---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 18:13:33 -0400
From: Dwight Lemke <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of list IABS-L <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: affirmative action
 
No Archie, not quite...
 
With the drumbeat of politician after politician repeating the same
mantra, it has an effect on the polity.  It lends a framework to people
to explain their own experiences.  Instead of "I was beat out of a job
by someone at least as well qualified as I" it becomes, "I was beat out
of a job because of affirmative action".  No matter how outlandish the
proposition, if it is repeated loudly and often enough, the cognitive
psych people tell us that it becomes accepted.
 
To argue that the political climate is merely a receptacle for
people's own beliefs overlooks the reciprocal effect it has.
 
-Dwight