Monday, August 29, 2011

Economist Calls for Laws to Protect Ugly People

In NYT, economist Daniel Hamermesh  calls for laws to benefit ugly people:
Ugliness could be protected generally in the United States by small extensions of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Ugly people could be allowed to seek help from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies in overcoming the effects of discrimination. We could even have affirmative-action programs for the ugly.
This is egalitarian micro-management gone mad. The underlying thought here is that ugly people are somehow cheated on life. However, I doubt the success/happiness barrier divides directly between attractive and ugly, as Hamermesh's theory implies. A year doesn't go by without some super attractive model or actress committing suicide. If beauty was the key to the kingdom of happiness, this wouldn't happen.

Further, basic economics teaches that if ugly people are in less demand, their wages would fall, which would cause entrepreneurs to bid their wages up close to that of attractive people, since there would be profit to do so.

The only thing ugly here is Hamermesh's mad call for more government interference in the economy, on the dubious contention that ugly people are getting short-changed and that there is some kind of objective method by which ugly people can be determined.

15 comments:

  1. Uh, excuse me but Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. To quote a few lines from a song by The Coasters;

    If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life
    Never make a pretty woman your wife
    So from my personal point of view
    Get an ugly girl to marry you

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ZJiBHh-Yw&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugly cheats too! My ex girlfriend had self esteem issues because she has a mouth like a horse with her gums showing when she smiled. I told her she was beautiful and I loved her and treated her good. Then she lied and cheated on me and now I see how truly ugly she was. I get laughed at for dating her because the rest of the guys around knows what a homely bar tramp she really is. So UGLY cheats too and will make you miserable and unhappy. At least if a pretty girl cheats and we break up, I won't be ashamed like I am now.

      Delete
  2. How will they be able to determine what is ugly? Way too subjective.

    And who will be the first person to beat their face with a brick to get a disability check?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob, are you certain this wasn't from The Onion? This simply has to be a joke. Who is to judge? Is it AffAct for people that fall below a 5, or just for those unfortunate 1s and 2s?

    The fact that the NYTimes actually published this bullshit drivel just shows how even more warped their values have become under the Obamanation regime.

    Good God, just imagining the logical implications of this level of twisted thinking is enough to drive a sane person mad.

    I was a gangly, bespectacled, acne-ridden, braces-wearing geek 20 years ago, and thank God I grew out of it and am now a very handsome man (I'm actually thankful I was such an unattractive teenager since humbled me and made me thankful for my current good looks) so I would've qualified for this program!

    Dale Fitz

    ReplyDelete
  4. The economics profession is really broken

    ReplyDelete
  5. It would mean that Krugman may qualify for affirmative-action programs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mr. Roddis has it correct:

    "Let these clowns continue to blab their Keynesian nonesense."

    One simply cannot make this stuff up.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Isn't it a little early for an April fools day prank?

    Speaking of, couldn't the gullible and foolish be protected somehow too?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cindy Crowley is living proof that discrimination against the ugly doesn't exist. I don't intend to be mean but if this type of crap gets legislated into being, someone, some body or a panel will have to define the parameters of "ugly" so we might have to get used to calling ugly people ugly. Time would fail me if I had to speak of Rosanne Barr, Mickey Rourke etc. Would Donatella Versache or Carrot top be considered "welfare queens" because their ugliness is self afflicted? Do you see how sick it is to have discussions like this and how far into the mire it brings us?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just take a look at some of the richest people in the world, they are kinda ugly.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Anonymous 12:52 AM,

    If only it were so.

    Check out Hamermesh's Wiki. Beauty, or the lack thereof, is one of his interests.

    What we'll all eventually want and need is protection against these kinds ideas being foisted upon us at our expense.

    ReplyDelete
  11. And here I always thought that beauty was skin deep but ugly was to the bone ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have no respect for the NYT, but I honestly can't believe that this was published.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Santa Cruz, Ca., ever on the forefront of idiotic socialism, passed a statute outlawing 'discrimination against the attractiveness-challenged.'

    That certainly helped the jobs situation there. Businesses are FLOCKING to S.C. to seek out potential ugly employees.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ugly people are a *majority*.

    Stupid, too. As is obvious from the fact that we still have governments.

    ReplyDelete