I'm not using legitimate as a synonym for plausible. I'm using the adjective legitimate to describe a reason that doesn't discriminate against minorities. I'm saying if you support affirmative action for women then there's no way you can be against affirmative action for minorities unless you're being discriminating against minorities and therefore a portion of the argument against AA for minorities is bull shit.

The alternative reason you provide is positive discrimination for women. That seems like another way to say that they're biased in favor of women over minorities. And that could be what's happening here, but that reason discriminates against minorities because they're minorities.

Isn't positive discrimination another phrase for affirmative action? So you're saying that the reason that people are overall more in favor of AA for women than for AA for minorities is that they're for AA for women? That seems like another way to say that they're biased in favor of women over minorities. And that could be what's happening here, but that reason discriminates against minorities because they're minorities. If people are for AA for women and against AA for minorities because they are biased towards women, then that's going to undermine

that's not a legitimate and nondiscriminatory reason to be for affirmative action for women and against it for minorities. I think that's an illegitimate and discriminatory reason to be against affirmative action for minoritiesWhich I think is an illegitimate reason to be against affirmative action for minorities.

My question: how can you be for Affirmative action,

I don't care about plausible, I care about finding a reason that isn't motivated by discrimination against minorities.

I think that positive discrimination in favor of women is a far more likely cause of the statistical discrepancy.