You’re free to believe that, but that’s not what actually happens IRL. How it really works is that someone will look at the race and gender makeup of the team and if there aren’t enough women or POC, they’ll focus hiring a black lesbian, or a transgender Asian, or whatever else they can find, even if their qualifications don’t quite hit the mark.

The point of DEI is to increase “diversity, equity, and inclusion”, it’s literally right there in the name. Do you see competence, excellence, or qualification in there anywhere? Me neither. And that’s because that isn’t what DEI is about.

So you’re saying hiring based on race instead of qualification isn’t a problem?

Risky click of the day

Sounds like Flappy Wings except with explosive diarrhea

Sure, and apples can be oranges if they just grow thick, fleshy skin.

Poor Bernie has lost it if I think that that’s how it works 😢

Unfortunately those middlemen are bribing the politicians against change.

Well, again, how is a single payer system going to solve that? As long as there’s a government, it can be bribed, and if it’s not the insurance middleman doing it, it will be somebody else. If anything, giving people a single point of access to bribery will make it easier to do so, not harder. The more you centralize power, the easier it is to corrupt.

Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean a single payer system would solve all of the problems. First of all, that’s still a form of insurance, because it cannot be sustained if it simply pays out each and every claim — after all, the money has to come from somewhere. There HAVE to be people who pay in more than they get out, otherwise the system will simply go bankrupt.

Also, even in a single payer system, healthcare is still a limited resource (because there are only so many providers, i.e. doctors and hospitals, etc.), so rationing has to take place or people will simply abuse the system. In most cases, this means long waitlists to see specialists and/or qualify for expensive treatments. Just ask Brits or Canadians how long they have to wait for such things, and consider whether you’d be willing to risk not getting a lifesaving procedure done in time. It’s not unheard of for Canadians to simply go to the US if the wait is too long, because there they can pay out of pocket and get it done quickly instead of risking their condition getting worse (or Americans going to Mexico to get it done cheaper).

Sadly, this is a much more complicated issue than you seem to think, and I’m afraid such kneejerk approaches aren’t going to help solve it.

Thanks, appreciate the link. However, it does not corroborate the theory that health insurance companies alone are responsible for that difference. From the article:

There are many possible factors for why healthcare prices in the United States are higher than other countries, ranging from the consolidation of hospitals — leading to a lack of competition — to the inefficiencies and administrative waste that derive from the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system. In fact, the United States spends over $1,000 per person on administrative costs — approximately five times more than the average of other wealthy countries.

So while the administrative overhead definitely IS very high compared to other countries, it doesn’t even account for more than 10% of the total healthcare expenditure — meaning eliminating insurance companies wouldn’t just magically make healthcare 50% cheaper for everyone.

I don’t doubt that insurance introduces a certain amount of overhead into the equation (after all, they have offices and wages to pay), but I’m a bit skeptical of that 50% figure. Do you have a source for that?

Not in the slightest. According to a congress report, American healthcare expenditure was was approx. $4.6 Trillion in 2023. That $77B would barely even cover 2%.

Something something correlation doesn’t equal causation.

Correct. Therefore, there’s definitely no LSD in the water.

I mean it CAN be pretty dark traumatizing for sure (see Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, especially the White Rabbit scene), but either way, when you’re tripping on LSD, you definitely WILL notice that something’s not right. Wild visual and auditorial hallucinations, vibrant colors and rainbow patterns, up to and including synesthesia (i.e. seeing sound and hearing pictures) are all known to occur.

Even at a low dose it produced noticeable mood changes, though usually no hallucinations.

I’ve had LSD. Trust me, you’d definitely notice.

I hope you have as good a time with this as I did.

Well, get yourself a modern sourceport like vkQuake or DarkPlaces, and then download this mod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/arcane-dimensions

You won’t regret it. This is Quake as if it was made in 2016 instead of 1996. Massive levels. Stunning architecture. Quad shotgun.

I’m definitely in favor of laws against rape, assault, theft, and murder, but I think bigotry and discrimination are simply too vague a charge to be properly defined or enforced, and will always defeat themselves in the long run anyways.

Say someone is running an Indian restaurant, should they be forced to hire white people? Would you trust that you’re getting authentic Indian food if either the chef, or even the serving staff was predominantly Chinese? Would you go to a Chinese restaurant run by Mexicans an expect authentic Chinese cuisine, or a Mexican restaurant run by white people, and expect proper, authentic cuisine?

All of these examples sound extremely racist on the surface, but let’s be honest, chances are extremely high that someone of the same ethnicity is vastly more qualified to work there than someone who’s not, because they simply understand the culture and the flavors better. And of course there are always counterexamples, but those are the exception rather than the norm.

Meritocracy simply means having to earn your laurels by putting in effort and proving yourself. You don’t need to legislate that because cream rises to the top all by itself. It doesn’t rise any faster because there are laws requiring it to do so, just like the sun doesn’t rise any faster if you make a law requiring it to do so.

The problem with that logic is that you’re assuming you’ll just find another job. What if you lived in a city that was super crazy liberal, and no one was hiring you because you were straight. Unfortunately you still need a job to get by, and you can’t afford to move if you don’t have a job.

Oh, is that so? Well, at least you seem to understand that bigotry can cut both ways. That’s more than most people here seem to be willing to acknowledge.

That said, if I was faced with that sort of situation, I would to whatever I can to find a way to move somewhere else where I’m welcome.

But hey, about mistreating you? There’s laws about that, too, all part of the package deal that comes with not hiring you based on race. With strict enough penalties companies would rather their employees not be bigots because they don’t want to go to court.

You can mistreat people in subtle ways that are difficult to sue over or prove in court. Like, giving people bad hours, or passing them over for promotions.

A side effect of all this is that bigotry dies in people’s hearts when they are exposed to the people they are bigoted against. If there was someone who hated Americans, but then got to actually meet and talk to one and work with one, they would realize Americans aren’t all bad and can be pretty nice and chill. So making sure people don’t hire based on race helps eliminate racism and keeps things fair for everyone, which helps business innovate by giving people a chance.

Yes, I do believe this CAN work, but it generally requires at least a shred of willingness to participate. You cannot simply force someone into accepting someone they don’t like. That sounds sounds a hell of a lot like raping your way into a relationship, don’t you think?

Right back at ya.