TED Community » Jordan Stella

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Learning about anything and everything, playing music, writing, conversing, thinking, creating, being productive, Objectivism, loving, reading, singing, watching movies, experiencing.

An idea worth spreading

Multilingualism, Rational Self Interest.

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Language, philosophy, religion, literature, anthropology, sociology, criminology, learning.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +1.60 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 16 2011: What I meant was exactly what it sounded like. I believe that the government has no right to intervene in the rights of a private institution, be it a school, business, etc. I am in no way advocating discrimination in this conversation, I am merely arguing that if a private institution chooses to discriminate in its application process, then that is fine. I don't know if you've read the entire conversation, but an interesting point was brought up that in this day and age, we wouldn't need the government to step in and stop the discrimination, because social media would lash out against said institution and fix the issue for us.
  
  I agree with a truly color blind admittance as you said. The color of one's skin does not factor into one's intelligence.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 15 2011: If you read the entire conversation, you would know that no one is arguing to deny education, nor is anyone arguing that education should be harder to obtain. We are only arguing that affirmative action (being discrimination) is a violation of rights (and in some of our opinions, an example of a government overstepping its boundaries).
  
  And may I ask where you get your statistics from? "Almost every single student aid loan". What kind of a statistic is that? Show me a good hard number. There are plenty of people like me who took out loans with cosigners that have nothing to do with the U.S. government. If the government didn't back loans, I believe that responsible parents would. Yes, they are taking a chance, because if their kid defaults their name is on it too, but still. You asked, would colleges stay in business if they lost 98% of their students? I ask you this: do you honestly believe that they would lose 98% of them? People found ways to pay for education in the past, the government isn't the only way.

• A comment on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 14 2011: To all involved in this debate: Since this conversation has ultimately come down to the question of what should the role of government be, I give you this quote from Ayn Rand to explain my view of our government.
  
  "The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, acting as an agent of man's self-defense, and, as such, may resort to force only against those who start the use of force. The only proper functions of a government are: the police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud by others, and to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law."
  
  
  
  I ask this, does this view of government not provide for free, rational discourse between equal individuals?

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 13 2011: Here's my problem with what you just said. They are illegal immigrants. They are not citizens of this country, and thus our government is not responsible for them. Our government is responsible for the rights of U.S. citizens, not citizens of other countries. I agree that it is not the fault of the children that their parents moved here illegally, but it is not fair to real citizens if illegal immigrants are receiving FEDERAL aid.

• A reply on Conversation: Should governments be allowed to criminalize victimless acts?

  Aug 13 2011: I absolutely agree. Modern culture has become too closely intertwined with "morality". People are much to busy worrying about morality, and not busy enough worried about the cold hard facts, about the objective reality.

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 12 2011: I meant to say that there has never been a society in which the individual was given complete and total freedom. Yes, I have many freedoms as a U.S. citizen, but the government still interferes in my business.
  
  I'll say it again, I don't believe the government should exist to interfere with its citizens. The only time government interference is justified, is when they are protecting the rights of the individual.

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 12 2011: How are they not? They are trying to make up for separating minority groups from the rest of the citizens by separating minority groups from the rest of the citizens? By providing special help to minorities, they are doing nothing more than discriminating again.
  
  The word discrimination comes with a very negative connotation, but in my opinion discrimination is discrimination.
  
  Here's the definition of discrimination: treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
  
  I ask you, how is affirmative action not discriminating? It is taking consideration of a person based on their racial group or sex. How is that not the same moral wrongdoing?

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 12 2011: Social Darwinism is dead? Since when?
  
  I was not implying that anyone should be "weeded out", I was just saying that the government should not decide who to help and who not to help. Ok, so you want to help underprivileged children, that's fine, but the government should not be the ones funding it.
  
  Who gets to decide who is underprivileged? At least the colleges I applied to had financial aid brackets set in so if your combined family income is less than $65,000 then you pay nothing for college, since you are underprivileged. How is it fair to just say anyone below that is free, above it you have to pay? I don't believe anyone has the right to label people as underprivileged, privileged, in need, or not in need.

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 12 2011: Alternatively, we can allow nature to take its course. We do not need to provide for everyone. Everyone has the right to live their life; the government should not be obligated to help some and not help others. We could always let those in underprivileged areas not go to college, and they could go on the become working citizens. Blue collar, but still working.
  
  I'm playing devil's advocate here.

• A reply on Conversation: Should the U.S. continue to employ Affirmative Action, or should private schools be allowed to discriminate?

  Aug 12 2011: Thank you for providing such great insight.