I like this analogy!

Hyerdahl wrote:
> Well, let's see if you can tell the difference between the two
examples
> I provide.  John and Jean were fighting about the tree house their
> parents built for them.  John and his friends had taken over the
> treehouse by force, excluding Jean and her friends.  Seeing the
> inequity, the parents divide the treehouse in terms of time;

What "parents"?  You mean the Patriarchal men who built
the treehouse to begin with?  Indeed!  The "parents"
in this case are John and his friends who used "force"
to keep Jean out (namely, the "force" of them being able
to climb trees while Jean was afraid of getting her dress
dirty.)

> John gets
> half of the usable time and Jean gets the other half.   This act can
be
> viewed either as AA making sure the treehouse is used by a diverse
> group of people or as a measure intended to counter the exclusion of
> others.

Unfortunately, Jean still has problems climbing the rope
(even as she whines that John is not taking her seriously
because she's a girl) and complains that he should spend
the time he normally works on the treehouse and relaxes
helping her climb.

In the meantime, as the treehouse is being used by more and more
"diverse" people who don't necessarily maintain it, it
falls into disrepair.  Jean suddenly finds that
the treehouse is even more dangerous to climb into than
before and she cries that it's John's fault because
he doesn't help her so much.

> OTOH, let's say that John and Jean both received similar
> computers for Christmas but that ONLY Jean's computer had a word
> processing program.  The parents tell Jean she must let John use her
> computer program when he needs to draft school reports because if she
> did not let him use it, he would be facing a type of discrimination
> that would not allow him equal access to school work.  Jean might
> argue, "but I don't get to share John's computer programs", but her
> parents remind her that she has the same opportunity with programs
on
> her computer that he has on his so she is being denied nothing.

What if Jean had worked after school to pay for the computer
herself while John spent his time playing football?

What I like about both analogies is how it's clear that you,
as with children, believe that these things just fall
out the sky somehow.

My parents were generous, don't get me wrong, but
I generally paid for every personal interest I had
by earning the money after school delivering newspapers
or working part-time jobs.

Perhaps "Jean" wouldn't need to have generous "parents" if
she had the ability to earn a living.

>  So, my
> point here is that rampant invideous discrimination, depriving any
> suspect class from obtaining equal rights is the type of
discrimination
> govt. should address.

"The state shall not discriminate, nor grant preferences,
due to race or gender" -- Proposition 209, California

regards,
Mark Sobolewski



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