I was brought up believing she was this great aviator. Notice I said “aviator.” Not “female aviator.” There was no discernment between male or female. She was just this kick ass chick who could do what the boys could do. Matter of fact, until I read more about Amelia I thought she was side by side with Charles Lindbergh in terms of feat-accomplishment in terms of a time line. She was like the hot IT geek chick of her time and like hot IT geek chicks of our time, we absolutely adore, worship and honor them. And this of course is what everybody else my age, as well as younger and older viewed her as.
Affirmitive action is just another PC taxpayer sucking hole for the beauracrats and feel good lefties.No more,no less.
Oh.You’re black,lesbian,and female.So what if you never got by grade 9,we need a new CEO that looks good!
You mean “aviatress” you chauvinistic hotie.
Double entendre chicks these days.!!
No wonder a guys are gay.
“And this of course is what everybody else my age, as well as younger and older viewed her as.”
Should be another ‘s’ there,I would say.
I was always taught that it was ‘aviatrix’.
Her mysterious disappearance was the first recorded
incident of the global warming phenomenon.
Amelia Earhart wrecked a lot of aeroplanes but, happily for her, she had a rich publisher hubby who bankrolled her efforts and kept buying new aircraft. The Affirmative Action problem applies to government NRG (National Representative Group) promotions for Francophones. I had a friend who openly questioned whether he got promoted because he was good or because he was a Francophone (he was good, so he need not have worried). I knew another who thought he was good but I was in personnel and knew that he was an “adjustment”, twice bypassing more qualified individuals. AA does nobody any long-term good, especially an organization.
Perhaps better choices?
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elly_Beinhorn
Cheers
The captain chose an unfortunate analogy; the vast majority of “hot IT geek chicks” aren’t qualified either, and are in the field because of massive “we need more women in IT” drives.
She liked attention, and figured out how to get a lot.
Good for her.
Airplanes, however, are disinclined to forgive pretension.
I for one am frikkin’ tired of every story or event having a “pc” spin on it.
I think the author here is living in an ivory tower somewhere if he/she thinks that the real victims of affirmitive action are the people with great jobs making lots of money. The real victims are the people who are qualified and the best for these jobs trying to raise families on minimum wage because the few oppotunities they get are taken away from them because they are white men.
I’m sure these “chosen” people will get over their grief by the time their gold plated pensions kick in.
Y’all and the Captain have missed the mark by a mile with this one. If you want to point out the folly of tokenism and PC affirmative action you need to point at people like president Obutthole or similiar lickspittles and poseurs. That idiot got into office based on the colour of his skin and not the content of his character; a white man would have been laughed out of the race if he had gone in with nothing but ‘hopey-changiness’.
But – Amelia? Anyone that solos an aircraft has guts. The first one can be a pant-filler. In those days of ‘rag and tube’ airframes and unreliable power plants, you did not find cowards in the cockpit of any stripe. If that power plant fails, it doesn’t matter who you are – you are going down on whatever is in front of your aircraft. Amelia WAS a capable pilot.
She may have been a ‘token’ but it does not reflect poorly on her abilities in any way.
PBS has a few shows where they say she was basically married to a rich guy, really photogenic (looked a lot like Lindbergh) — and sat in the back of the plane during her first famous “flight”
They interview still living female flyers dissing her, too 🙂
Chuck Yeager spoke highly of aviatrix Pancho Barnes.
Makes you wonder if even Jose Jimenez might have been an affirmative action pick.
Whoa I say! There are hot IT geek chicks? Enough of photos of long dead airplane jockeys, lets have some details on this possibly more attainable phenomenon! If one of them is up to the challenge, she can surf right on over and take a squiz at my ailing Apple II.
kakola said “Whoa I say! There are hot IT geek chicks?”
I’ve met a couple. They all had government jobs though so you have to wonder if they actually knew what they were doing or if they would fall apart under the pressure of a real IT disaster and no support to fall back on.
Amelia Earhart is indeed overrated.
As usual, feminists and leftists are at it again, trying to re-write history.
The modern day version of this is the dumbing down of mathematics as a means of increasing the number of girls that do well in the subject.
The bell curves of scores for boys and girls differs in some subjects, and the “solution” the feminists have found is to dumb the subjects down.
Ideology first, facts second, must be their motto.
Does the term ‘anachronistic’ have any meaning to this horde of philistines? I thought not. Amelia’s exploits took place THEN; not NOW. The fact that she even hitched a ride across the Atlantic is well above the norm for women of the day. Her actions opened up possibilities for women outside the limitations that society and women placed on themselves. Victors write the history, losers get the leavings.
There are times when discrimination does give the leg up…..to prove your merit.
I know I received this advantage…..due to my long nose….being a caucasion in an asian environment. However I must have done a lot of things right…the West Pointers hated my guts and my staff hated them.
The Shoshone rated their importance on the importance of their enemies………
Please to be forwarding my URL to the hot IT geek chicks. MONSTER can use all the help he can get.
“The fact that she even hitched a ride across the Atlantic is well above the norm for women of the day.”
Rich people always get to do things that are not the norm of the day for men or women. Not because they are brave or smart but because they are rich and can do whatever they feel like.
