Is It Sexist To Want The Person Flying The Plane To Be A Pilot?
With all this talk about Sarah Palin redefining feminism and people who don't support her candidacy being sexist, I think we could use a little clarification.
Women's progress at work and in government is critically important. We are not, after all, living in the Dark Ages. But, and this is a VERY IMPORTANT BUT, consider the following scenario.
You're about to board a plane and a flight attendant says, "Today as part of our responsiveness to customers program you may choose Mr. Jones here as co-pilot. He will fly the airplane should something go wrong with the pilot, who isn't at his best today. Mr. Jones has been a pilot for twenty years and has an impeccable record. He is, however, a man. Because you support the advancement of women in the workplace, we also have a woman here who is willing to fly your plane. She is not a pilot but she didn't blink when asked to do this and for the past week a team of experts has been talking to her a lot about how to fly."
Who would you choose? If you chose Pilot Jones, would that be sexist? Or would you simply not be a complete idiot?
Apply this to Sarah Palin. She has not spent time in Washington as a senator or a congresswoman. She has spent most of her life in Alaska. From her interview with Charlie Gibson, it is clear that she is proud of not blinking about making decisions that affect millions of lives. And she is uninformed about the workings of the U.S. government.
Personally I'd have nothing against Sarah running for a seat in the House or Senate. It's a reasonable next step. And were she blocked from this path because of her gender, disparaged and demeaned in the press, I'd be miffed for sure. That would be sexist.
But just because I'd like to go to NASA and tell them that by November I want to be an astronaut, doesn't mean they should hand over the space shuttle.
There is far too much at stake to put someone completely inexperienced in the ways of Washington and the world so close to the presidency. There's no excuse for it, really. John McCain should know that. That's not sexist; it's simply common sense.
Dr. Reardon also blogs at bardscove.
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Personally I wouldnt fly with any of them. John would stray into enemy territory and have us blown out of the sky and Sarah would stall the plane within seconds!
And Obama would raise the price of the ticket out of the reach of everybody.
What in Obama's policies would make you think this? He guarantees a tax break for 95% of the population. I am confused by this conjecture.
Good point, but consider this. In your analogy, the passengers have a say in whether to select Mr. Jones or the female volunteer. In the case of John McCain, the "pilot" has pre-selected the inexperienced volunteer for us. That's what's so maddening to millions of people. In our imperfect system, we take on faith that presidential candidates will choose their running mates wisely because we don't directly have input into the decision. John McCain has abused that trust in a "hail Mary" attempt to gain political advantage and, perhaps to his own surprise, it seems to be working. That's great for him, but what about all the rest of us "passengers" who didn't sign on for a student pilot?
The republicans treat the Presidency, Like bored Children treat just about every Toy " As long as they can get their hands on it they'll do whatever they want & with to it " !
Hopefully, They'll join the rest of Us in trying to unlock & assert all Human-beings fullest potentialities.
Or We all can just keep on stepping-on and over one-another, Etc.........etc........Etc.......Blah....
I wonder what a Psychologist would think of the words that I say.
The McCain campaign is hypocritical. They claim she did this excellent job as mayor and governor, and then when things are researched that show that perhaps she didn't do such a great job, then she's being smeared and picked on. She parades that all American family in front of the cameras when it suits her, but let anyone ask questions about an unmarried obviously pregnant 17 year old, and her family is being attacked.
Obama cannot fly the plane. We may be female but we are not low informed.You prefer to think we are and believe the more you repeat it, it may in some way help your efforts to elect Obama, who is scarier than Palin any day of the week.
Obama can fly the plane just fine! I am sorry to tell you this Orange, but a successionist, anti America Palin who is so right wing, that she made women pay for their rape exams and doesn't belive in abortion even in cases of rape and incest, well, to me, NO ONE is more scary than Palin!! Punishing rape victims shows her contempt for women, abstinence education has not served even her daughter very well (and may well ruin other girls lives who don't have the money and connections that Palin's prego daughter has) Palin is NOT qualified to be VP and she won't be, because the American people, especially women (except for right wing fascist women, which are a SMALL number of women, thankfully) won't buy her arsenic laden brand. I predict TONS of true feminist women will get the point accross when they choose Palin as a costume for Halloween, complete with witches hat, broom, pinnochio nose, and right wing wacko glasses. A sign could complete the outfit, that reads: Make rape victims pay for their own tests, and make them carry the rapists seed, because rapists deserve to sow their wild oats too, rapists deserve rights, dontcha know...!!
