Destroying Meritocracy Is Deadly

American Greatness ^ | 14 Feb, 2023 | Victor Davis Hanson

[MtnClimber]

Our government is playing with our lives as it prefers diversity, equity, and inclusion over ensuring the best qualified employees are hired.

A recent epidemic of airline near misses deserves both attention and reflection.

In mid-December, a San Francisco-bound United Airlines Boeing 777-200 airliner, just a little over a minute after taking off from Maui, Hawaii, suddenly dived. It lost more than half its altitude and came within 800 feet of crashing into the Pacific Ocean before pulling up.

About a month later, an American Airlines jet crossed the runway at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport just as a Delta Air Lines plane was accelerating for takeoff. The two aircraft nearly collided.

Then in February, a FedEx cargo jet at the Austin, Texas airport just missed crashing into a Southwest Airlines airliner by a mere 100 feet.

The same month an American Airlines Airbus A321 was being towed out of the gate at Los Angeles International airport, and smashed into a bus carrying passengers between terminals, injuring five.

These near and actual accidents come amid a general landscape of aviation chaos.

After Christmas, Southwest Airlines simply canceled 71 percent of its flights. It blamed staff shortages due to storms. The airline seemed incapable of ensuring enough of their pilots, attendants, crews, and airport staff could get to work.

The Federal Aviation Administration in January canceled all flight departures from the United States for two hours due a computer safety system collapse. Thousands of additional flights were canceled, many for over 24 hours.

Something has gone terribly wrong.

Either the Department of Transportation and its Secretary Pete Buttigieg, or the head of the FAA, or the quality of either ground crews, pilots, or air traffic controllers—or all combined—are putting American travelers at mortal risk.

If not corrected...

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for this ping. My wife and I had a discussion about the great uneducated/or poorly educated adults in our life, now and coming into our lives for years to come.

Recent articles about Illinois students not being able to do basic math or reading and yet their teachers getting raises and kudos from the Chicago Mayor and Illinois governor are an early warning sign for America.

VDH’s scary article re near misses with our airlines brings this issue to the forefront.

One can only imagine how poorly selected and trained our recent officers in our BLM/??? military are.

[A Navy Vet]

That was the rumor according to shipboard witnesses. Basically the Officer of the Deck (OOD) on the bridge had a running tiff with the Commander of Combat Information Center (CIC). That is what came out of the investigation, IIRC. They couldn't agree on the bearing of a large cargo ship, when both the bridge and CIC have redundant electronics.

If I'm thinking of the right collision, both women and the actual Captain (in his stateroom) and the Command Master Chief were relieved of duties. Not sure, but this might have been the collision where the Admiral commander in chief of the 7th Fleet was also removed. Could be wrong.

There were two avoidable such collisions in about a year. The Navy Secretary ordered a complete stand down of Navy Operations. Believe me, it wasn't my Navy.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/14/worse-than-you-thought-inside-the-secret-fitzgerald-probe-the-navy-doesnt-want-you-to-read/

[Right Brigade]

Agreed,plenty of “people of color” in South Africa are qualified for these jobs but corruption has taken a mighty toll.

[jmacusa]

Lower standards means you end up with sub standard people ergo substandard performance.

[ABN 505]

I tried to source Info about the incident but it seems to have disappeared down the black hole, Thanks for your link. By the way “Not your Navy” its not my Army either!

[Reily]

I think it was over a guy they were both romantically interested in.

[ABN 505]

I thought it was something like that, definitely bad blood between them. Funny how the military and media cover this crap up. Don't want the Hoi Poloi to get the wrong ideas.

[Reily]

The narrative that men & women are interchangeable parts in the vast military machine must not be doubted!

[poconopundit]

Thanks for what you do texas booster.

When I think about the airline safety, I'm reminded of that ace pilot flying out of New York a few years ago who had a bird strike and successfully landed the airplane in the Hudson River.

No affirmative action pilot could do that.

* * *

In the bigger picture, I'm also concerned that America's greatest job creating companies will be destroyed by affirmative action at the top: hiring unqualified CEOs and board members to fill a LGBTQ, gender, or racial/ethnic quota.

Back in 2018, Fortune published a terrific story about how Carl Icahn saved Xerox from being swallowed by Fuji Film. It's a classic case of a CEO being hired above here pay grade. The Peter Principle or Petra (female) Principle at work.

Check out this story. Great read with a happy ending.

Paper Jam! How Carl Icahn And a Billionaire Partner Blocked Xerox’s Merger with Fujifilm

[poconopundit]

Thanks for what you do texas booster.

When I think about the airline safety, I'm reminded of that ace pilot flying out of New York a few years ago who had a bird strike and successfully landed the airplane in the Hudson River.

No affirmative action pilot could do that.

* * *

In the bigger picture, I'm also concerned that America's greatest job creating companies will be destroyed by affirmative action at the top: hiring unqualified CEOs and board members to fill a LGBTQ, gender, or racial/ethnic quota.

Back in 2018, Fortune published a terrific story about how Carl Icahn saved Xerox from being swallowed by Fuji Film. It's a classic case of a CEO being hired above here pay grade. The Peter Principle or Petra (female) Principle at work.

Check out this story. Great read with a happy ending.

Paper Jam! How Carl Icahn And a Billionaire Partner Blocked Xerox’s Merger with Fujifilm

[GOPJ]

One way to respond to this dangerous anti-merit idiocy is to mock democrats with their own tactics.

We need to form our own ‘sexual kink’ groups - or ‘pigmentation’ groups - and play up the victim status of all members - demanding protection in the form of sensitivity training, job security, and other assorted perks.