{"id":34645,"date":"2010-02-12T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T01:20:41","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T01:20:41","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T01:20:41","slug":"dr_thomas_sowell_on_fairness_plus_first_born_kids_are_smarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2010\/02\/12\/dr_thomas_sowell_on_fairness_plus_first_born_kids_are_smarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Thomas Sowell on Fairness (Plus: First-Born Kids are Smarter)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: A piece by great and genius Thomas Sowell: ‘Fallacies About What\u2019s Fair.\u2019 This appeared this past Tuesday at TownHall.com. ‘If there is ever a contest to pick which word has done the most damage to people\u2019s thinking, and to actions to carry out that thinking, my nomination would be the word ‘fair.\u2019 It is a word thrown around by far more people than have ever bothered to even try to define it. This mushy vagueness may be a big handicap in logic but it is a big advantage in politics. All sorts of people, with very different notions about what is or is not fair, can be mobilized behind this nice-sounding word, in utter disregard of the fact that they mean very different things when they use that word. <\/p>\n

<\/a>‘Some years ago, for example, there was a big outcry that various mental tests used for college admissions or for employment were biased and ‘unfair\u2019 to many individuals or groups. Fortunately there was one voice of sanity — David Riesman, I believe — who said: ‘The tests are not unfair. LIFE is unfair and the tests measure the results.\u2019 If by ‘fair\u2019 you mean everyone having the same odds for achieving success, then life has never been anywhere close to being fair, anywhere or at any time,\u2019 and, by the way, this word ‘fair,\u2019 he\u2019s exactly right about this. We have commented on this before. This word ‘fair\u2019 and the concept of ‘fairness\u2019 is the primary foundational building block used by the left to coerce people into supporting their policies. ‘It\u2019s only fair,\u2019 or, ‘It\u2019s unfair and we\u2019ve gotta level the playing field\u2019 and blah, blah, blah. It suckers people in because who\u2019s against ‘fairness\u2019? It\u2019s like who\u2019s against clean water? Who\u2019s against clean air? Nobody! Same thing here: Who\u2019s against fairness? <\/p>\n

‘[L]ife has never been anywhere close to being fair, anywhere or at any time, and if you stop and think about it (however old-fashioned that may seem), it is hard even to conceive of how life could possibly be fair in that sense. Even within the same family,\u2019 and listen to this, folks. My family proves this. ‘Even within the same family, among children born to the same parents and raised under the same roof, the firstborns on average have higher IQs than their brothers and sisters, and usually achieve more in life.\u2019 (interruption) You doubt Dr. Sowell, Snerdley? This is research! See, this is the whole point: You can\u2019t accept it \u2019cause it doesn\u2019t sound fair. It doesn\u2019t sound logical to you. (interruption) Well, I was tweaking David but it\u2019s… (laughing) I was tweaking my brother, but read it to you again without my editorial comment that it\u2019s even proven in my family. Ahem. <\/p>\n

‘Even…\u2019 (laughing) ‘Even within the same family, among children…\u2019 Stop and think about this, folks. Get my family out of this. Many of you people are firstborn and this will give you the permission to admit that you know you\u2019re smarter or maybe your brothers and sisters are dumber than you are, and you\u2019ve noticed it but you don\u2019t want to mention it because it\u2019s just not fair. ‘Even within the same family, among children born to the same parents and raised under the same roof, the firstborns on average have higher IQs than their brothers and sisters, and usually achieve more in life. Unfairness is often blamed on somebody, even if only on ‘society.\u2019 But whose fault is it if you were not the firstborn? Since some groups have more children than others, a higher percentage of the next generation will be firstborns in groups that have smaller families, so such groups have an advantage over other groups. <\/p>\n

