<html><head></head><body>Wow.<br>
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I'd unsubscribed from the LA list and only recently rejoined.<br>
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I'm kinda stunned to read this, and tempted just to unsubscribe again but also ask how I actually resign my membership.<br>
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Except... David, I suspect your view is extreme and not widely held.<br>
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Affirmative action in communities that are unbalanced attempts to address the systemic issues that lead to that imbalance.<br>
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You seem to assume women are inferior and are getting special treatment.<br>
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Special treatment like being paid less? Or not hired in case she becomes pregnant? Or being assumed to be at a meetup or conference as someone's girlfriend...<br>
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Or... I don't know.<br>
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I probably just shouldn't reply.<br>
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But this pile of crap shouldn't pass unchecked either.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">David Newall <davidn@davidnewall.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre class="k9mail">(:-P (tongue in cheek)<br /><br />Apparently we need special programmes to address an imbalance between <br />the sexes; in politics, employment, management and elsewhere, this is <br />widely accepted as appropriate. Linux Australia is not immune to this; <br />we give opportunities and support to females. This puts an elephant in <br />the corner: women gain opportunities at the expense of more capable (or <br />more needy) men. This undermines their credibility; it raises reasonable <br />doubts about their competence. Are they there from merit or merely to <br />make up the numbers?<br /><br />Maggie Thatcher was never PM to improve numbers; she was destined to be <br />leader of UK; she earned the role. Affirmative action needed no part in <br />her glory. She was the best candidate. Yet I think she must have <br />struggled to overcome doubt. (Arguably she was better because of the <br />doubt, but that's for another day.)<br /><br />I say m
erit is
blind to sex; it shines from inner strength. I say <br />special programmes damage the interests they purport to serve. How can <br />someone be taken seriously if there was obligation to give a women the <br />place? We do them naught but disservice by gifting favours that are <br />intrinsically merited. We do naught but disservice by filling seats <br />with lesser competence.<br /><br />We see ourselves as a meritocracy; for sake of honesty and transparency, <br />our special programmes for women should candidly admit patronage of <br />incompetence over political correctness. Let's cancel our "women in IT" <br />programmes and replace them with programmes that reward "incompetent <br />women in IT," or at least to widen eligibility to include hamsters and <br />fish. That way, competent women, of which we have plenty, can leave no <br />doubt that they won prestige merely on shining ability.<br /><br />Chew, swallow, digest.<br /><br /><hr /><br />linux-aus mailing
list<br />linux-aus@lists.linux.org.au<br /><a href="http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/linux-aus">http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/linux-aus</a><br /></pre></blockquote></div><br>
-- <br>
Donna Benjamin<br>
@kattekrab<br>
Sent from phone.</body></html>