis Pinder allots funding for a basketball team. The coach of Sperryville basketball posted tryout fliers all over the school, inviting every boy and girl to see if they had what it takes to play basketball for Sperryville. The tryouts began, each player was tested on ball handling, shooting, vertical leap, passing, knowledge of the game, and overall playing ability. Each fundamental had a corresponding value to the overall score of each individual. After the final day of tryouts, all the players stood at half court to hear the roster for Sperryville High Basketball. As tryouts went on, it was obvious to all of the players that Danny Duran, Mike Price, Billy Hart, Kyle Tradjen, and Ben Stevens would be this years team. And the names were read, Danny...Mike...Katie...Lindsey...Sarah. Billy, Kyle, and Ben were amazed, as was the rest of the players. Chatter began to swirl around the gym, and the coach decided to say something. "As many of you know, the girls are not as athletic, skilled, muscular, talented as the boys here at Sperryville High. We decided to give all of the girls 35 points out of the possiable 150 because of their gender. We feel that equal opportunity is more important then giving those who deserved a spot on the team. Sorry Guys!" And the coach left, leaving the boys frustrated that they had been cheated.
In comparison of the University of Michigan and the Sperryville High Basketball team, we see little to no difference between the two. Girls were underprivledged growing up because their fathers did not teach the skills to play on the basketball team. Minorities were underprivledged because they were oppressed by bastardly white americans. Whites were underprivledged because they do not have the extra muscle in their legs that African Americans do. Look how rediculous underprivledges can be made, the fact of the matter is your must work to achieve equality. Silver platters with life as the main dish is a myth, or soon to be reality if logical reasoning isn't integrated into the "do not offend" way of American life. What if Michigan State gives 40 points to white students in their admission score? Hell would break loose. Why? Because the dream of Martin Luther King is being nullified. We are disregarding the fact that he hoped for equality; not sympathy, not advantages, not compensation, not anything more than having one race of humans to battle the world without prejustices.
Monday, February 10, 2003
well that sounds like the time of your life ozz streaker. I was wondering though, when you went into the clubs did you get ID'ed, -- I am assuming 18 year olds can't go into the clubs as "minors", but, hopefully you will have some anwsers to my run on sentence. Thanks buddy
Sunday, February 09, 2003
ahh yes oz. well at trav's party last weekend, i was really, well drunk. fast fowarding a bit...megan beutler was there and shes hot...and well she is a mom. and so in my drunkenness i crawled into MY bed at trav's house, and before i knew it megan mommy beutler was laying next to me and we slept together, but no i didnt get any, not even a kiss or a rim job. anyway, twas still cool. oz u gotta come down soon and visit, peace man
