"No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the
masses will regard it as the truth." -- John F. Kennedy
The sad truth of the matter is that most Americans don't pay much attention to
politics and those that do often just parrot doctrine instead of investigating issues
with an open mind. This allows lies, myths, and dubious assertions to live on long
after they should have shriveled and died in the light of day. Here are just a few of
those diseased assertions that have continued to circulate in the body politic long
after they should have been cured.
1) Affirmative Action is a pro-black policy. Sure, there are a few black
Americans who are helped by Affirmative Action, but the cost of the policy is
enormous.
For one thing, no matter how talented or deserving a black American may be,
Affirmative Action casts a shadow over his accomplishments. Did she get into the
college because she deserved it or because of Affirmative Action? Did he get the
promotion because he earned it or because he is black? White Americans often
think this privately and it causes even black Americans who oppose Affirmative
Action to question the worth of their achievements.
If you want something more concrete than that, here's Thomas Sowell giving a real
world example of how Affirmative Action leads to black college
students failing to graduate from college.
In other words, where the racial preferences in admissions are
not as great, the differences in graduation rates are not as great. The critics of
affirmative action were right: Racial preferences reduce the prospects of black
students graduating. Other data tell the same story.
Compare racial preferences in Colorado, for example. At the flagship University
of Colorado at Boulder, test score differences between black and white students
have been more than 200 points -- and only 39 percent of the black students
graduated, compared to 72 percent of white students. Meanwhile, at the
University of Colorado at Denver, where the SAT score difference was a negligible
30 points, there was also a negligible difference in graduation rates -- 50 percent
for blacks and 48 percent for whites.
How many millions of black Americans could have graduated from college, but
didn't because Affirmative Action "helped" them get into a college they weren't
ready to attend?