Affirmative action openly favors women and certain visible minorities (Blacks, hispanics, First Nations); it discriminates against white men and even more so against high achieving minorities such as Asians and Jews.  In academics, throw out the CV’s of the majority and look only at the diverse candidates.   That is a recipe for a disastrous decline in standards and a glaring qualitative discrepancy not only between men and women in the field but between the different races.  I don’t see how that can create better education; if you want good education, you have to choose the best and brightest in the field; if that leads to having 100% of the professors in your faculty being Jewish or Asian men, then so be it.  Affirmative action is social engineering that breeds contempt and animosity, as do all forms of favoritism.  I  stopped looking for a job in academics for this reason.  It is an Atlas shrug.  Why bother sending in a CV if you know it will be thrown in the trash because it is not from a woman or a desired minority?  It is a waste of a postal stamp.  And given this experience, don’t expect me to celebrate “diversity” in higher learning.

This is why I like DIY investing.  It’s “welcome to the real world” time (the red pill), not some virtual academic experience (the blue pill) where all that really matters is diversity.  I don’t get special treatment or discrimination because I am a minority.  It’s just me and the market.  Imagine if some one said to you, “Oh because you are woman, we’re going to lower your commission rate”, or “We will give you $0.50 per share more for your stock sales.”

Affirmative action is the tacit admission that you can’t make it without some special help.  It is a confession that you are too dumb to make it without our help.  It is the soft bigotry of low expectations.