The French philosopher Blaise Pascal once stated that “God instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.” That is, God acts in response to our prayers causing change in the universe as the result of God, in his perfect will, allowing our free request to cause things to happen without altering his perfect will. In other words, and to use Theodore Dalrymple’s apt description, human beings are not mere marionettes of happenstance. We are not merely objects moved by forces but instead we are subjects of meaning, capable of changing our lives by our choices.
Which makes us responsible beings. As members of the social organism, persons are called to full participation in the life of the community. That responsibility is not transferrable or mediated through the organs of the state. We are called to oikonomia or stewardship. The concept of merit is tied to that of responsibility. Merit refers to “just desserts”, a reward for what is accomplished.
It is truly sad to see the emergence of ideologies rejecting the concept of merit. Although the rejection is predicated on account of external forces to the individual, the result is a negation of the dignity of causality and the affirmation of an identity of victim. Merit is seen as an oppressive expectation coming from a society whose structures impede the dignity of causality to such an extent that impedes second-order human action.
For example, the University of Texas-Austin recently launched the Office of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The office expresses the opinion that hiring people based on merit harms minority groups. The office was created to deal with “the income inequality gap for overlooked communities.” Merit becomes racist because minorities are prevented from meriting by way of structures that impede their success.
What makes this ideology insidious is that often it requires no evidence that an actual effort to impede groups of people from accomplishing and succeeding is not offered. The effect is to label a group as oppressed, creating a sense that no matter how much one tries, structural impediments will stall those efforts. Inevitably, there is a nefarious signal sent, an incentive proposed not to try as hard as one can, as it would be a waste of time anyway.
The necessary conclusion young people trying to move forward in life might arrive at is that it is better to substitute activity for activism. Activity is the engagement in productive acts towards a worthy end. Studying hard or working diligently as an entrepreneur are examples of activity. Activism, however, is ceasing to engage in productive work while demanding action from others to eliminate present or imagined barriers. It is postponing enterprise in favor of mobilization or political engagement.
In fact, I cannot find a more racist attitude than that which deposits on minorities an inability to merit, even if such inability is assigned an external culprit. Hiring based on anything other than “just desserts” produces the belief that benefit comes from political activism instead of from effort and “burning the midnight oil”. It creates a negative attitude towards society as a whole that assists in defeating persons as they engage in the daily struggles of responding to inclination or obligation—offering a ready alibi for inaction.
As we minorities are victims, a totally different moral universe of expectations belongs to us. Just think about it, minorities cannot be hired on merit because they are not meriting due to external forces. All they can merit is some sort of special program based on their ethnicity instead of their effort. Believing that minorities have the talent and they can overcome any present obstacles to succeed seems to me as affirming their dignity and uplifting the group, but it is instead racist or myopic in the thought of the ideologues of race.
Minorities do not need your good intentions. We don’t need the brownie points and your kindness and altruism. Yes, there might be barriers. Yes, there is value in a diverse ethnic environment. But the goal of ethnic diversity can NEVER be depending on paternalism, condescension, and ideological activism. Hiring minorities is good business, smart for your company and we are here achieving to show you that it makes sense to hire us. That is the only way to move forward.
Ismael Hernandez
