Readers Write

From the Mailbag: Readers write

One interesting aspect of the rise of women in American public life over the last 35 years is that, until very, very recently, the most prominent women kibitzers have basically mimicked the conventionally liberal or radical left males of their publications or TV news outlets. The women's perspective, whose practicality might actually be important on some issues, has been largely absent. I am thinking particularly about the transformation of the criminal justice system in the 1960s and its continued ineffectiveness today. Most women, I suspect, care more about getting violent males off the street than about how many women suit up in police or swat-team uniforms. Yet the visible and audible sisterhood has been much more obsessed with employment rights that they, the graduate-school elite, will never use.

Weird. Or maybe Austen said it best. "Sense and Sensibility."

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Your linking to that Slate piece on the lack of women who bother to write opinion essays reminded me how annoyed I was was the NYT op-ed by Deborah Tannen, with her usual "Men and Women are different, and men must learn to be like women" fluff. In particular this gem:

" The assumption that fighting is the only way to explore ideas is deeply rooted in Western civilization. It can be found in the militaristic roots of the Christian church and in our educational system, tracing back to all-male medieval universities where students learned by oral disputation. Ong contrasts this with Chinese science and philosophy, which eschewed disputation and aimed to "enlighten an inquirer," not to "overwhelm an opponent." As Chinese anthropologist Linda Young showed, Chinese philosophy sees the universe in a precarious balance that must be maintained, leading to methods of investigation that focus more on integrating ideas and exploring relations among them rather than on opposing ideas and fighting over them."

Yes, by all means, we should abandon our "militaristic" model of science and adopt the Chinese way, since obviously Chinese science has achieved such spectacular results in comparison!

As so often happens, Tannen serves to prove that which she is trying to refute. If women are really going to be more concerned with not hurting each other's feelings than in getting at the truth, maybe they don't belong in the lab in the first place...

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I read your April 25th editorial on diversity in medicine. I live in [famously average Middle American city] and have witnessed over the last 25 years the evolution of medical care in our city. Bill Frist wishes to have more people of color being doctors which on first sight seems reasonable since this would bring better health care to minorities where there are few doctors.

Here is the rub. I have practiced in an inner city hospital and also in the white suburban hospital and have watched the cultural diversity of medical care take shape. Many of my friends are African-American and I have talked to them about their feelings and desires. The African American doctors used to practice in inner cities but as time passed they have migrated to the suburbs. The inner city care has been picked up by the white doctors.

Before you dismiss this as heresy walk through your own inner city hospital and count the white doctors. Initially my African American doctor Friends went to the inner city but as quickly as they got on their feet financially they moved to the white suburbs.

The cause of this transition is multifactorial but some of the main points are the African American doctors are accepted in the white suburban hospitals. The lure of the higher pay associated with patients who have Private insurance is overwhelming. Also, the black physicians find themselves welcomed by the white and semi white suburban population whereas inner city black patients look down on African American doctors as being the product of affirmative action.

Practicing in the suburbs you hear words such as "Thankyou" and "please", words that don't translate to the language of the inner city.

One of my African American friends specifically felt it was his moral obligation to give back to the community he was from. After ten years he finally moved to the all white semi rural town here in Ohio where he does an excellent job and is rewarded financially. His life is no longer subjected to angry patients seeking narcotics (a profession in inner city).

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The idiocy and irresponsibilty of our entire political class in the way they misuse the word "democracy" is beyond description. When I expressed these concerns to a well-known conservative recently, and talked about how the misuse of "democracy" makes it impossible to talk sensibly about political things and leads us over and over into illusions and makes us into huge hypocrites, he replied dismissively that my concerns were "talmudic." One of the most basic features of American political wisdom and of conservatism in particular, a critical understanding of the word "democracy," has been thrown away. One of the costs of the war.

Steve Sailer's homepage and blog is iSteve.com