I don't think so, and neither should you. 

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the concept and term ‘positive discrimination’ and in some cases may well have experienced it yourself, there are some very obvious examples of this throughout history, the famous ‘Quota System’ in South Africa is one that comes to mind, but I believe this still goes on today and is much more widespread than we like to think. 

There is a story breaking today about the RAF (Royal Air Force) here in the UK, and the fact they have been breaking employment law by favouring women and minorities when making appointments. To quote from the story “The RAF broke employment law when it attempted to favour female and ethnic minority candidates over white men”, that hardly sounds very fair and inclusive to me. 

This has really got to me this morning, but I see it as a positive, and finally, it seems this may start a conversation on this subject. Because I think we can all agree this goes on very often these days, and in a number of institutions, it's just so far, gone undetected. 

Hopefully, this will begin to shine a light on it. 

Positive Discrimination

In short, this is when a company don't pick the person they're hiring based on who's best for the job, they do it based on whose profile ticks more boxes. And in the world of today, being a straight, white man, you don't tick very many boxes at all. So even though you may have all the credentials to do a certain job, and may be the best candidate, you may not get the job because the company will choose someone who ticks more boxes, based on race, gender or sexual preference. 

That is basically what the RAF are being accused of doing in this report. And it's disgusting, any company should be hiring the best people for the job, without even taking into consideration any other factor. People's race, gender or anything of the other divisional lines they use that doesn't affect someone's ability to do a job, should not even be discussed or acknowledged when making a decision on who to hire. 

Simply hire the best people, and the company will do better for it. 

I Would Be Offended

I remember a year or so ago, looking on the BBC website, at the careers page, and them stating quite clearly, that their target was to have 25% ‘LGBT’ managers by 2025. I was shocked and disgusted by this target, not because of the ‘LGBT’ community, but because in order to achieve that target the BBC would have to discriminate to get there. I have a number of issues with this idea. 

Firstly the ‘LGBT’ community are not 25% of the UK population, therefore the idea this target could happen organically is very unlikely. Secondly, if it's not going to happen organically then they're going to have to force it to happen, and to achieve that it means they will be promoting some people not up to the job, and keeping some down that are but don't fall into the box required. 

If I was an LGBT manager at the BBC, I would be questioning whether I got the job because I was the most credible candidate and that I had earned it, ordering whether I was only there to tick a box. The irony is, I would be offended by that and feel discriminated against. 

I was under the impression that the idea of equality was to prevent people from being pre-judged and to have a world where people's character and abilities dictate where they end up, not anything else. The words of Martin Luther King's famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech are still valid today, yet we're going back towards more oppression and prejudice, it's just being done this time by ‘Anti-Racists and Anti-Facists’. 

It's all quite ironic really. 

Stirring Up Hate

By carrying out this kind of discriminatory policy in the name of equality, they're actually creating more hate and division. If you're a straight white man, and you're constantly overlooked for a job, or for the promotion you deserve because you don't tick enough boxes, aren't you eventually going to become resentful, and probably direct your anger and frustrations at those people who're in your mind, being given opportunities over you? 

I would say that's human nature, when it's not the person's fault, as I say I would actually be offended to get special treatment based on any of the different divisions I've talked about in this piece, and I think you'd find the majority would feel the same as I do about that. 

However, that's not always how the mind works, and in many cases, people's anger is not always directed in the right direction. We've seen this a number of times in recent years, across a range of different social issues. 

In my opinion, this is not by accident and has been done deliberately to cause yet more division, and we need to be smart enough to see that and direct our anger and frustrations in the direction which is pushing this ideology. 

Where From Here?

This needs to stop, put quite simply. Stories like this one need to continue being shared and exposed, companies doing to same also need a big spot light shining upon them, and they need to be shamed into stopping this discrimination. 

Hire the best person for the job, plain and simple. No other factor should come into the equation. This would go a long way to beginning to repair the multiple lines of division that we're seeing between various different groups of people around the world. 

Get back to treating people as individuals, not basing your opinions on the group of which they're a part of. 

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