Discriminations

The Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star article that I discussed in the UPDATE to this post below quotes John R. Hibbing, professor of political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln:

it may be difficult to get Nebraska voters to want to end efforts to increase diversity within state institutions, he said. Nebraskans seem favorable toward helping women and minorities in Nebraska, though they also seem unfavorable toward hindering opportunities for white males.

“Everyone wants to go to heaven without dying,” Hibbing said, referring to the desires of some to help women and minorities without the political backlash that often accompanies such efforts.

This formulation is so common that, with all due respect to Prof. Hibbing, it is worth pointing out that the state civil rights initiatives most assuredly do not pit compassionate, caring people who are "favorable toward helping women and minorities" against meanies who are opposed to such help. First, reasonable, caring people can believe that preferential treatment of, i.e., lowering standards applied to everyone else for, women and minorities does not in fact help them. Second, even if employing such double standards is regarded as help, reasonable and caring people can also believe that the cost of such help — treating people differently based on their race, ethnicity, sex; implying that women and minorities cannot succeed if held to the same standards as everyone else; etc. — far exceeds the benefit of whatever help the few beneficiaries receive.