We’ve Been Gay(ed) Part 2

By Patrick Hall

“Oh, God, Lord, you have my soul.” Conrad Aska

He couldn’t land the plane. At least not consistently since he had previously failed multiple proficiency tests at other air carriers, according to records later obtained by NTSB.  At the time, Mr. Aska was flying Cargo Jets for Atlas Airlines, which was contracted with Amazon. He attempted to land his Boeing 767 when he became disoriented upon approach because of bad weather. The other Pilot frantically tried to correct Mr. Aska's mistake, but it was too late as the plane plowed into a swamp outside the Houston airport at 433 knots. The words above were Mr. Aska's last, seconds before he killed himself and two others aboard the ill-fated flight.  

To reiterate, Mr. Aska, who was black, also washed out of training at multiple airlines. He was able to conceal his deadly incompetency because number 1, he was a “preferred minority,” and number 2, Atlas Airlines, a subsidiary of Amazon, was trying to address the shortage of minority pilots while not conducting a thorough background check on Mr. Aska, which would have revealed deficiencies in his readiness to operate as a professional pilot.  In other words, Mr. Aska and probably others like him were “quota hirers.”  This is the deadly consequence of preference policies being pursued at all costs in employment areas requiring true competency. Incompetency that could not be glossed over or hidden, as in the case of Harvard’s President, Dr. Claudine Gay. Most, if not many, administrative positions at our nation's Universities only require that you can mimic the appropriate left-of-center, woke, and Progressive administrative word salad. You are a shoo-in (especially if you are the right color or preferred oppressed group) for many positions that set a high premium of “style” over substance, proficiency, or expertise.  Such is the ongoing and sometimes deadly marriage of preference and identity-based Affirmative Action buttressed by the unholy trinity of DEI.  Let me be as clear as possible. Failed preference-based Affirmative action is DEI.

 Within the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion triad, equity is the most pernicious, if not lethal or cruel, depending on the job description. Without sugarcoating it (and to hell with hurting some designated minorities' feelings), all of us want only the best individuals to fly the plane we are in.  Likewise, you want the most competent and high “MCAT score Doctors” to perform surgery and any procedure regarding your health. By the way, some Medical Schools are eliminating standardized tests like the MCAT to boost the number of “preferred minority candidates” at their institutions.  

  As someone who is currently battling cancer, I want to be confident that my Urologist knows what, in God's name, he or she is doing.  The same goes for my plumber, electrician, auto and airplane mechanics, etc.  Doctor Ben Carson (an African American), who performed the tricky surgery of separating twins attached at the back of the head (occiput), once inferred this. If companies focus on hiring quotas or securing individuals of the right color or gender and not qualifications, everyone is in danger.  Quite simply, you get expensive and overly-priced mediocrity.  You get Gay(ed) at best!

Equity as Myth
As alluded to earlier, “equity” is the most misguided, if not dangerous, idea within the political pantheon we know as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. As I noted in a previous article on equity, equal outcomes or equity doesn’t exist. We all have different strengths, gifts, or critical socialization. Asian students, who have recently won a landmark Supreme Court ruling over blatant discrimination against them because they are high achievers, have exposed “the lie” and intrinsic unfairness of the secular dogma known as equity.
On the other hand, equality is based on the fairness of opportunity. Equity is contingent on attempting equal outcomes at the expense of others through unfair treatment. Equity ignores that individuals have varying abilities and aptitudes, impacting outcomes. Those who support equity also “blindly” support affirmative action and quotas, both unfair and racist. These programs promote division and support the assertion that certain groups cannot compete and succeed because of systemic racism. Those who push equity, quotas, and “unfettered” preference-based affirmative action incubate and promote jealousy, envy, division, and disorder.

Let’s face it! There aren’t equal outcomes even in one’s family, much less across cultural groups. Many of my older siblings (whom I often referred to as the 1930s and 1940s kids) were good at math. Some became engineers and chemists or worked in the biosciences and accounting areas. While yours truly struggled with algebra, theorem and plane geometry, trig, pre-calculus, and calculus. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been placed anywhere near an advanced math problem.

As a sidebar, let us look at the term “equity.” It has skillfully, if not covertly, been substituted for the word “equality.”  This change is significant and has largely gone unchallenged. Why? I can think of two reasons. First, people may think equity and equality are the same. Hell, they even sound a bit alike. Secondly, anyone who questions leftists on this type of change is instantly labeled racist or some convenient “ism.” Supposedly, both promote fairness, but equality achieves this through treating everyone equally regardless of need.  The idea of treating everyone the same has been viewed as blatant heresy. It is a form of “implicit race bias” or “cultural imperialism” among the cultural left, many Democrats, and “difference theorist practitioners” since the late 1970s.  It has been a staple in the teacher education program curriculum for decades. It is considered “deep thinking” among the liberal elites like Doctor Claudine Gay and her colleagues. Equity is a deadly social pathogen, that has been slowly crippling us as a nation. Equity is racism or sexism under management.  To paraphrase one social critic, “maybe” the world is waking up.  Using racism to solve perceived racism is just racism.


A Postscript
Last week, I found myself perusing some back issues of Forbes, where I read an interview featuring the head of United Airlines, CEO Scott Kirby.  In the article, Mr. Kirby addressed the issue of the lack of minority and women pilots. He cited that in 2021, United set out a goal of training 5,000 pilots over the next decade, emphasizing that at least half would either be women or “people of color.”  Mr. Kirby’s ambition or goal roughly represented the United States demographics.  Once again, however noble and good-faith, this target or goal was absurd.  The ultimate objective should be passenger safety, period, and not someone's color, gender, or sexual preference. As said earlier, when I get on a plane, I couldn’t care less what race or gender someone is.  Most of us deserve to know or be assured that the individual piloting our flight is the best possible pilot.  That he or she was someone “not” hired because they roughly match the United States population or some feel-good Affirmative action or “equity” demographic.