Liberals Ignore Wright Brothers, 100th Anniversary of Flight!


The Wright stuff
Dr. Thomas Sowell

One of the greatest inventions of the 20th century -- indeed, one of
the landmark inventions in the history of the human race -- was the
work of a couple of young men who had never gone to college and were
just a couple of bicycle mechanics in Dayton, Ohio.

That part of the United States is often referred to disdainfully as
"flyover country" because it is part of America that the east coast
and west coast elites fly over on their way to what they consider more
important places. But they are able to fly over it only because of
those mechanics in Dayton.

The Wright brothers' first airplane flight was only about 120 feet --
roughly the distance from home plate to the edge of the grass behind
second base, and not as long as the wingspan of a 747. But it began
one of the longest journeys ever taken by the human race, and it is
not over yet, as we soar farther into space.

Man had dreamed of flying for centuries and others were hard at work
on the project in various places around the world when the Wright
brothers finally got their plane off the ground a hundred years ago,
on December 17, 1903. It didn't matter how long or how short the
flight was. What mattered was that
they showed that it could be done.

Alas, Orville and Wilbur Wright are today pigeon-holed as "dead white
males" whom we are supposed to ignore, if not deplore. Had either of
them been a woman, or black or any of a number of other specially
singled out groups, this hundredth anniversary of their flight would
be a national holiday with an orgy of parades and speeches across the
length and breadth of the country.

Recently, a reporter for a well-known magazine phoned me to check on
some facts about famous people who talked late and whom I had
mentioned in my book "The Einstein Syndrome." Her editor wanted to
know why there was not more "diversity" among the people I cited.
Almost all of them were men, for
example, and white men at that.

The vast majority of people who talk late are boys and I had no
control over that. In a predominantly white society, it should not be
surprising that famous men who talked late were mostly white. No doubt
in China most would be Chinese.

The reporter seemed somewhat relieved when I pointed out that the
distinguished mathematician Julia Robinson and famed 19th century
concert pianist Clara Schumann were among the people discussed in my
book. Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematical genius from India, came to
my attention right after the book went into print, but the reporter
seemed happy to be able to add his name to the list of famous
late-talkers.

This mania for "diversity" has spread far and wide. When I looked
through my nieces' high school math book, I saw many pictures of noted
mathematicians but -- judging by those pictures -- you would never
dream that anything worth noting had ever been done in mathematics by
any white males.

This petty-minded falsification of history is less disturbing than the
indoctrination-minded "educators" who are twisting reality to fit
their vision. Those who cannot tell the difference between education
and
brainwashing do not belong in our schools.

History is what happened, not what we wish had happened or what a
theory says should have happened. One of the reasons for the great
value of history is that it allows us to check our current beliefs
against hard facts from around the world and across the centuries.

But history cannot be a reality check for today's fashionable visions
when history is itself shaped by those visions. When that happens, we
are sealing ourselves up in a closed world of assumptions.

There is no evidence that the Wright brothers intended the airplane to
be flown, or ridden in, only by white people. Many of the great
breakthroughs in science and technology were gifts to the whole human
race. Those whose efforts created these breakthroughs were exalted
because of their contributions to mankind, not to their particular
tribe or sex.

In trying to cheapen those people as "dead white males" we only
cheapen ourselves and do nothing to promote similar achievements by
people of every description. When the Wright brothers rose off the
ground, we all rose off the ground.

Liberals Ignore Wright Brothers, 100th Anniversary of Flight!