Paw print,
You are correct that I dislike any type of favoritism whether it is called affirmative action, the good old boy network, nepotism, or any other kind of favoritism or unequal treatment. I have no shame for my opinion as I am as entitled to dislike favoritism, or affirmative action as another person is to like it.
If testing has to be adjusted upwards, or downwards in order to make it equal and fair to everyone, I am OK with that. I am not sure whether or not you are in favor of unequal testing standards based on ethnicity, sex, or some other criteria. If you do favor biased testing, that is of course your right, just as I do not favor biased testing.
However, I realize that mine is only one opinion, and in the long run other people than you or I will make the decisions that decide how to set up testing and entry requirements based on factors that many people cannot even comprehend. At least for now, most of the special forces, para-rescue, and similar groups make testing for their units without bias or special consideration.
It remains to be seen if those units implement affirmative action, or some other differential testing system, or the entire military goes the way of the special forces units by making entry requirements the same for all candidates.
It seems to me that having a less difficult set of standards for minorities, or special groups is the flip side of making it more difficult for minorities or special groups. In both cases, someone gets shortchanged.
The "what it does do is make a less difficult set of standards for minorities or special groups" is a quote from paragraph one in your above posting, when referencing what affirmative action does. That is precisely the nature of my dislike for any system that grants favoritism or preferential treatment for one group over another.