Affirmative Action for Ugly People

Many studies have shown that being ugly is actually an economic disadvantage: it's a fact that good looking people make more money than ugly ones.

But if you've got a face that only a mother could love, take heart. Economics professor Daniel S. Hamermesh of the University of Texas at Austin has a legal solution: affirmative action for ugly people!

Why this disparate treatment of looks in so many areas of life? It’s a matter of simple prejudice. Most of us, regardless of our professed attitudes, prefer as customers to buy from better-looking salespeople, as jurors to listen to better-looking attorneys, as voters to be led by better-looking politicians, as students to learn from better-looking professors. This is not a matter of evil employers’ refusing to hire the ugly: in our roles as workers, customers and potential lovers we are all responsible for these effects.

How could we remedy this injustice? With all the gains to being good-looking, you would think that more people would get plastic surgery or makeovers to improve their looks. Many of us do all those things, but as studies have shown, such refinements make only small differences in our beauty. All that spending may make us feel better, but it doesn’t help us much in getting a better job or a more desirable mate.

A more radical solution may be needed: why not offer legal protections to the ugly, as we do with racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women and handicapped individuals?

Link


So far everybody is saying this is ridiculous.

Never the less: "Many studies have shown that being ugly is actually an economic disadvantage."

So you are ok with discrimination then?
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Garisson Keillor is quite successful.

And he looks like the product of non-consensual sex between Frankenstein and a Bull Moose and Moe Howard.

As a matter of fact, most billionaires are not particularly attractive; some look like total crap.

Malcolm Gladwell looks weird.

So does Stephen J Dubner from Freakonomics.

There are always radio, writing, computer programmer, and stock trader jobs.

They don't require much interaction, or people seeing your face.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Recall that ugly people are also disadvantaged in the justice system.

Prejudice is generally not a conscious act.

Exceptions to categories do not invalidate categories but merely demonstrated the arbitrariness of all categories.

Beauty as a category owes itself to its opposite ugly.

"All animals were created equal but some were created more equal than others."
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
@hmm

"So you are ok with discrimination then?"

Life isn't fair. There are people who are smarter than I am, faster than I am, better looking than I am, stronger than I am. Others are far more lucky, having been born into wealthier, better connected, more loving families than I was. Some have better health. A lot of these people will fare much better in life than I will.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Don't forget Rush Limbaugh's 35 Undeniable Truths of Life #24

#24 - Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.

Originally published in the Sacramento Union in 1988.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
A more radical solution may be needed: why not offer legal protections to the ugly, as we do with racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women and handicapped individuals?

And who would want to be labelled as "ugly"? Hands? Anyone? Bueller? ... Bueller? ...
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Attractive people do make more money, on average, than less attractive, therefore pay more taxes, tax rates (percentage paid) go up comenserate to income levels. If there's an effort to "fix" natural selection, being characterized as discrimination, why is there discrimination in tax rates and should that be fixed too? Should we have affirmative action in athletics? Imagine how boring the olypics would be.....you just can't legislate morality, it comes from your heart and soul! Giving up your personal freedoms is a slipery slope my friends...............keep what little amounts you have left and seek to gain what we've lost.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I'm 5'2" tall with big feet and I need all the help I can get. My dog will not lick me and my cat ignores me at dinner time.
My wife hides from me till she falls asleep. Customers run to gay guys before they let me help them. Small children run screaming to their mothers, who shriek when I ask if I can help them.
If you're a good-looking person, don't laugh to hard, I dare you to walk in my size 14 shoes.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Affirmative Action creates more problems than it solves. There is a great lecture entitled "Affirmative Action" which is available on-line; it's by Dr Michael Bauman.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. and sometimes ugly isn't noticeable if other attributes come shining through, such as confidence and self acceptance, intelligence, sense of humor, most of all the wisdom to know that you should get something based on your skill not your age, race or beauty, ugly or not.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.
Click here to access all of this post's 21 comments
Email This Post to a Friend
"Affirmative Action for Ugly People"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More