Is Affirmative Action unfair?
This prompt is a troubling one for me: ‘Nearly everyone agrees that affirmative action is unfair’. The idea of ‘fairness’ is one that should be examined within this specific context. Taking a short-term view of ‘fairness’, one would most likely conclude that the idea of a human being receiving preference in a job or an educational placement based solely on the color of that individual’s skin would be unfair to the segment of the population not possessing that distinct skin color. However, this is a constricting and inflexible view of ‘fairness’. This particular brand of ‘fairness’ only considers the level of equal opportunity between individuals in a specific time and place irrespective of any other outside factors. What happens when we open up the idea of ‘fairness’ to the point where we must consider a specific time and place as well as all times, places and outside factors? It would appear that the idea of ‘fairness’ becomes significantly more complex when we broaden its parameters.
