Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Thomas Tuesday is here!

Oh, c'mon, you surely knew this was coming, didn't you? Thomas Sowell is a Hero of mine, not because of his accomplishments, but because of his humility and his quiet dignity. His writing makes me think he's quite "comfortable in his own skin," as I've heard it stated. He thinks his basketball skills left much to be desired, but he should've seen 4'2" me play in a tournament in high school (because there were only 5 regulars that showed up...and my 'best friend' fouled out). Don't believe I ever played again, unless forced to in P.E.

From Mr. Sowell's column at JewishWorldReview.com:

When I was in school, I was so awful in basketball that the class coach wouldn't even let me try out for softball, at which I was actually pretty good.
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Most discussions of "disparities" and "inequities" are a prelude to coming up with some "solution" that the government can impose, winning politicians some votes in the process. How could the disparity between Michael Jordan and me be solved?

We could change the rules of basketball, in order to try to equalize the outcomes.
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But, conceivably at least, we might change the rules some more to make the results come out less lopsided, in order to create "social justice."

The problem with trying to equalize is that you can usually only equalize downward.

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If you are going to have these lower physical requirements be the same for both women and men, that means that you are not only going to have women who are not capable of carrying someone out of a burning building, you are also going to have men who are likewise incapable of carrying someone to safety.

Most activities do not exist for the sake of equality. They exist to serve their own purposes — and those purposes are undermined, sometimes fatally, when equality becomes the goal.

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