Meanwhile, in the real world...

Well, maybe it had to be coming. The comfortable white male is now claiming discrimination. Welcome to a brave new world....

In 1776, a document appeared which read;

                ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...’

Yet it took many years before anyone realised the real consequences of this ‘self-evident’ truth. In 1963, Martin Luther King was still demanding its recognition;

                ‘I have a dream that one day this nation of ours will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.’’

That everyone is entitled to the same basic human rights, that everyone has equal moral value, that one life is worth the same as any other. These are the essential truths on which we should build our lives and our relationships with others. How quickly they have become lost in petty wrangles and resentment.

The problem is not that gay people have their own Olympics, or that there are awards specifically for ‘black youths’. The problem is that gay people, black people, Asian people, or any other appropriate minority group feels unable to compete in mainstream events on a level playing field. This is not helped by seemingly wide held resentment of competitions etc. for minority groups only.

If we accept for a moment that women only shortlists did suggest that women were incapable of becoming MPs on merit, that they needed ‘special treatment’. If this is so, how come the Conservative Party (which has always ‘allowed’ women to be selected ‘on merit’) has only 13 female MPs, out of 165 in total? Are we really to believe that women are that unsuitable for politics? It is even more startling when you realise that, historically, more women have voted Conservative than for any other party.

It is not that women are not ‘good enough’, it is that the selection process is entrenched in ‘the forces of conservatism’; it is stuck in the past.  Remarkably, new statistics suggest that in an attempt to make their point that women/black people/gays don’t get elected, the Tories have selected them to stand almost exclusively in seats that are difficult to win. This is discrimination in action.

The reality is this, that when you are playing downhill all the time, it is difficult to appreciate why the other team struggles. The opposition (or in this case, minority groups) look weaker than they are because the assumed level playing field simply doesn’t exist. If, in the short term, positive discrimination is necessary to even things up, then so be it. Everyone benefits.

At the same time that we condemn positive discrimination, the real nasty, evil type of discrimination continues around us. So called England ‘fans’ are still embarrassing Britain with their racist antics on the continent at every major football event. Racist lynching at one point this year seemed to have returned Mississippi to its darkest days. Asylum seekers, desperate to escape persecution, are condemned as lice on society by people with no comprehension of persecution. The opposition claims that the best way of dealing with ‘the problem’ is to lock up all asylum seekers temporarily on entry to the country! How many of you have heard homophobic rubbish around College? How many of you just nod in agreement, because it’s easier than arguing the case for the equality of all; ‘all men created equal’? How many of you have written off the idea of gay parents as unacceptable, or just morally wrong, as if morals can simply be created on the basis of what has always gone before? This is real discrimination is actin today. It is degrading to all of us. It is blatantly obviously more dangerous and unacceptable than an NUS Black and Asian Conference aiming to level up the playing field. To suggest otherwise is simply nonsense.

So, should ‘white, heterosexual males be afraid... simply for being in the majority’? Don’t make me laugh. We’ve never had it so good.

Christopher Read