Sunday, June 10, 2007
We need: 2 white men, 2 black men, 3 women, and 1 other
Michael Savage, author of The Savage Nation, makes a very good point while discussing the (in his opinion) intolerance of left-wing liberals. He uses the Manhattan Project to expose the impractical thinking of this group. Only the best scientists were used for this project in order to produce an atomic bomb before any other country could beat us. This was a race. “They didn’t look for a certain number of women ...people of color… they didn’t tailor to every ethnic group on earth [as they would if this project was completed in modern times]. They just went for the best scientists they could find. The result? We beat Japan and Germany… (56).” His point here, in this section of his book, is simply that people are people and to use the best when the best is necessary is vitally important. Here, he is warning America to not follow the liberal idea that all races, genders, and people should be included just to be safe. If there was a mix within the best, then so be it! But, to intentionally turn down good scientists in order to fill a quota would not be the best idea. His idea of what would happen if the Manhattan Project had taken place nowadays goes like this: “While we would stop to make sure our group of scientists mirrored the diversity of a McDonald’s commercial, the enemies of America would gain the upper hand and make hamburger meat out of our country (56-57).” He has a good point: that sometimes the ‘getting a job done’ part is more important than who is involved and what categories they fit into.
Savage, Michael. The Savage Nation. New York: A Plume Book. 2002.