To the editor:
What are we to make of the plan to increase minority nominees for the Oscars by diversifying the electors in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? ("Film academy makes dramatic rule changes to address diversity," Jan. 22)
Diversification is laudable; every such organization should resemble the broad population if specific criteria for membership, those based on specialized knowledge or skill set, accommodate it.
The idea that more minority electors will increase the chances of minority nominees is freighted with racism, however, for it suggests that minority electors will choose nominees on the basis of race, precisely what we are trying to avoid. Subjective judgments, those applied to the choice of Oscar winners, escape any objective scale.
The academy should also avoid a racial set-aside, for that diminishes the idea of merit.
Paul Bloustein, Cincinnati