Harvard Law Graduate MAGNA CUM LAUDE JD ( phd) President of HArvard Law Review,
Constitutional law, political science............8 years in the state senate, 3 1/2 years (4?) in the US Senate. ( we won't mention the 3 years of "community organizing")
What makes you thiink that Obama has no experience, or is scary?
Is it that YOUR VOCABULARY IS SO LIMITED you can't understand what he is saying?
It's time we elected the best and brightest among us; NOT someone just LIKE us
SHUDDER SHUDDER!
Sarah Palin came across as pretty low informed so I can see why that might be believed. This idea that being vice president doesn't apparently require good grasp of the facts or critical thinking skills beyond what dogma tells you seems very popular.
I wonder how she would have handled the Civil Rights era of the 1960's that President Johnson faced after the assassination of John Kennedy???
The USA has had 4 presidents die in office...you can't assume John Boy will always be around so that Sarah can be just in the background to be trotted out to rouse the base when needed.
I often shake my head at how the Democrats tend to fight with each other even when maybe it would be better not to...OTOH, the democratic base doesn't get "played" the way the Republicans does.
Why is Obama "scarier" !!! Every inch of Obama has been examined, he has presented himself openly for all the WORLD to examine ... he has articulated his brilliant visionary ideas for Ameica's progression ... Obama has done it all to demonstrate his integrity, competence, intellectual, critical thinking abilities! Okay, I guess that is "scary" after the bar has been so lowered at the onset of the likes of GW! Palin is incompetent where it relates to the most urgent matters this country faces ... national security & foreign affairs relationships ... critical all! Palin's integrity is in question, in fact, she is under investigation for abuse of govenmental powers! After GW's republican administration, it is not an option for good thinking Americans to repeat the same rediculous self-afflicting personalities!
McCain & Palin are two of THE most frightful candidates for POTUS ever!!
While you may choose to think Sarah Palin was chosen to give the women a voice in our nation, nothing could be further from the truth. The very forces that have conspired to keep women as second class citizens, out of positions of power in the churches, in government, and in business, are once more using you for their own purposes.
I'm talking about the Council of National Policy led by the ultra conservative Rev James Dodson. Palin was the hand picked choice of Dodson, the perfect woman with the perfect "family values", virtually unknown, who could be plucked out of nowhere and handed to McCain as a fair accompli. McCain no doubt told, "if you want the fundamentalism vote, this is your VP"
Naturally the ever compliant Rush Limbaugh rushed in with his endorsement with an Army of dittoheads and it was decided.
But don't get the idea that women were ever considered for a microsecond. This was merely a blatent attempt to bring the "base" back to McCain who apparently has bought into the argument that he can't win without them. Rather a shame really, because the "real John McCain" could have advanced women's rights.
I have not believed for one minute that McCain picked Palin himself but that she was picked for him for the very reasons you stated. But I also think that if Hillary had won the Democratic nomination the Repub machine would have put someone else in the VP slot and I believe that person would be a man. I think Palin was in place for sometime just in case Obama took the nomination..........it's all "too perfect". She is like Frankenstein's Monster......a total fabrication. What an insult to the people of this country.
Personally I don't want John "reverse ace" McCain flying the plane either.
He has crashed five times according to what I hear. Keep in mind that most pilots have never crashed.
I am sorry and don't think I am sexist but Shara Palin is a light weight when it come to being prepared to run the country being the mayor of a small town in Alaska for only a few years and the Governor of a large in space but small in population state for two years. This just a dumb gamble of a desperate man McCain is trying to get something going for him and his party.
I'd rather get on that airplane, than the one where the "non pilot" flies first and the pilot takes over if something goes wrong....