‘Despite all the sound and fury generated in controversies over whether different groups have different genetic potential, even if they all have identical genetic potential the outcomes can still differ if they have different birth rates,\u2019 and this doesn\u2019t even account for ambition, desire, and all the other. ‘Twins have average IQs several points lower than children born singly. Whether that is due to having to share resources in the womb or having to share parents\u2019 attention after birth, the fact is what it is — and, it certainly is not fair. Many people fail to see the fundamental difference between saying that a particular thing — whether a mental test or an institution — is conveying a difference that already exists or is creating a difference that would not exist otherwise. Creating a difference that would not exist otherwise is discrimination, and something can be done about that. But, in recent times, virtually any disparity in outcomes is almost automatically blamed on discrimination, despite the incredible range of other reasons for disparities between individuals and groups. <\/p>\n

‘Nature\u2019s discrimination completely dwarfs man\u2019s discrimination. Geography alone makes equal chances virtually impossible.\u2019 Geography! ‘The geographic advantages of Western Europe over Eastern Europe — in climate and navigable waterways, among other things — have led to centuries of differences in income levels that were greater than income differences between blacks and whites in America today. Just the fact that the lay of the land is different in different parts of Europe meant that it was easier for the Roman legions to invade Western Europe. This meant that Western Europeans had the advantages of the most advanced civilization in Europe at that time.\u2019 The Romans. ‘Moreover, because Roman letters were used in Western Europe, the languages of that region had written versions centuries before the Slavic languages of Eastern Europe did.\u2019<\/p>\n

What\u2019s fair about that? ‘The difference between literacy and illiteracy is a huge difference, and it remained huge for centuries. Was it the Slavs\u2019 fault that the Romans did not want to climb over so many mountains to get to them\u2019 and conquer them? The Romans said to hell with the Slavs; we don\u2019t want to go to the trouble of getting there. They went the easy route. They took to Western Europe, conquered them, and, voila! Written language and advanced civilization hits Western Europe long before Eastern Europe. ‘To those living in Western Europe in the days of the Roman Empire, the idea of being conquered, and many slaughtered, by the Romans probably had no great appeal.\u2019 I wouldn\u2019t want to be conquered and slaughtered. ‘But their descendants would benefit from their bad luck. And that doesn\u2019t seem fair either.\u2019 The point is, folks, there\u2019s no such thing as fairness. It is impossible. It\u2019s just like… The whole concept of ‘equality\u2019 is much the same thing. It\u2019s not humanly possible. No two people are equal. Not even twins! There are differences, as we have noted in their IQs. You can have equality before the law, you can have equality of opportunity, but you cannot have equality of outcome. You cannot have equality of result based on ‘fairness\u2019 or anything else. Yet this is the primary impetus the left uses to solicit support for their agenda. Don\u2019t fall for it anymore. You\u2019ve been warned. <\/p>\n

<\/a>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Someday… Someday! I\u2019m patient. It\u2019s been 20-1\/2 years behind the Golden EIB Microphone, yet someday, you are going to learn not to doubt me. I checked the e-mail during the break. ‘Come on, Rush! You didn\u2019t even cite any proof for this stupid survey that says the firstborn are smarter than everybody. You can\u2019t prove that. Just because Sowell says it, you believe it? You didn\u2019t cite anything. It\u2019s silly.\u2019 All right. All right, all right, all right. You know, it\u2019s a good thing — it\u2019s a good thing — that I love myself. It\u2019s a good thing I have a lot of confidence, otherwise you people would have beat me down 18 years ago. June 22nd, 2007, from CBS News: ‘Birth order may modestly affect IQ scores, favoring firstborn children, according to a new study. The study, published in the journal Science, shows about a two-point gap in average IQ scores among firstborn men and men with living older siblings. <\/p>\n

‘The study included nearly 244,000 teenage men in Norway,\u2019 and this is just one of them. (interruption) The cite for it is the journal Science, which I will admit has also bought along publishing a bunch of gunk on global warming. I\u2019ll admit that, but I think this is something that our audience can prove it to themselves. (interruption) Logically? You can\u2019t say it\u2019s logically possible. That\u2019s the point, Snerdley: Logic and science don\u2019t go hand in hand. Science says it\u2019s possible. Research, not logic. If you want to apply this test to your own family, try it. Are you not the firstborn? Is that what this is all about? (interruption) You\u2019re the second born. A-ha! (laughing) We need a president, by the way, folks, Obama\u2019s failing us in so many ways. <\/p>\n

