One Less White Guy to NOT Empathize With

Isn't it wonderful? Our first soon-to-be Latina female Supreme Court Judge, Sonia Sotomayor! Thank you, President Obama for finally getting it, for thinking outside the white bread box. Some are saying your pick is simply pandering to Hispanics, women and the far-left for political reasons. Political? Not our Big O! He's better than that, isn't he? Besides, the highest court in the land for far too long has relied on that old white guy concept of "blind justice", a concept that can result in outcomes that are uncomfortably unpopular. And don't we all agree, in this day and age, unpopularity is unnecessary, unattractive and worst of all, unpopular? But thanks to the popularity of Obama who is popular enough to recognize what is popular (for it takes one to know one), our nation will be treated to the first Supreme Court Justice who rules with the popular attribute of empathy for all. Well, not for ALL. Everybody but white guys who are anything but popular.

Some white guys (code for conservatives) are all bent out of shape over Sotomayor's recent ruling against a bunch of white firefighters who took some test that was thrown out because no black firefighters scored as high. Some call this reverse discrimination. I call it the reality of progress (as in progressive). Striving for excellence and rewarding only the best has been passé for years now. Why, even in kid's sports scores are never kept, everybody wins and trophies are awarded to coordinated and klutsy, alike. No hurt feelings, no feelings of accomplishment, just winners all around! Fake winners, but whose feeling? There is no room for competition in a world where the playing field is leveled for all, except for the ditch where we shove those jerky white guys.

Besides, it's much more important to have a representation of all races in all government paid positions than it is to have efficiency in those jobs. The post office and Amtrak are excellent, strike that, I meant to say FAIR examples of how well the government does at filling jobs with cheerful, helpful, racially balanced employees. I'd sleep much better at night knowing an untested, correctly diverse firefighting force protects my house instead of a bunch of mono-raced guys who spent their time studying and honing their firefighting skills to pass an outdated test.

And now that a Latina will most certainly serve on the highest court in the land, (ha-ha conservatives, nothing you can do, you lose) we can rest even sounder knowing that decisions will be made under Sotomayor's superior wisdom that tweak the old white-guy Constitution in all the fair ways so that laws don't get in the way of what is right for the popular, not, for instance, white, studying-hard firefighters.

Yes, I'll admit, I am sorry for that one white firefighter who is dyslexic and had to spend over $1,000 for extra help to study due to his disability. Being dyslexic sort of qualifies him as a minority, I guess. But since he did SO DARN WELL, that shows he has overcome his handicap, putting him right back into the plain old white guy, not worthy of empathy category again. See! If only he'd gotten the memo on NOT trying to better himself, he may have had a chance at empathy from Sotomayor.

On first hearing the quote from Sotomayor when she said,

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life",

left me a bit at odds with that statement. I've always considered the conclusions my white male father came to were immensely wise. My mom has the phenomenal instinct about life that has never steered me wrong but it was always my dad that meted out the thoughtful, contemplative pearls of wisdom that I use to make long-term decisions even today. In addition, I have to say, the white man I married is extremely wise. Besides his stroke of genius in marrying me, he never ceases to come up with clear-thinking solutions to situations that I find too infuriating to address (my empathy sometimes gets the best of me, it's true). To me, I'd always thought my father and husband were the type of steady-headed, fair-minded temperaments that any person regardless of gender or race would have confidence in their making a judgment call, white males, though they are.

So, how can Sotomayor be so sure her brand of wisdom summarily trumps that of a white male? She's come up amongst all those white male minds in the Ivy League, the halls of justice of the great northeast, and now the Obama administration. As I pondered that notion I glanced up toward the television, seeing Joe Biden give Sotomayor a hug followed by a Joe Biden quip. My question was answered...LIBERAL white males. Oh, Sonia, I empathize your pain.