Have you had bad experiences with midwives?

Isn’t it curious, though, that this case of “reverse” racism also reverses the political sides–you have the right pleading for equal treatment and the left not only condoning but urging racial discrimination. Almost as if social animals think in terms of people they like or dislike instead of principles they can reason about.

You are making this argument, that one’s group affiliation dominates everything else. But the author could as easily turn that around on you–claim that your views are dictated by your group affiliation, which I infer is not one you feel is mainstream. Thus is Marxism defeated.

My point was that personal experience can let you look at things in a different light. I doubt that anyone is going to start protesting the 1964 Civil Rights Act, etc., because of their experience, but it might help them have a more nuanced view of things.

There’s something you’re missing. See what there is in this ‘lesson’ for you to learn. The goggles you’re seeing through are goggles of privilege, of being in the ‘in’ group. If you were in the ‘out’ group, then you’d see how greek communities do stratify by race and class. And comparing it to Black Engineers group is missing the point. Groups like that are often formed because those members don’t find support in existing groups that exclude them.

Your whole argument is sounding so similar to the affirmative action argument – that it’s reverse racism. And the reason, psychologically, that most white people have against affirmative action, is that they see it in terms of what they are losing, and not the bigger picture.

My point was simply that the value of certain freedoms and rights are often is often not appreciated until the restriction of them is up close and personal. When that happens, suddenly people start singing another tune. And while I could be mistaken, I’m pretty confident that most bloggers here, and indeed most college students, aren’t all up in arms about the infringement of your freedom to, say, openly discriminate against women when hiring. Yet freedom of association becomes an important value for you when it is your own freedom that is threatened.

Thus, your experience with ST might lead you to ponder the wisdom of authoritarian interventions in private lives done to implement someone’s idea of the social good. Perhaps you had already learned that lesson…but I doubt it

P.S. To clarify, Dale is most certainly NOT a decision I would expect a left-leaning person to support.

Furthermore, the individuals who blog for Equal Writes are not part of some hive mind where we all have the same views. My co-bloggers are more than welcome to disagree with me, perhaps many do. But I don’t think that any of them would tell me I deserve the “lesson” of “heavy-handed morality from on high”.

My point being that freedom of association has been trampled over both legally and socially without, I would venture to say, much of an outcry from progressive-types. Anti-discrimination laws are a prominent example. Also notable is the Boy Scouts v. Dale case, where if I am not mistaken the left-leaning response at the Boy Scouts being able to exclude gay leaders was short of joyful. In fact I think few of your co-bloggers would take your side on this question.

Perhaps having your own freedom compromised by heavy-handed morality from on high will make a good lesson.