Climate fairness. You know, really, is it fair, all the snow happened on the East Coast twice? We need somebody to redistribute the snow over a wider area so there will be less snowfall, aggregate total. Hell, Safeway trucks are just now getting back into gear in Maryland to restock the grocery stores there. What\u2019s fair about that? That\u2019s not fair, especially since this is where Obama lives. What we need is a president who would press for redistribution of temperatures. That\u2019s the only fair thing to do. I didn\u2019t choose the climate I live in. Why should I have to sit here and put up with it? It was forced on me, forced on me! One might say that the people in Hawaii, for an example, have an unnatural, unjust advantage because their climate\u2019s better than mine. It\u2019s pretty all the time. Can you imagine? Where would you rather be: Yugoslavia, Serbia, or Hawaii? What\u2019s fair about that? <\/p>\n

RUSH: To the phones. It\u2019s Open Line Friday. This is Melanie in Toledo, Ohio. Hi, Melanie, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi, Rush. It\u2019s great to talk to you today.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you very much.<\/p>\n

CALLER: In the past you\u2019ve always talked about when you were young how you always wanted to be older because you knew your life would get better the older you got.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, my question for you is: Have you (or do you ever think that you will) reach a point where you can say to yourself, ‘I have everything I\u2019ve ever dreamed of and more; life cannot possibly get any better than this\u2019?<\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t look at it that way. I would never say, ‘Well, this is maxed out. To hell with it, and I\u2019m going to go check in and have the doctors turn off life support — or put on life support so they can turn it off.\u2019 You\u2019re very right. When I was 10, I wanted to be 16 and drive. When I was 16, I wanted to be 21. When I was 21, I wanted to be 30. When I was 34 and scrounging together enough of a down payment to buy my first little shack that was called a house, the guy who sold it to me said, ‘Don\u2019t sweat it. Nobody\u2019s going to let you make any money \u2019til you\u2019re 40. That\u2019s just the way it works in this country.\u2019 Now, that\u2019s not so much true any more, because, you know, a lot of bright guys on the Internet have changed all that. But it did used to be that way. The way to express it now is that I still look forward to each new day, because each new day is better than the day before. Every day presents — if you look for it and if you\u2019re open to it — new opportunities. Whether you want to access them or not, they\u2019re still there. So no. I haven\u2019t gotten to the point yet where, ‘Gee, I wish I was younger.\u2019<\/p>\n

CALLER: (giggles)<\/p>\n

RUSH: I might. I\u2019ll let you know when it happens, but it hasn\u2019t happened yet.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, that\u2019s what everybody loves about you is your optimistic outlook.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I\u2019d be foolish not to be one. I mean, look. My life is blessed. My parents wouldn\u2019t understand my life. They would not believe it. My father would not believe it\u2019s possible, primarily because I didn\u2019t go to college. But even beyond that, he thought that you had to inherit money in order to have that kind of success. That\u2019s just their experience. They grew up in the Great Depression, and World War I and World War II. Thanks for calling, Melanie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: A piece by great and genius Thomas Sowell: ‘Fallacies About What\u2019s Fair.\u2019 This appeared this past Tuesday at TownHall.com. ‘If there is ever a contest to pick which word has done the most damage to people\u2019s thinking, and to actions to carry out that thinking, my nomination would be the word ‘fair.\u2019 It is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDr. Thomas Sowell on Fairness (Plus: First-Born Kids are Smarter) - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2010\/02\/12\/dr_thomas_sowell_on_fairness_plus_first_born_kids_are_smarter\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Dr. Thomas Sowell on Fairness (Plus: First-Born Kids are Smarter) - 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