If only she had as much skill as moxy.
I’m a bit conficted about this one because my favorite rightist-on-the-left, Camille Paglia, as a girl was absolutely obsessed with Earhart, to the point where she could easily have written a biography. She saw her as an iconic solo adventuress, who blamed her failures on noone. It’s sad for me to think of her as an AA promotion.
A different time back than. She was a self promoter, but than most folks in aviation in that era where. They didn’t give out grants!
Here is a time-line of Women aviators. Don’t forget either Women had not had the vote for long either.
She may have been incompetent in several areas but she made the effort.
JMO
Women in Aviation – Timeline
A Chronology of Women Pilots and Women’s Flight History
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/aviationpilots/a/av_timeline.htm
There were female contemporaries of Amelia Earhart who received little notice.
What must it be like to work and get no or little acknowledgment?
There were female contemporaries of Amelia Earhart who received little notice.
What must it be like to work and get no or little acknowledgment?
“That’s insane. He had to climb out onto the wings during the flight to chip ice off of the air intakes while flying over the North Atlantic! “.
oh. so *that’s* the reason for the 2 man crews. LOL !!!
I’m a big fan of Howard Hughes.
anybody else know who Pancho Barnes is?
never forget the night we were delayed out of chicago when the connecting flight hit some birds and had to be checked out.
saw the whole western end of lake ontario at 10 o’clock at night. I could make out every town and city from st kitts to oakville.
BTW, her grand-niece Amelia is doing traffic reporting for CBS in Colorado…
I think the myths about Amelia Earhart are like all myths. Take them with a grain of salt. She did have a radio operator and a navigator who may have taken the wrong course. And she did pay dearly for her errors. Let the dead like in peace!
Chuck Yeager
yes we Dutch do produce the odd good one:-))))
Sorry Beagle but St. Catharines in not located on the western end of Lake Ontario. It is located on the southern shore. Oakville is located on the northern end.
Always thought your compass was out of whack.
What some of you are mything is that a myth is a myth and that’s the end of it esp. after such a long passage of time. There is a statute of limitations on myth vandalism, yunno.
Geez, trust me At Peace, I typed the foregoing before seeing your 5:33 post.
It’s a harmless but uplifting myth. I hate it when long ago history is re-interprested in the light of modern sensibilities.
We can postulate from this end of history all we like, but it remains that Amelia was a woman doing what women of the time ‘normally’ did not do.EVER. And she was famous for it and she died doing it. Can’t get around it. She is a heroine of the times and ours. Because she did what she did and she died doing it. Let’s see if we can find another idealistic icon we can tear down.
I can think of far more worthy candidates, yet they remain unscathed and uncriticized.
Happy New Year.
Captaincapitalism hits the nail on the head.
Affirmative action DEGRADES the truely excellent who don’t need it.
In my day it was the “token black”actor, “token woman”executive, “token female” announcer, the list goes on and on.
A bauble, a cheap insincere decoration to parade publicly, absolving any feelings of guilt.What guilt?
Things are worse now.
Sorry Beagle but St. Catharines in not located on the western end of Lake Ontario. It is located on the southern shore. Oakville is located on the northern end.
Always thought your compass was out of whack.
Posted by: boyhowdy at December 27, 2010 6:16 PM ”
so according to you st kitts is closer to Kingston or something? oh, wait, you’re a right wing exactist twit like so many others at sda.
just what end of lake ontario is grimsby, lincoln, stoney creek and hamilton? the west end. feel free to use a map like the old days.
it was a remarkably clear night, the altitude and angle of the plane (L10-11 IIRC) was prefect for the view. truly memorable.
oh, and feel free to eat a nice big dollop of right wing shit mr howdy doody.
Beagle, I stand by my assertation. If I am incorrect then why is the QEW traversing Hamilton to St. Catharines designated as Eastbound and Westbound? In addition, why are service roads running parallel to the QEW designated North Service Road ( the road closest to the lakeshore) and to other about a mile from the lakeshore designated as South Service Road? I could give other prime examlpes but a reasonable person should be satisfied with my brief explanation.
It’s a harmless but uplifting myth. I hate it when long ago history is re-interpreted in the light of modern sensibilities.
Posted by: Me No Dhimmi at December 27, 2010 6:21 PM
I must chime in with MND on this point. Agreed.
Don’t give me the class resentment argument involving the rich. I was never rich but certainly had the means to earn enough money to trip over to Europe after graduation. The thought never entered my mind. I only wanted to work to buy cars and sunglasses. My stepdaughter after college, on the other hand, grabbed a backpack and by herself flew to London and worked and traveled in Europe and the Near East for close to three years. Regardless of whether her connections got her onto the plane, Amelia took the risk of losing a very comfortable existence to traverse the Atlantic by air. It was a good and brave thing to do.
.
TIGHAR … (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery )
Very good site for Amelia Earhart investigation. They dispel the myths and focus on facts. Tons of investigative information.
Amelia was a “medium” pilot who was weak on radio skills and planning. She arrived close to her destination (Howland Island) but radio problems caused navigational issues at the end.
This is also a very good site for anyone wanting to know how to separate fact from rumor. Very educational research methods. Very thorough.