The evil quota system

[Nostromo]

Martin Luther King always said that justice for blacks would only be properly achieved when they were treated equally with the white people. He stressed that he did not want to exchange one kind of domination over another. In my own home country India, extra previliges given to certain castes in order to "rectify" injustices done to them by others in the past got nowhere and only made the tensions worse. Likewise, the current "quota" system in South Africa, one that led to exclusion of a talented and in-from player like Andre Nel from the tour to India, is a blot on the country's image that could one day tear its population apart on racial grounds more effectively than apartheid ever did.

[Ninjaman]

Martin Luther King was a firm believer in affirmative action. Although the term came into public consciousness after he died, he was well ahead of the game with things like Operation Breadbasket. Affirmative action to correct a system held by national law to curtail the advancement of certain groups is not domination. It is action needed to redress a balance skewered by previous mismanagement aimed to entrench power. money and influence in a certain group. On top of that those who have benefitted from that system many times fail to see the privilege that that system bestowed upon them. Resentment due to affirmative action grows because of that failure to see how their lives have been privileged.

However, due to the power and vision of the "I Have A Dream" Speech (which is not even his best speech)and his subsequent assassination when he moved away from civil rights and started attacking the political system/workers rights and the military/industrial complex (i.e. became a "real" danger), a mythical MLK has been developed.

If the Dr King of the 60s was around now, I have no doubt he'd support measures done to redress the gross imbalance caused by apartheid.

South Africans need to sort out their issues for themselves and whether or not this quota remains should be up to them.

If it stays or if it goes should be for them to decide but labelling the system "evil" does nothing but further harm because it isn't remotely close to evil.

It might be wrong but it ain't evil.

[Nostromo]

You cannot redress a balance by increasing the "us and them" feeling within the county's population, irrespective of what happened in the past. You only have to look at Mugabe's Zimbabwe to see that stat that country is now in...and I certainly do not mean just cricket. Two wrongs do not make a right.

IMO, any system that allows previliges or discriminates based on skin colour or ethnic background is inherently evil. The enforcers of apartheid had their own warped belief that what they were doing was right based on their version of history. Likewise, the current quota system is following the same principle, albiet is a much smaller scale.

[Ninjaman]

So you disagree with Martin Luther King then? A guy you were just using to boklster your argument. Because he agreed with and supported what you are now saying is inherently evil.

I personally don't agree that it is inherently evil at all and see it as a necessary solution to previous mismanagement and there is zero equivalence between the two systems. But we can agree to disagree.

But as I said previously it is not my call to make. It is for South Africans.

[batoutofhell]

The way the Caste/Religion politics played here in india ,i won't be surprised to see similar one(caste based quota for players) in the near future

I agree that affirmative action is necessary for the upliftment of underprivelleged of the society but not at the expense of MERIT(i am talking only about Indian system-no offence to Proteas Quota policy)

[Seamer]

I too have a dream..............

That we all fornicate with each other to the extent, that in 50 years, no-one will be quite sure what their actual race is.

[Ninjaman]

So which country are we hitting first, Seamer?

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by Ninjaman

So which country are we hitting first, Seamer?

Well Ninjaman. Seeing you are willing to indulge my fantasy loooove tour, here goes.

I would start by heading to South America for a wild Mardi-Gras

Then i would skip across the South Atlantic to Africa to practice some black magic.

After that, i would fly across the Indian ocean to India to learn all about the karma sutra.

From there, i would work my way east to sample the exotic delights of the orient.

Then slowly work my way south across the pacific ocean to Australia, savoring each and every long, hot Polynesian summer night.

Race might trump religion, but love always trumps race

[butchering lee]

Originally Posted by Nostromo

Two wrongs do not make a right.

but a wrong that is not righted makes two wrongs, which can't be right.

[butchering lee]

Originally Posted by Seamer

I too have a dream..............

That we all fornicate with each other to the extent, that in 50 years, no-one will be quite sure what their actual race is.

Castro turned this dream into policy, didn't he?