Reading In Logical Analysis Essay

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Ellison 1

A FEW KIND WORDS FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

by

Hosea L. Martin

Hosea Martin's article on affirmative action aims to defend the practice of hiring

people not just on their qualifications but by their race as well. He does so by using his

own experience in the work place along with some personal, unsupported opinions of his

own regarding hiring practices and education. Martin also attempts to defend affirmative

action programs as being fair and non-discriminatory by emphasizing that "every single

one of us...had been hired for reasons beyond our being able to do our jobs." (Martin qtd.

in Hicks, 219).

Martin begins by trying to explain how no one is actually hired on their

qualifications in this "meritocracy". Everyone has an unfair advantage in some way. This

is his own personal opinion on how and why certain people are hired. His mediocre

attempt to justify the hiring of a person of race over that of a truly qualified person is

based on his perception that "just about everybody...got special consideration for one

reason or another"(220). He also makes reference to the "right" schools. If the "right"

school means picking a white-Anglo Harvard graduate with a Ph. D. over an African-

American University of Florida graduate holding the same degree then the distinction

between the two candidates is obvious. People who want to succeed at the highest levels

in our society work hard their entire lives to get into the "right"schools. This gives them

an advantage over others not because of the color of their skin, but because they have

shown the willingness and aptitude to get ahead. They have already proven their worth.

Ellison 2

Martin uses, as a means to support his argument of unfair advantages, his

experience in the Army as a clerk wherein he typed a series of application letters for an

officer who was being discharged. He asserted that the officer did not receive a job on the

basis of his qualifications but on the fact that he belonged to a certain fraternity. The

implication here is that there was something wrong or even laughable about hiring him

because "...he was a member of Phi-something fraternity."(220). Many people join

fraternities and sororities not to engage in keg parties every Friday night, but to be able to

"network" after graduating from college. There are also many fraternities that are

academically based such a Phi Theta Kappa here at BCC, of which I am a member.

Organizations such as this look good on a transcript and sometimes are even the deciding

factor in admission to graduate school. To compare a persons race or circumstance of

birth to being an active and voluntary member of an organization is patently absurd.

Using this experience as a premise for argument is even more so.

Lastly, Martin touches on the subject of education. In his article he presents only

one statistic,~ the percentage of minorities enrolled in medical school in 1980 (10%) as

compared to 1960 (5%). These statistics do not however show the percentage of those

who actually graduate. It is a proven fact that students who are not properly prepared for

postsecondary education and are admitted on the basis of race or gender do not fare as

well as truly qualified white students. Robert M. O'Neil, attorney and Vice President of

Indiana University, published a study of white law students vs. black ones. The study

conducted by Professor George N. Stevens in conjunction with the Association of

American Law Schools Bar Examination Study Project, carefully observed 1,042

minority students during their three years in law school and when taking the bar

Ellison 3

examination (68). According to Stevens' findings, "154 minority students were dismissed

for academic reasons ~ a rate higher than that for white-Anglo students...167 students

simply disappeared...and 100 of these [minority] students withdrew voluntarily during the

three years"(qtd. in O'Neal 69). Stevens goes on to report that out of 408 graduates who

took the bar examination "only 56% of blacks passed", and that "the success rate was

about half that of regular students" (qtd. in O'Neal 69). From this study we learn that

admissions by race does not necessarily ensure success for minority students.

Martin goes on to claim that affirmative action is not only beneficial, but that "the

disproportionate number of blacks out of work...[is] enough evidence that the policy isn't

taking jobs away from whites". This may be true of the work place but Bakke v. Regents

of the University of California (1978) proves that reverse discrimination does exist in our

education system. Bakke, a white man, was denied admission to medical school despite

the fact that his grades and test scores "were significantly higher than those of several

minority students who were admitted."(Newton qtd. in Hicks 222). Accepting unqualified

students to a medical school is not as Martin says "[a] tremendous benefit to

society"(220). After using affirmative action to his own benefit, Martin presupposes to

write an "educated" and "insightful" article by using not fact but conjecture to prove his

ill-researched and unsupported argument in favor of the continuing use of affirmative

action programs in the work place and then again in education.

