The Wright Brothers - just "Dead White Males"?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Sikander


What do you base this dubious assertion on? Here's his bio btw:

Let me know when they publish your 12th book.

Nice biog.

Are you going to defend that article, incidentally?

[Guynemer]

This is a funny thread.

Just the other day I was thinking, "Cali hasn't posted a ridiculous race-baiting thread in a while... I hope he isn't sick or dead or something."

Gotta hand it to you, Cal... you are the straw that stirs the drink.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I'm going to try to sum this up. I don't give a hoot whether this pillock is black, white or mauve. I don't care if he's written twelve books or if he's the latest incarnation of Vishnu. He's witten a crap article. Hey! It happens to the best of us occasionally.

Click the blog for the extended rant.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Guynemer
This is a funny thread.

Just the other day I was thinking, "Cali hasn't posted a ridiculous race-baiting thread in a while... I hope he isn't sick or dead or something."

Gotta hand it to you, Cal... you are the straw that stirs the drink.

I can only resist the urge for so long it seems.

[Drake Tungsten]

"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."

That is a pretty clear statement--without them, he asserts, we couldn't fly over the country.

You might want to read a few paragraphs down, where he says this...

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 seems pretty obvious that the author thinks flight would've been invented without the Wrights, given that he mentions the work of others around the world toward the same goal. The paragraph you quoted doesn't imply that the Wrights were the only ones capable of inventing flight, but merely the ones who did. In that sense, we are all flying because of the work of mechanics from Dayton. He's trying to give credit where credit is due, which is the whole point of the column.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

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 seems pretty obvious that the author thinks flight would've been invented without the Wrights, given that he mentions the work of others around the world toward the same goal.

So what if they were working on it? Coupled with his earlier statement you're so quick to dismiss, this doesn't make the caveat you claim. He doesn't say here "others were working on it and would have done it anyway," does he?

Regardless, the context of which this particular item was being discussed was in response to Cali's assertion that the article is about how some groups are "distorting history" for an agenda. My response, citing this one example, is that it doesn't help the author's case when he does the same thing.

As MtG pointed out, the Wright Brothers achievement is a bit distorted in standard history, at least through ommission. They were, in reality, two guys among many significant pioneers who helped advance the science of aviation. Their contribution was significant and deserves credit, but the degree to which Sowell here tries to laud them goes to the opposite extreme and undermines his entire point.