tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2119996845182958780.post4763437055859721245..comments2024-03-26T04:27:54.485-06:00Comments on Du Wax Loolu: That "King, Jr." really makes a differenceJesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15942269316108576622noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2119996845182958780.post-37039338619031748272008-11-10T04:48:00.000-07:002008-11-10T04:48:00.000-07:00Well written article.Well written article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2119996845182958780.post-18921028014831820812007-01-20T22:46:00.000-07:002007-01-20T22:46:00.000-07:00I suppose, people think that our society is genera...I suppose, people think that our society is generally “equal” enough. There are no burning cars in the streets anymore and no signs in window displays, not allowing black people inside. Today’s inequalities are a lot more subtitle and therefore harder to notice and get upset about. <br /><br />One of the biggest sources of inequality today is education. Good education makes the difference if someone “bills” at $8, $80 or $800/hour. Studies clearly show that how successful you will be in life (success of course equals monthly income) does not so much depend on how clever you are, but on your parents’ social situation. <br /><br />A couple of years ago I experienced a “situation” that made me think about this problematic a bit more. Coming back to Germany to visit my parents, I saw one of my best childhood friends standing on the back of a garbage truck. When he was a teenager, his parents did not care too much about his education, to a point where they refused to help him pay for college. I have no reason to believe that he would have done any worse than I did at College and later University.<br /><br />The phenomenon of social inequality is not as spectacular as the infuriating discrimination of people on the basis of their skin color. <br /><br />One more example for rather unnoticed inequality is the significant lack of women in executive positions (in business like in politics). There are hardly any women CEO’s in fortune 500 companies. Apart from cultural reasons, there is a simple biological cause. Woman, unlike man, get pregnant. They take more time off before and after the child arrives than man. During this time, everyone else advances in their jobs, while the woman “loses touch” and often is doomed to start again at a lower position. Of course we all know about this issue. But it’s not really screaming at us like burning cars clearly do.<br /><br />Then there are, the “gay debate” (no burning cars), ongoing latent racism (but not the kind that comes with burning cars), age discrimination (hardly any burning cars there either), disability, religion and many more. Sometimes one of these issues does make the news. However, mostly society simply accepts that we are not all equal. <br /><br />Solving all the above issues can only be the job of “our” politicians. I will not comment on how optimistic I am in this regard.<br /><br />Out of pure interest, do you guys know Ludwig Erhardt, Gordon Brown or Sophie Scholl? All important European figures who have influenced the course of history in Europe.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02739277458462969378noreply@blogger.com