Ellison 4

THE PENALTY OF DEATH

by

H. L. Mencken

Henry Mencken's article on the death penalty is quite original due to the fact that

it does not oppose the death penalty for either moral or constitutional reasons. In fact,

Mr. Mencken does not oppose the death penalty at all. He sees and understands the need

for revenge, or as he words it, katharsis, in our society. He is also aware of the people

who are most deserving of the death penalty His basic objection is to "...our brutal

American habit of putting it off so long."(Mencken qtd. in Hicks, 83).

Mr. Mencken begins his article with two basic objections to our system of final

justice,~ that capital punishment is "...a dreadful business, degrading to those who have to

do it..." and "...useless, [as it] does not deter others from the same crime."(81). In his first

argument, Mencken sets out to compare the work of the hangman to that of a soldier or

garbage man. All are distasteful jobs, but are necessary in our society. In many ways they

all keep our streets safe and clean.

Secondly, Mencken attempts to attack that stance that capital punishment is a

deterrent to crime. His point, if any, falls short here, but opens the door for him to discuss

his own theory of the Aristotelian term katharsis. He describes it as "...a salubrious

discharge of emotions, a healthy letting off of steam."(82) In other words, revenge. His

explanation for the need of revenge reiterates the age old "But if injury ensues you shall

give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth..."(Exodus 21:23). People, more so victims,

want to see the criminal suffer as they have suffered. By giving these examples, he makes

his point well, but his vocabulary sends the reader in search of a dictionary.

Ellison 5

On the point of suffering, Mencken agrees that the criminal should suffer, but also points out that only certain murderers should suffer the death penalty. Here I do not agree. The willful taking of a human life for reasons other than self-defense or defense of home and country, is in no way justifiable whether it be one life or ten lives. Mencken refers to "ordinary homicides"(83), but gives no example of one. What makes a homicide "ordinary"? Is the woman who poisons her husband for his insurance money any different from the man who shoots a cashier and two bystanders while he is robbing the local gas station? Both have taken a life for their own gain. Both are "openly defiant of all civilized order"(83). Both should suffer the ultimate penalty as did serial killers before them such as Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy.

Bundy spent a good ten years on death row before finally being executed in Sparky, Florida's now defunct electric chair. Mencken is opposed to the time these criminals spend on death row. He describes the wait as "horribly cruel"(84). To blame are the attorneys for these death row inmates. He feels that it is a ploy "in order to get his money (or that of his friends)"(83). Again, I do not agree with him. Although a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is a good start, they are not all to blame for our judicial system of appeal. Most states in this country, as well as other nations around the world, guarantee an automatic appeal upon sentence of death. The appeal process unfortunately is a long and arduous one. The United States Supreme Court alone "receives some 7,000 cases for review annually, and the number is increasing rapidly." (Harr 65). The lower courts of appeal, both state and federal, receive even more. With the amount of appeals loading our dockets, the time an inmate spends on death row is expected to be excessive.

Ellison 6

Mencken feels it is not necessary to make these men suffer through a prolonged stay on death row. What of the suffering of their victims? Were they all granted a speedy and painless death? I doubt it. The only objectionable part of a murderers stay is not the fact that he must suffer months or even years while awaiting his execution, but the burden on taxpayers to pay for his room and board during that stay.

Although Mencken's article is very well written, it leads the reader to believe that he is a staunch supporter of the death penalty, when in fact he is very middle of the road. He believes in the reasons behind capital punishment, but not the means by which it is carried out.

Ellison 7

DON'T BLAME CRIME ON JOBLESSNESS

by

David Rubenstein

In his article about the relationship between crime rates and unemployment rates, David Rubenstein, not only sets up arguments both for and against this theory, but also breaks them down with well researched statistics and language that the reader can understand.

Rubenstein opens this article with a modern day example of crime in an urban area where employment rates are generally found to be low. Using as his example is the South Central Los Angeles riot of 1992 started by the minority population in that area. He sets up an argument for the correlation between crime and unemployment rates by quoting the California Assembly Special Committee. They agreed with the Kerner Commission of a generation ago, emphasizing that "economic opportunity [was] a major cause of the riots and the high crime rates in South Central Los Angeles."(Hicks 48). He goes on to support this statement throughout the first two paragraphs of the article, agreeing that "the coincidence of crime and unemployment in places like South Central Los Angeles seems to confirm their connection. And it makes sense motivationally."(48)

His line of reasoning makes sense as one would think that the greater need for money due to unemployment would motivate someone to criminal behavior....

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