Affirmative action

by wpengine on March 4, 2009

Discuss this oxymoron in the comments below.

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Affirmative action, 4.8 out of 10 based on 13 ratings
  • Jade

    My understanding of an oxymoron is: a phrase that is viable, but when taken separately, the words are contradictory. How are the words “affirmative” and “action” contradictory? Whom ever put this on the list probably disagrees with Affirmative action, but that doesn't make it an oxymoron.

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  • Mister Lutz

    Kinda like military intelligence….those two words don't contradict each other either but for the most part, is the military really intelligent?

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  • Mister Lutz

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention the fact that affirmative action really hasn't been all that successful but neither has the post office.

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  • Mister Lutz

    Kinda like military intelligence….those two words don't contradict each other either but for the most part, is the military really intelligent?

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  • Mister Lutz

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention the fact that affirmative action really hasn't been all that successful but neither has the post office.

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  • Selektwizely

    Affirmative action started 400 years ago, when many rights and privileges were reserved exclusively for white people – who now oppose modern affirmative action designed to redress that imbalance.  (There’s yer oxymoron…)

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  • Linda

    I agree with Jade.   I do not see how the words themselves contradict each other.   Since “Affirmative” means positive or favorable and “action” means doing something, doesn’t that connote doing something positive?   So, the word “affirmative” describes the tone of the “action”, but does not contradict the action.

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  • Gsdg

    people, people, its called a *joke

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  • Eric80

    I believe what selekteizely has highlighted is irony.

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  • spikeman

    I get it, let’s give someone an unfair advantage based on skin color

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  • TonyTheToe

    Gallagher

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  • KM

    Agreeing with Jade. Disagreement with the political policy does not make the turn of phrase an oxymoron.

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