I agree that discrimination is discrimination full stop and if someones race (here being white) disadvantages them then that is unjust. We of course have to factor in the context and honest awareness though that for decades, being something 'other than' white with the same ability was the handicap. Two wrongs don't make a right though to my mind, and while I can see the logic in trying to provide a quick fix, it's flawed logic when letting change in the workplace naturally occur is now more realistic.

The name point is interesting, since if taken at face value the implication is that they were looking to fill a quota. An counterpoint is that there have been numerous studies and experiments where CVs/Resumes sent out with the exact same qualifications but some featuring 'western sounding' and some 'foreign sounding' names and the latter received far fewer replies. That feeds into the previous point about why these situations come to exist to begin with. Many would have been silent on these past injustices, viewing them as 'human nature', cultural kinship, or dismissing and demeaning anyone succeeding against the odds as being 'token' anyway. When the shoe is on the other foot though suddenly it's viewed in a different light.

The scales of justice are rarely perfectly balanced, but hopefully in time common sense can hold sway rather than quotas or bias in either direction, because I for one would rather appreciate people on their merits than in terms of groups. Beyond that, if someone has been rejected for 8 years in a row it's clearly worth looking beyond solely pinning that on minorities. I know plenty of non white mates who have been rejected for promotion after promotion for years on end. One or two of them put that down to race, but if I'd said that on here, there would have been a peppering of dismissive replies and 'race card' comments. Black or whites, sometimes in life things don't go your way. Whether that's due to ability, being unlucky or unjust outcomes, the best you can do is dust yourself off and find a way to success and prove people wrong.

Edited by BlueJay (11 Nov 2021 1.04pm)

My Stepson wants to be a Fireman but a mate of mine who has been in there a while now and who is quite senior said that as a 22 year old white male - ex Army by the way - he is in a pool of 25% of those that will be chosen to get the available roles - the other 75% of places will go to female, bame etc.
White males in this particular service are now positively discriminated against.
As always two wrongs do not make a right - except that they do in the new world that we sadly now live in.

Discrimination based upon a protected characteristic is illegal. How many times shall I repeat that? Read the Equality Act 2010.

This is fact.

Don’t conflate positive action with ‘positive discrimination’.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

I see.

But factually accurate, unlike any of yours.