It’s like I’ve said numerous times before: locating examples of Liberal Lunacy today is as easy as opening the morning paper.
Phoenix, Arizona-area public swimming pools have been making waves in the news recently over a new hiring practice. Test yourself and see if you can spot why some folks might find fault with their initiative.
After noticing that most of the lifeguards at the public pools used by Latino and African-American kids were white, the Phoenix aquatics department decided to try to recruit minorities.
More than 90 percent of the students at Alhambra High are black, Latino or Asian. On a recruiting effort there over the winter, the city’s Melissa Boyle tells students she’s not looking for strong swimmers. Like many under-resourced schools, Alhambra doesn’t have a swim team.
“We will work with you in your swimming abilities,” Boyle says.
Yikes.
Is this how recruiting normally happens where YOU work? Does your employer search for people who possess the appropriate skin color they want, even though the candidates do not currently possess the skills, ability or aptitude for the job, and then offer to train them…even though there is already an existing pool of potential hires available who actually CAN thoroughly perform all of the requirements?
And in this case in particular, the job to be filled is one which may determine whether someone lives or dies. Shouldn’t the #1 hiring goal in such a case be to determine a person’s readiness to perform lifesaving actions, rather than their melanin quotient?
Do we really want to place the Utopian dream of diversity ahead of, oh, I don’t know, those candidate’s ABILITY to actually SWIM??
Of course, our pals over at MediaMattters.com had to muddy the waters on this one, and attempted to portray Fox News’ entirely logical reaction of “Are you kidding me?!?!?” as …(wait for it) …”race-baiting”. And as usual, Media Matters is out-of-their-depth here.
Just watch this report and determine for yourself if it seems like race-baiting, or simply being eminently reasonable:
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To be fair, the NPR article (and the Fox folks) also noted that another desire of the pool was to have lifeguards who spoke Spanish. Okay, fine: I can certainly see how that may be of interest, if Spanish is commonly spoken in that setting.
But isn’t that a different requirement altogether, which is NOT inherently race-related? Are kids who speak Spanish never Caucasians?
I seem to recall that Spanish was the most basic second language which was taught in school. Also, such a concern doesn’t address the black children at all. Are they fluent in yet a third language, other than English or Spanish?
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Now before someone says “C’mon, the kids DO have to pass a ‘test‘ prior to getting hired…”, just take a peek at the end of the article:
“Honestly, I have a little bit a fear of the water, and I wanted to overcome that fear,” says high school junior Jesus Jimenez. He didn’t grow up going to pools with his family but likes the idea of lifeguarding.
“It is nice to have the satisfaction of knowing that if somebody is in trouble you can save them at any time,” he says.
If he is selected to be a lifeguard, other pool staff will work with him on his swimming skills all summer.
So you tell me: is it normal for a person who has been fairly and objectively “selected to be a lifeguard“, to then be in need of having staff “work with” them on their “swimming skills all summer“? Hmmm?
I’m wandering out to the edge of the diving board on this one, and guessing: No.
In an era when Progressives are insisting that homosexuals be allowed to be Boy Scout leaders, and that Catholic groups should be forced to accept atheists to lead their organization, we can’t be surprised by this. That does not mean, however, that the situation in Arizona shouldn’t be called out for what it is: diversity for diversity’s sake.
The truly outrageous part is that this time, it’s prioritizing diversity over safety.
As our society continues to drown in an ocean of Political Correctness, I pray this city’s pools don’t experience a drowning of a far more tragic nature.
Two Heads are Better Than One 
Well, the solution clear: they need to have lifeguard stands with THREE seats: one for a person who is bilingual, one for a “person of color” and lastly, one for the person who can actually SAVE A LIFE when called upon.
If they won’t do that, perhaps the “untrained” person in the chair could be made to wear a “Lifeguard in Training” t-shirt, and we could even put a number on the front and back that gives you a rating of their skill level.
0 = You’re on your own if something happens
5 = Maybe you’ll get the help you need
10 = You’re in good hands.
Then, for the inevitable lawsuits, they put up a sign:
“By swimming here, you acknowledge that the lifeguard likely doesn’t have the skills to assist you in an emergency”.
As for Media Matters, they are clearly from the shallow end of the gene pool and that gene pool is desperately in need of a MAJOR dose of chlorine…..
3 lifeguards? Now that IS a stroke a genius!!
But to be fair, they’ll all need to be paid the same, regardless of ability….
Dude, I don’t even need to go search for stories anymore. It’s getting so the first one I read puts my head on backwards…
These are great suggestions — I had to laugh. Really getting “outside the box”.
That’s PGH for you: he does tend to look at this stuff from a slightly “different” perspective!
Great to see you again, Illero!
