Every cloud has a silver lining. The pandemic we are now facing also has one: it will enable us to look at the quest for affirmative action, diversity and inclusiveness in perhaps an entirely new way.
We all want either a vaccine or a cure for the coronavirus, both preferably, and the sooner the better. In this I think I speak for all of humanity. Only a few misanthropes can be exceptions.
But what kind of person, pray tell, is likely to bless us with a discovery along these lines? Will it be a black woman? Not likely. How about an aboriginal? Don’t bet the farm on it. How about an African American man? Not very probable. What about a white woman? Doubtful. Might it be an Oriental scientist? Conceivable but dubious.
A very attractive porn star who tested positive for the Covid-19 recently announced that she would sleep with the scientist who solved the puzzle of this dread disease. However if she carries through with her promise, she will almost certainly offer to end up in bed with a white male, at least upon this one occasion, if she keeps her promise.
That is, with a toxic straight white male, the demographic of which is responsible for all the worlds’ ills. This ranges from imperialism, to slavery, to exploitation, to price gouging, to profiteering, to harassing women, etc. White men are the poisonous scourge of humanity, in the view of all too many.
What supports this expectation of mine regarding from whence the cure will arise? Several things.
One is the sheer disproportionate number of Caucasian males with PhDs in the relevant fields: biology, chemistry, epidemiology, physics, mathematics, etc.
Larry Summers lost his position as president of the politically correct Harvard University for musing out loud as to the paucity of women in several such disciplines. That is how unwelcome are thoughts of this sort in academia, and also in most of the media.
Another is the fact that while men and women are equally intelligent on average, the variance of the former is much greater than that of the latter. This means that many more males than females are to be found three and four standard deviations above the mean.
It is of course from this sector of the IQ distribution that a solution for the coronavirus is most likely to emanate. (Many more males than females are also located three and four standard deviations below the mean, which accounts for the disproportionate share of men likely to be in prison, homeless, or in mental institutions, but that is the story for another day).
Asians have the highest average IQs off all racial categories (except for Ashkenazi Jews), greater than all Caucasians. But they, too, exhibit low standard deviations (they are not highly represented in prison, homeless, or in mental institutions, nor at the very top of human accomplishment either).
According to those who support the doctrine of affirmative action, diversity and inclusion, we should dismiss many of the white males from the laboratories of the world which are now trying to rid us of Covid-19. They are there mainly through chicanery and racial and sexual discrimination.
In their view, these scientists “should look like us.” Each demographic, whether based on gender or race or sexual preference or age or pretty much anything else should have its fair share of places amongst the test tubes.
Of course, if their policies were carried out, this would lessen our chances of saving large numbers of lives by conquering Covid. Such a program would at the very least likely prolong the agony.
It is interesting to note the fact that even the most vociferous advocates of affirmative action, diversity and inclusion do not support their own perspective all across the board. None of them, not a single one of them, has protested the present predominance of white males in pharmaceutical laboratories.
Nor do they make any such demands for airline pilots. (For very different reasons, they are entirely silent about the disproportions in the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association, apart, that is for calling for more black coaches.)
Thank God for white males. They are our best shot for bringing Covid-19 to its knees. (Disclaimer: I am one of the toxic people, but there’s no chance I’ll ever make any such discovery; I’m in the wrong field. The best I can do is cheer on this cohort.)
Is it possible that a woman, or an African American will come up with the cure? Yes. It is just unlikely.
But I wish them Godspeed. Any port in a storm.
Walter E. Block is Harold E. Wirth Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics, College of Business, Loyola University New Orleans, and senior fellow at the Mises Institute. He earned his PhD in economics at Columbia University in 1972. He is the author of more than 600 refereed articles in professional journals, two dozen books, and thousands of op-eds (including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and numerous others). Prof. Block counts among his friends Ron Paul and Murray Rothbard. He was converted to libertarianism by Ayn Rand. Block is old enough to have played chess with Friedrich Hayek and once met Ludwig von Mises, and shaken his hand. Block has never washed that hand since. So, if you shake his hand (it’s pretty dirty, but what the heck) you channel Mises.
