The world has gone through a wide range of inequalities that have proved their presence through the day to day activities and contacts. For ages, minority groups and people have had to endure the injustice caused by the imbalances that have classified them into different sets. These led to the rise of affirmative actions aimed at creating alertness and fighting the antique injustice suffered by these groups. Affirmative actions are measured steps taken by governments and other stakeholders towards addressing historical imbalance suffered by groups thought inferior or weak. Its origin dates back to the United States in 1961 when steps were being taken to end discrimination. However, the actions taken to achieve affirmative action have proved futile since they worsened the already bad situation. Affirmative action discriminates against qualified candidates who do not fall into an affirmative action category.
Affirmative action has been noted to bar further developments and initiatives from neglected groups because their efforts are frustrated through steps that ignore their contributions and efforts in society. While the steps are aimed at ensuring that the marginalized and less fortunate in society are helped to achieve some progress towards those already advanced, they bypass the influences and efforts of those who have already achieved some status (Kareem). The world over is made of people with diverse skills, abilities, likes and talents. For instance in a family of three children, one may opt to be a doctor courtesy of the child’s liking for health-related issues. Another may choose to be a social worker due to the person’s concern for others and the public. The third child may aspire to be an engineer due to the sensational nature of machines. In this case, they will decide to take different paths due to their varied reasons, but when affirmative actions come in, they are forced to be what they never wished to. This will inevitably mean their output at work will not be a hundred per cent, hence less productivity (Messerli)). The fact that affirmative actions ignore the already advanced groups means that they will be demoralized and their needs may be ignored leading to a breakdown in morale and personal initiatives that in turn lowers productivity.
Affirmative actions are known to be biased from the start for targeting a particular group of people who are normally the minority, hence ignoring the majority that constitutes the population. These actions, even though they address the less privileged in society, they forget the middle class who are torn between the victimized and the progressed groups (Messerli). The absence of policies and plans to address the plight of the upper and middle class indicates impractical favours to a few entities which amount to discrimination. Even though these strategies and programs advanced by proponents of affirmative actions are aimed at eliminating discrimination in society, they create further discrimination in the process. The discriminated groups begin to develop hatred and dislike towards the favoured groups and this deepens the gap between them (Messerli). For instance, when advocating for equal distribution of resources and positions in states among members of different races, it will be obvious to note that the “inferior” races will face further discrimination against superior races.
The programs and policies that define affirmative actions are retrogressive and create more inhumane behaviour among members of different categories in society. The intentions of affirmative actions though valid, commit individuals to dictatorial systems and ignore the contempt of law (Kareem). Individuals have the right to choose what they want, when and how to achieve them provided the channel followed is legal and morally accepted. However, these rights cease to exist when people are forced to abandon their preferred way of life and adopt strange policies. Most of the groups whose interests are protected by affirmative actions do not even recognize their significance to their life. People who deserve the need for such actions are left without choices as these priorities are wasted in trying to resuscitate dead hope when potential investors are disregarded and the resources allocated to individuals who do not know about investments. In the attempt of reconciling these two groups, a balance may be arrived at but at the expense of getting an average performance rather than getting the best quality (Kareem). The age where people are subconsciously allocated resources and positions for the sake of unifying the human population at the expense of credentials is rebuilt by affirmative actions.
Despite the inequalities that exist in society, it is prudent if the government and stakeholders consider the plight of other groups apart from the marginalized only. Any policy that is aimed at striking a level ground among members of the society should have a level criterion that touches the needs of all groups. The fact that the upper and middle classes are not considered by these actions ignores the truth that they too have issues that need attention. Furthermore, these advocates sometimes do not understand the actual needs of these people. Affirmative actions are thus not justified since they strive to eliminate inequalities in society through the creation of more desperate individuals than they help and fail to acknowledge that human beings are uniquely endowed with different tastes, abilities, skills and knowledge.
Works Cited
- Kareem, Nadra. ” Race Relations.” Affirmative Action Debate-Affirmative Action Pros and Cons. n.d. 2012.
- Messerli, Joe. ” Balanced Politics.” Affirmative Action. 2008. Web.