Ultimately, we also have to think about what we want our society to be like.
The concept of a meritocracy is that the most capable are the ones chosen; for anything. This leads to businesses, government agencies, and even voters choosing those they think most capable (and that standard can be anything, such as physical ability or education or rated intelligence or aptitude at certain skills, like languages).
The military, to a large extent, is a meritocracy. Although there are exceptions and failures, by and large, those most capable are recruited and promoted.
However, this leaves aside any notion of correcting issues that we as a society see as inherently unfair. The first efforts in this regard were to address historical injustices, mostly involving race.
However, it wasn't long before we expanded the definition of what a protected class was and should be, those who should not be subjected to the entire rigors of the merit system, which was assumed to be biased at this point. These were attempts to manually un-bias the system.
Now we have race, sex, gender identity, age, weight, and physical disability as protected classes to a greater or lesser extent; trumping merit in some cases (not all). However, the demands for fair treatment do not contract; they only expand. Are we to add the physically unattractive? Surely they do not get the same fair treatment as those who are more pleasant to look at. The smart? The dumb? Those who cannot read or write? Everyone laughs and says "That's a slippery slope, that will never happen" when I suggest such things, but year by year, we add to the list of people and groups who cannot be discriminated against by the evil sword of merit and the prejudices of employers.
There can be only one end-game to this. We reach the point where it will not be legal to turn down any applicant for any job. It will not matter; we'll have to hire blind people to drive buses if they want to, deaf people to be police dispatchers, overweight people in their 60's to be NFL players, and so on. It will all be utterly fair - and nothing will work.
As a very smart person, I'd hate to be discriminated against because I am otherwise-qualified for a job I wanted but 'too smart' for it. On the other hand, I'll get by. I can always play dumb; turnabout doesn't work.
The concept of a meritocracy is that the most capable are the ones chosen; for anything. This leads to businesses, government agencies, and even voters choosing those they think most capable (and that standard can be anything, such as physical ability or education or rated intelligence or aptitude at certain skills, like languages).
The military, to a large extent, is a meritocracy. Although there are exceptions and failures, by and large, those most capable are recruited and promoted.
However, this leaves aside any notion of correcting issues that we as a society see as inherently unfair. The first efforts in this regard were to address historical injustices, mostly involving race.
However, it wasn't long before we expanded the definition of what a protected class was and should be, those who should not be subjected to the entire rigors of the merit system, which was assumed to be biased at this point. These were attempts to manually un-bias the system.
Now we have race, sex, gender identity, age, weight, and physical disability as protected classes to a greater or lesser extent; trumping merit in some cases (not all). However, the demands for fair treatment do not contract; they only expand. Are we to add the physically unattractive? Surely they do not get the same fair treatment as those who are more pleasant to look at. The smart? The dumb? Those who cannot read or write? Everyone laughs and says "That's a slippery slope, that will never happen" when I suggest such things, but year by year, we add to the list of people and groups who cannot be discriminated against by the evil sword of merit and the prejudices of employers.
There can be only one end-game to this. We reach the point where it will not be legal to turn down any applicant for any job. It will not matter; we'll have to hire blind people to drive buses if they want to, deaf people to be police dispatchers, overweight people in their 60's to be NFL players, and so on. It will all be utterly fair - and nothing will work.
As a very smart person, I'd hate to be discriminated against because I am otherwise-qualified for a job I wanted but 'too smart' for it. On the other hand, I'll get by. I can always play dumb; turnabout doesn't work.
