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> The majority of things are named after white men to the exclusion of everyone else. That's because the majority of scientific achievements to date, have been
by Thorentis 6y ago
> The majority of things are named after white men to the exclusion of everyone else.
That's because the majority of scientific achievements to date, have been by white men. I'm not celebrating that fact, I'm just pointing out the source of the statistic you've pointed out. The things weren't named because the person was a white male, they were named because of a tremendous achievement that happened to be made by a white male. When the majority of engineers are white men, that's when you get that trend. As we see more black men/women achieve great things, we will see more things named after them.
Unfortunately, the rate of scientific and natural discovery in my opinion is slowing down. There will never be a black Christopher Columbus because there are no continents left to discover. There won't be a black Thomas Edison, because we already have light globes. Going out of our way to inflate other achievements just for the sake of naming buildings after minorities is a ridiculous thing to do.
- guerrilla 6y ago> That's because the majority of scientific achievements to date, have been by white men. That's because everyone else was excluded. To overcome this pervasive and hostile environment takes exceptional ability.
- Thorentis 6y agoThen solve the exclusion problem. Don't pretend it has already been solved by naming things after black people. It's like taking a painkiller and thinking your broken arm is fixed. Fix the problem, not the symptom.
- philistine 6y agoThat is one important way you fix the problem, by honouring again and again the few examples of minority success. Stop trying to prevent black people from receiving praise.
- Thorentis 6y agoI hope you're joking. There is nothing more dishonoring and patronizing than to change the goal posts for somebody, just because of their race.
- guerrilla 6y agoOne can do both, like we do with most diseases.
- Ar-Curunir 6y agoMate, shut up with the nonsense. There are many scientific concepts that originated in Asian/MiddleEastern civilizations that simply happen to have a European name because the latter person popularized it in the West.
- astronautjones 6y agothe reason "politics" are so derided on this website is because these guys can't stop themselves from impulsively showing their true colors (and exposing the very endemic racism at hand in the process!) at the drop of a hat
- Thorentis 6y agoPlease point out the racism in the comment you're talking about.
- Fasdfggw 6y agoMaybe, but I think an equally large problem is the habit people have of (i) dichotomizing every issue and (ii) simply painting another person as racist/horrible or otherwise socially unfit. No one can have a real conversation where this is the norm. Yes, this is a throwaway. Yes, I shouldn't do it. But frankly, it's the only way I would ever comment on something like this. Everyone involved in American culture war subjects is too toxic. Too many norms of debate about almost every topic are toxic. It'll be the end of your country if this continues.
- Ar-Curunir 6y agoReally? The problem is people pointing out racism, and not the fact that the fabric of the country is woven from racism?
- LudwigNagasena 6y agoThe fabric of the country is indeed woven with racism. That’s why even people who think they “point out” racism are often very racist.
- cyberlurker 6y agoI would argue that the level of success and contribution despite racism, which is a significant hurdle, makes it so that nothing is being inflated. Also I get your point that at NASA and in the USA we have mostly white scientist until recently, but I take issue with your statement about the majority of scientific achievements. Historically there are thousands upon thousands of Arab and Chinese scientific achievements, to name a few cultures that aren't white. I don't think that is what you meant though.
- Thorentis 6y agoWhy should the US put up statues of people that weren't not from the United States? Yes, there were plenty of scientific achievements in centuries gone by. But there is a big difference between not putting up statues of Chinese-Americans, and not putting up statues of people from ancient China. Those are two completely incomparable celebrations of success. There will be many people from thousands of years ago who made discoveries who we will never know about. That's not the point here.
- starpilot 6y agoColumbus didn't discover anything, or claim to, accurately at least. He went to his death thinking he'd found passage to India. He was also responsible for genocide.