You talking about Bush/Cheney?
didn't the democrats nominate a governor from two inconsequential states to run for president and just where did state representative candidate man get his pilot license?
Interestingly enough, Clinton was a young governor. But, alas, that is where the comparison ends. Sarah Palin isn't only unqualified to hold the office, she doesn't know what the job entails or how to do it.
I can see the attraction for those that support her, though. She knows as little as they do about foreign policy and the issues of the day, that it must make them feel a whole lot better. Ignorance is bliss and all that.
Occidental, Columbia and Harvard.
The contrast between Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin as VP candidate would be amazing.
However, if Obama had picked Hillary Clinton, McCain would not have picked Palin. McCain probably would not have picked a woman.
Do you think the Obama campaign would be hiding Hillary Clinton from the press and prepping her for 3 weeks?
This is not sexism. It is, as Dr.Reardon says, common sense.
Reasonable post, except that the writer has some absurb notion that because "She has not spent time in Washington as a senator or a congresswoman . . . she is uninformed about the workings of the U.S. government."
With all due respect, I'd challenge you to name the last great Senator who was re-elected to the Presidency. You'll probably try to point out how great John Kennedy was, but I'd encourage you to find another "great" one. Senators tend to make crummy Presidents.
The other point I'd make is a historical one: Abraham Lincoln spent the same amount of time in Federal Government as Sarah Palin has as Governor (roughly 2 years each) prior to election -- and Lincoln represented only 1/10th the number of constituents than she does in Alaska.
My guess is that we'd agree that Lincoln turned out to be okay, if not the gold-standard.
BA
And now, we are comparing her to Lincoln?
So... using your logic, McCain will make a lousy president.
The proper comparison to Lincoln would clearly be Obama. Lincoln was not an educated man, but he was brilliant. He regarded reaching the bar of law as the "gold standard" of intellectual achievement. He was pronounced for his intellect and dignified, gentlemanly speaking manner. He had NO executive experience. He served two short years in Congress and lost his reelection before running for President. He corresponds very beautifully to Obama and it is a historic parallel that is quite beautiful. Lincoln was the candidate of a new kind of America, as is Obama.
For contrast, Palin has no education, but also no evidence whatsoever that she considered it valuable. Lincoln's educational deficiency was due to his circumstances. Sarah just didn't want that. She wanted beauty pageants and tv news. She has spent no time learning about the world and her only experience in federal government is figuring out how to get us to pay Alaska's bills, so they can all get rebates.
I don't think anyone who truly admires the great Abe Lincoln could possibly buy a Palin/Lincoln analogy. It's such an insult to Lincoln.
"she is uninformed about the workings of the U.S. government."
BECAUSE she has been focused completely on the busness of running a small town, a small State governorship. and a LARGE family. Her interest lies more on energy. than the Constitiution & the Bill of RIghts.
I haven't spent any time in DC either but I bet I know more about running the Government of this Superpower tha Sarah Palin. Vote for ME!
Abraham Lincoln was also a well studied lawyer and knew the Constitution and the law. Gov. Palin has neither.
Unfortunately, there are still too many people who want to get on that plane.
Dear Dr Reardon,
Great essay, You have earned a great big Dr, Leo Buscaglia hug ((((((((((((((((( Kathleen )))))))))))))))))) Agape
Dr. Reardon,
Excellent analogy! We get it... why don't the Republicans? Sarah Palin was such a careless choice by McCain for VP.
Frankly, I'm not convinced that McCain has the necessary experience to be President, either. Yes, he has 22 years in the House and Senate, but I've worked longer in high tech and that doesn't mean that I have the experience or the qualities to be CEO of, say, Intel. In a curious way, Palin is deflecting attention from McCain's actual executive experience. He doesn't have any. His scant management experience is middle, military management eons ago which is not, as Gen. Wes Clark points out, the same as managing an army.
There are serious issues facing America. We need to be--and believe this site is--asking whether any one of these candidates is willing to address those issue especially the ones we are in denial about. I think there is. Otherwise, I see a lot of magical thinking.
Best. Title. Ever.
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