It's not what you think:
By the 1960s, the systematic selection for competence came into direct conflict with the political imperatives of the civil rights movement. During the period from 1961 to 1972, a series of Supreme Court rulings, executive orders, and laws—most critically, the Civil Rights Act of 1964—put meritocracy and the new political imperative of protected-group diversity on a collision course. Administrative law judges have accepted statistically observable disparities in outcomes between groups as prima facie evidence of illegal discrimination. The result has been clear: any time meritocracy and diversity come into direct conflict, diversity must take priority.
The resulting norms have steadily eroded institutional competency, causing America’s complex systems to fail with increasing regularity. In the language of a systems theorist, by decreasing the competency of the actors within the system, formerly stable systems have begun to experience normal accidents at a rate that is faster than the system can adapt. The prognosis is harsh but clear: either selection for competence will return or America will experience devolution to more primitive forms of civilization and loss of geopolitical power.
Read the whole story over there (WARNING: long)
No conspiracies here. Just facts! I have not flown in a couple years and may keep it that way. I'll also need to stay out of the medical system as best possible other than for check ups or some other minor problems.
ReplyDeleteI keep wondering if "our betters" really think they can escape the consequences of their ideology? But then they probably do, just consider what happened with that submarine!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Titan, he did save $$$ by not listening to those stupid old White guys. But he did deliver on the FULL Titanic experience!
DeleteYeah, I've seen this meme, too! Offers full Titanic Experience. Delivers.:)
ReplyDeletePity for this young guy, though. I heard he didn't want to go.
ReplyDeleteI didn't want to comment until I could read the entire piece, and I came away thinking that, like so many today, this article hits a key point dead center, but at the expense of the multifaceted layers of things.
ReplyDeleteYes, the diversity push is eating away at competency. I see this guy's point, and I believe this is one of the main drivers of the our rapidly derailing societal/systemic trains.
Additionally, there are also the age old problems of greed and graft. Some of the shortcuts and contracting less diligent labor is just cheaper and profit driven (this is very prevalent here for instance, with construction subcontracting jobs to south and central American immigrants where standards are simply not as stringent as they are here). The combination of diversity uber alles plus maximize profits is the one two punch to the head of any hope of strong infrastructure and complex systems being well run.
I am not, however, yet ready to disabuse myself of the notion that there are a particular sliver of powerful, greedy, malevolent actors who know that this is a bad thing, and that they use the useful idiots who obsess over diversity to achieve their ends. It doesn't have to be either conspiracy theories or organic systemic breakdown. I think it's mostly organic systemic breakdown, with a few opportunistic puppet masters waiting to collect the spoils.
Yes, I agree about cheap labour. I know I'll probably be attacked for this by "free market libertarians" but market and profit shouldn't be the only values in society or the highest ones.
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