Have You Ever Heard of the "Rooney Rule"? ~ #affirmativeaction

My old man wasn't always around when I was growing up, but he taught me a few things that have stuck with me to this day, in no particular order:

1. The left lane is for passing.
2. Never lay a hand on a woman and treat them with the utmost respect.
3. Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life.
4. There will always be someone better than you.

#4 is where this conversation leads us today.

If you know a little of the NFL, you may have heard about the Rooney Rule. So what is it???

The Rooney Rule is a National Football League policy that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. It is an example of affirmative action, even though there is no hiring quota or hiring preference given to minorities, only an interviewing quota.[1][2][3] It was established in 2003, and variations of the rule are now in place in other industries.[4][5]

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To summarize, the NFL made a rule where owners of football teams in search for a new head coach, must interview non-white coaches, even if they know they want to hire a white coach. For example, in 2003, the Detroit Lions had fired their HC, Marty Mornhinweg, and immediately hired a native to Michigan, a white man named Steve Mariucci. Steve was no bum off the street either, he had plenty of experience coaching in the NFL and this move was seen to everyone who knew anything as more than obvious. But that didn't stop the NFL from fining the Detroit Lions $200,000 because they didn't interview non-white coaches.

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This is what's called, affirmative action, and I think it is an egregiously dangerous idea that we must put to rest once and for all.

Fortunately for the NFL owners, there are no rules stipulating who they must hire, just who they must interview. The Lions stated that all the non-white HC candidates they were set to interview backed out after knowing the forgone conclusion that the Lions were going to hire Mariucci regardless. So why have the rule anyway?

Although I disagree with some things he says, Steven Crowder has a really good set up called Change My Mind. I'm sure you've seen the meme floating around for a while now. He recently did one on affirmative action. His most influential piece of information that goes against AA, imo, is the Harvard lawsuit. I don't have the exact #'s handy, but it's something along the lines of this: If you are an Asian student, you would have to score a 1600 on your SAT to be admitted into Harvard, if you're white, 1400, and if you're black, 1100.

This brings me back to 'there is always someone better than you'. Imagine being a hard working and dedicated student, who just so happened to be born Asian. You worked really, really hard to get where you are. You may have had a leg up financially or educationally over most others, or maybe not. Regardless, your work ethic and educational history means less in this circumstance than your race. You may have not been selected to attend Harvard (even though you're grades were better), because of affirmative action, they had to let in black students or other minorities to fill their quota, even though their grades and test scores were inferior to yours. All because you're Asian. Imo, that's racist against Asians. Are these students who are benefiting from AA really better than the students who are getting snubbed simply based off their race? I would argue no.

The Rooney Rule & affirmative action are a rouse and sad attempt to try and right the wrongs of the past. Setting standards of quotas based on race, is in of itself, racist, regardless of intent.

If someone is better than me, they should get the job, they should get the spot at the school, and I would be fine with that. But when another person beats me (or you) not based on merit, but based solely on the color of their skin, we have started down a road that does not end well.

I say, let the best (wo)man win.

Side note to solidify my point:

As of 2020, the NFL has three African-American head coaches, the same number as in 2003 when the Rooney Rule was adopted.[13]

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Feel free to watch Crowder talk to others about affirmative action here: