To: TimF who wrote (142103 ) 1/24/2002 3:02:36 PM From: tejek Read Replies (1) | Respond to Tim, that's the most lame argument that the NRA uses. Because people are going to die any way, why bother to find the cure for cancer or any other disease for that matter. Sorry, I don't see this as being anything but paranoia. But you might want to think about why people see pro gun advocates as kooks. I want to discuss why its so easy for you to believe that media people don't give pro gun advocates a fair shake but then you seem to be very willing to accept the premise of the Town Hall article which is that minorities typically get a fair deal now when minorities say over and over that things are better but not good. My view on "do minorities get a fair deal?" - Mostly they do. Legally they do and they face as much discrimination for them as against them. Why do they think they don't get a fair deal? Well some of them do think they get a fair deal. Others don't think so because they are told that all of the time by people or groups like Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, and the Democratic Party. Also even if they mostly face fair treatment many of them do remember being discriminated against more then once and it probably leaves a memory that causes them to be more likely to see discrimination even when they are not being discriminated against. Furthermore the removal of just about all official discrimination and most of the unofficial discrimination does not mean that overnight or even over the span of a generation or two that the results are equalized. Exceptional people of every racial or ethnic group can rise to the top (look at Colin Powell for example, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of State, and he could have had a shot at president if he went for it), but most people are not exceptional and a larger percentage of minorities come from a poor single parent families, and this is a major factor in minorities (particularly blacks and hispanics, asians overall do ok) having less wealth on the average. They know they have less wealth on the average, they might think "we are just as good as everyone else so it most be discrimination that causes us to have less." Another thing is that I am sure they face people who give them a fair deal but have some degree of prejudice in their hearts and minds. That prejudice can color words and actions, and minorities aren't a bunch of idiots they can pick up on it. If they feel it they are more likely to think the deal they are being offered is not fair. To the extent that such low level bigotry and occasional discrimination does exist I don't think the law is the best way to deal with it. Martin Luther King talked about "urgency of the moment", but he was fighting ubiquitous and legal/offical discrimination and prejudice. More subtle and unofficial discrimination seems to be fading away but if it does go it will take awhile and race conscious laws will only prolong it.
