You Didn't Win That

Democrat and Chronicle editors object to the Monroe County Sheriff's office hiring deputies based on successful exam scores rather than the color of their skin.   To assure complete transparency, Sheriff O'Flynn's office publishes the results of these civil service exams.   This assures applicants and the public of fairness in hiring.

The editors prefer the City of Rochester's approach:   hiring on the basis of race, with test scores a closely-kept secret.   Scores must be secret, lest the gaping disparity between hiring and exam results become a public embarrassment.   This is the uniform practice among institutions that buy into the "diversity" racket.

What we liked about the editorial was its appearance during the Olympics.   It highlights a problem.

People of non-color comprise but a minority of the world population.   Yet athletes -- both non-white and white -- from majority-white countries win a disproportionately high number of Olympic gold medals.   As of this morning, such countries have won 153 gold medals.   Only 81 gold medals have been bagged by all other countries.   That includes gold medals won by Asian nations; without them, the number reduces to 23.   Twenty-three for the rest of the world entirely!

This reflects mostly the relative affluence among countries.   Wealthier nations tend to produce more medalists, of all ethnic backgrounds and ancestries.   More access to training, less time working and more time to practice, more sponsorships, etc.   Still, as with police hiring, we're focusing on outcomes among countries.

We must make Olympic gold medal awards more inclusive country-by-country and thus more representative of the world community (to paraphrase the D&C editors).   Therefore  .  .  .

Abby Wambach, please hand over the US soccer team's gold medal.   We'll give it to one of the countries you beat.

Michael Phelps, don't think you're taking those home.   Besides, isn't there a point where a person has enough gold medals?

Gabby Douglas, you get to keep yours.   So does Usain Bolt.   But the most sacred rule of "affirmative action" makes scores and track times top secret.   No one will know whether you won gold on merit, or because of the happenstance of the color of the skin you were born with.   Pity.

If the Olympic Committee puts its best foot forward to make results more inclusive, in four years the D&C editors -- wherever they're working after the paper stops publishing -- can applaud an Olympics whose winning countries look like the world.