Dear Subscriber,
This column is devoted to health. I wonder if getting sucked out of an airplane can be related to health? And, I wonder if hiring practices at the FAA can be related to health as well.
After a Boeing airliner in mid air blew out part of its fuselage, I started to look into matters as I do fly to meetings and I consider my physical safety related to my health.
Two issues came up. One is the FAA itself. Look at what Fox News reported:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is actively recruiting workers who suffer "severe intellectual" disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.
"Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring," the FAA’s website states. "They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism."
DEI seems to be part of the latest Leftist agenda, and in the case of the FAA, overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg's Department of Transportation. Remember, Buttigieg is the government official whose tardy response stunned the nation after the catastrophic Ohio train derailment Feb, 2023.
Fox news continues, “The initiative is part of the FAA’s "Diversity and Inclusion" hiring plan, which says "diversity is integral to achieving FAA's mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond." The FAA’s website shows the agency’s guidelines on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23, 2022.”
Wait a minute. You (FAA) are suggesting that your use of staff with hearing, vision, “severe intellectual disability” is integral to your mission of “ensuring safe and efficient travel”? I think I must have an intellectual disability for not understanding how it fits. After all, would you want to go to a medical establishment espousing DEI, and which places you on a surgical table with a “professional” who has severe intellectual impairment? If you don’t think this is happening, think again. I have lots of contacts in the medical world, and at major institutions who have confirmed these hiring practices. Talk of the DEI issue has only arisen since the Hamas atrocities in Israel which has stimulated talk of the fallout of Leftist policies at universities, institutions, and including major medical institutions (universities).
Ah, but it gets worse. I used to consider and trust Boeing corporation as a stalwart of engineering, safety, placing these above all other corporate interests, establishing the company as the finest maker of aircraft in the world. But in the past few years, two jets crashed and the fleet of 737s were grounded after scores of people died. Now a door blows out.
Well, I heard a talk were the problem with Boeing started with its merger with McDonnel Douglas corporation. The new company retained the Boeing name, but its leadership was taken over by MDC’s executives. MDC placed other less vital interests over absolute safety and engineering. Money was more important. Social appearance was more important: political correctness in diversity. In fact, Boeing prides itself in is high ranking in diversity (12 on the list) of 50 companies.
The new culture in our country has replaced excellence with diversity as we move from content of knowledge, performance and skills to political correctness. And, the Boeing disasters and FAA situation just might be the early fallout. I would rather not fly on an American manufactured Boeing plane after studying the matter, and I certainly don’t want my safety to be ensured by the current FAA paradigm.
I, for one, want to avoid surgery at all costs. But if I do need surgery, I do not want to be operated on by a DEI surgeon. I don’t want to be attended for a medical crisis by the same. I want a physician of any color, religion, creed, race, etc., who attained the position by MERIT. Nor do I want to fly on a plane that has been inspected and engineered by DEI hired people.
I am writing this on MLK day. His famous speech has inspired me to write this in honor of him. He righteously called for a colorblind society where people would be judged not by race, creed, etc., but by the content of their character. Thank you MLK. I lived through your assassination and took it hard. Your words now would be considered radical “right” philosophy in the matter of judging a potential employee based on the content, performance, and proof of their knowledge and skills rather than their color, sex, religion, etc.
To Excellence in Safety,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD
Does this mean autistic young adults can apply.....
I haven’t flown since end of 2019
It might be wise to actually find out who worked on that Boeing plane before targeting DEI. But that would only be the case if you interested in what actually took place. From the perspective of a minority
in this country, it is very clear that what we are seeing today is not so much about DEI as it is about an underlying resentment and fear of a changing world. It wasn't DEI that caused the opiate crisis of a few years ago. It was corporate greed and a complete lack of concern for human beings. And it is that mentality that is a danger to all of us. I could say much more to those that might be open to listening. but in a polarized time for the most part we are only going to see attacks made on what is feared. And for those who understand the reference (and assuming this is not a banned book) "Truth is the Daughter of Time".