Erik Haugen @ech@qoto.org

@GhostOnTheHalfShell I mean, the point of the case was how Asians are getting the shaft for Harvard admissions because they outperform white males.

@MaybeMyMonkeys @skykiss I think the disagreement is in how best to balance them, not whether they're balanced. Anyone not hiding in a cave knows there isn't "balance".

I think the disconnect is in how to address it: some want policies to push "groups" up or down, while others are uncomfortable with that and want an individualistic approach.

Here's two quotes I read recently:
1.) "Asians are 6% of the population & 26% of Harvard admissions"
2.) "Practically speaking... (Harvard) effectively mandated that Asian-American applicants score 140 points higher than white students"

Which pisses you off more?

As far as I can tell most people like the individualist philosophy: affirmative action polls pretty badly.

@Npars01 @skykiss Or, maybe they just really like due process.

IIUC the right, for example, is more likely to support extremely harsh punishment for rape, so I'm not so sure about your "right to abuse" argument.

@GhostOnTheHalfShell that was the point of the plaintiffs in this case, wasn't it?

@Steve98052 Exactly. While a/a is remarkably unpopular, I think some of the sorts of things you are proposing here most people would support.

Colleges already look at this sort of thing, right? If you have certain test scores/gpa/etc, it's more impressive if you also had to overcome some kind of hardship: moving from a non-english-speaking country, illness, etc. So a lot of the things you list should be considered – if not already? – victim of crime, underfunded k-12, etc.

(I think those things are more popular than a/a because they focus on the individual's circumstance rather than the group one belongs to.)

@Alienfysh Affirmative action doesn't poll well at all, so I doubt this will be the catalyst.

@Nobody https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil FWIW

@QasimRashid It's an interesting shibboleth; consider these two facts:

1.) "Asians are 6% of the population & 26% of Harvard admissions"
2.) "Practically speaking, the school (Harvard) effectively mandated that Asian-American applicants score 140 points higher than white students" (https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-america-fell-out-of-love-with-affirmative-action)

Which of those facts pisses you off more?

I think in some way it has to do with how you think of individuals vs. groups.

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Regarding the decision: schools are allowed to consider individual circumstances, but I don't know how practical it is to use that to address this problem.

@freemo A fun day at the range?

@Felipe_B @cpoliticditto@mas.to No, it's actually legal to get married at younger than 16 in Michigan – you need permission from a judge, though. I have no idea how hard that is to get in practice or how often it happens. Similar is true in several other states, like California, Mississippi, and Washington. (So much for OP's narrative, I guess?)

@cpoliticditto@mas.to I don't know; what about states like CA and WA? Is it the Republicans running those states that are stopping them from reforming their laws?

@MarkRuffalo ctrl-f "crow" – no results! Be aware reading this article that it is telling you essentially nothing about the battle or the context in which it was fought. What a lazy article.

I mean, yeah, Custer was a genocidal maniac, sure; that point remains.

@publicdomainrev I didn't see a single flower-covered car today; how has this awesome tradition not survived?

@ivalaine @bhaggart The Wikipedia article you want to verify should have sources listed in the article that you can use to verify it. If not, delete the page.

@georgramer @edwiebe @alexwild ah ok – here I'd expect prices to reflect the costs, which are mostly energy: which costs more, transport from Spain or powering the greenhouse? (to oversimplify) Farm subsidies, which are evil for a variety of reasons, might throw this off, though.

@georgramer @edwiebe @alexwild Still not following you. If all prices go up, then the energy-intensive products still cost more, all else being equal, so same steering effect as before.

@georgramer @edwiebe @alexwild I don't get how that would cause misleading price signals about carbon impact.