As always, your presence is appreciated…
😉
Well….since we’re on a “different perspective” tangent……
I’ve noticed that there aren’t enough American Indians playing in the NBA. It should be mandated that every NBA team have at LEAST two American Indians playing in the game at all times. Of course, we WON’T care if the dudes they pick can actually shoot, dribble, or pass. The only criteria will be that they “have always wanted to play in the NBA”. The fans would be MIFFED. Viewership and revenues would suffer to the point that their would be OUTRAGE. “You’re RUINING THE GAME” would be their cry of anguish. The Progressives would answer: “Yeah, but they’re learning as they go!” At which point, the Progressives would be pelted by basketballs thrown angrily by NBA fans.
How dare YOU mess with our game?
But, put some knucklehead with no swimming ability or CPR training in a lifeguard position at the local pool? No problemo!
Says a whole LOT about our society doesn’t it?
That’s why being Liberal has always been easier than being Conservative: possession of either logic and forethought isn’t a requirement. Just accept the various “proper” viewpoints as Fact, and voilà!, you’re in.
Your basketball analogy could be used throughout sports, and was used on a campus a couple years back with predictable results.
I’m used to this way of looking at the world from the Left, but it doesn’t make it any less tiresome. They seem to be hellbent on destroying our nation. I know many of them mean well, but as I often tell my sons: “I don’t care what your intention is/was; I only care about the result of your actions“.
Obviously not a discussion that the Left ever had when THEY were growing up.
Remind me never to go swimming there! Three of my sons are lifeguards/swim instructors and they have to take seminars twice a year, CPR and first aid every 2 years, and renew their lifeguard certification every two years. Those are reasonable expectations considering their responsibilities……and no one cares what colour they are or what language they speak.
Which is exactly as it should be, Terry.
Quality, not quotas!!
Call me hard-hearted, but I don’t care if this helps some kid’s self-esteem issue, or if it assists some kid to get over his fear of the water. This is about lives.
What is WRONG with these progressive numbskulls??
(…which is obviously a rhetorical question – don’t bother answering …)
My family and I have been to public pools which were predominantly white, and black, and mixed. I’ve seen black, white, Latino, Asian, and every other nationality known as lifeguards.
Never once did I think “Gee, I wonder if that dude can actually swim well enough to save my kid??”
Thanks to this initiative, that will now be EXACTLY what I’m thinking.
Kind of like the police. You are on your own when in dire danger.
This pool has a real insurance problem. Wonder if their liability insurance will be renewed? When it comes to $$, this entire PC junk may change. With human life? not so much.
I didn’t get into the whole liability insurance aspect of this, but you’re absolutely correct, tannngl: if I was the insurer, I’d want off this risk, yesterday.
It doesn’t take too many wrongful death lawsuits to make an insurance risk unprofitable, forever.
I happened to click on the link about Catholic groups should be forced to accept athiest leaders. I was amused to see the commenters on the Left claiming that “just because such mischief could happen is not enough cause to make a rule to prohibit it.” The logic they use to assault the First Ammendment is in direct contradiction to the logic they use to assualt the Second Ammendment (i.e. “just because such mischief could happen, we must make a rule to prohibit it”).
Excellent observation! It takes a healthy ability to suspend one’s own logic to hold all of the Leftist beliefs simultaneously, Tim.
I’ve had that link saved since last week, figuring there’d be chance to use it sooner than later. And like usual, the Left didn’t make me wait for an opportunity.
😀
Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment! Hope to see you back again soon…
Sounds like a modern application of Affirmative Action…when all the standards were lowered so much that you basically only had to breath to get the job….unless you were an average white male. With a TRUE SCORE of 96% on a Civil Service application – I was not even in the top 50% of the respondants for the job. There were BONUS points for non-whites of any color, females..in order non-white at the bottom of the spectrum and all colors and races above them. Any disabled person – male or female, and Military Veteran (which I believe should be the ONLY additional points) . I was told that I would NEVER receive a call “because you don’t fit the mold in any repect (simply by talking to me on the phone…by a supervisor), but you didn’t hear that from me!” “I can tell who you are by the sound of your voice” He would have been dismissed immediately if he was found out – but we all knew exactly where he was coming from. I am not a racist – I believe that ANY PERSON, Male or female, any color, religion or background (except criminal) should get any job that they QUALIFY for – on a level playing field. Now when it comes to being in the position of putting lives in danger??????? These people need to vacate the human race immediately and leave it to people that care about it….not some special interest group…by the way – after dismissal…give them all trophies so they FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES!!!
sorry to ramble on – hit a hot button!!!
God Bless, Ken!!
That’s more verbiage from you than I’ve seen here in a year!!
🙂
The sad thing is that if they simply started actually teaching these kids to swim, they wouldn’t NEED a special program to “CREATE” lifeguards who were minority.
Which makes me ask another question:
Supposedly most of these kids who come to the pool aren’t white, right? Well, why aren’t they learning to swim well-enough by attending the programs at the pool, so that they are at LEAST capable of taking the lifeguard test?
Is it their aptitude? Interest level? Something else?
I’m curious.
Seems odd THAT question never got asked, either…