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Who Are My Heroes?

Entry 2091, on 2020-11-24 at 18:47:08 (Rating 3, Comments)

I often get some negative feedback - OK, let's just call it what it really is: outright abuse - for some of my opinions. It's not surprising, of course, because many of them are extremely controversial. But I would say controversy is OK, and I would feel more justifiably admonished by my opponents if they could show where, as well as being controversial, my opinions are wrong. But, that never (or at least, very rarely) happens.

A particularly ridiculous critic of mine, who almost personifies political correctness, once asked me who are my heroes, or who I admire most. This was in response to a Facebook post she had made admiring a mundane PC celebrity of some sort. Unfortunately I cannot remember who the person was now, but it was someone who I had no great respect for, and I said so.

As a challenge to my rejection of her post, she asked who my heroes are, and I said that I don't like hero worship, because everyone has good and bad points, but if pushed I would start with Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Christopher Hitchens.

She (quite rightly) pointed out that they are all old (4 out of 5 are dead!) white guys, as if that was a killer blow, destroying any value my thoughts might have. But I said, sure, I accept that. I genuinely have trouble thinking of anyone who is truly at the peak of human achievement and deserves my admiration, except for old white guys!

To be fair to her, she wasn't really triggered by this and just commented something like: no surprises there.

That's not to say that there aren't young black women, or people with one or more, if not all, of those characteristics, who make great contributions to humanity, who are very intelligent, extremely creative, or otherwise admirable in some way. Those people really do exist, there is no doubt about it. It's just that none of them have got to the very top level I require to be put on my "heroes list".

So, if I was asked for a "runners up" list, it might show more diversity. For example, I quite like Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astronomer and media personality, who just happens to be black, not that his race makes any difference to me. And I quite admire the courage some black activists have, especially Candace Owens (not only black, but also a woman, and quite young) and Thomas Sowell (an older man, but at least black). Unfortunately for my PC opponent, both of them are conservative and regularly fight against the issues she supports!

While trying to think of further people who might fill my "diversity quota" I ran into a significant barrier: I genuinely couldn't think of anyone. So I read through the BBC's list of top 100 women for 2020. that was quite depressing, because the few I recognised were rather mediocre, and I couldn't find one who should go on my list.

But I did think of more people who might be on my secondary list: Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, and Stephen Hawking. Ah yes, back to old white guys - and one who is very controversial. Sorry! (no, I'm not)

So we now have a list which includes the three "heroes" I mentioned in my post titled "Jobs, Hitchens, Hawking" from 2018-03-21. See that post for details about why I think they are so great. You might also want to refer to "Fantastic Feynman" from 2015-10-21, and "Amazing Grace" from 2015-10-06 (please note: another woman there) which are other "hero worship" type posts.

And also, while you are searching out old blog posts, have a look at one titled "Two Complete Morons" from 2013-04-22 which severely criticises two old white guys. But their age, ethnicity, and sex aren't ever mentioned anywhere, because I really do try to ignore those factors when I am evaluating a person's ideas. Unfortunately, the current preference for identity politics means that other people are rarely as unbiased as I am.

At this point, another aspect of my lists has become apparent. That is, that all of these people, as well as being mainly old white guys, are also controversial. Some people find this surprising, but why? Why would I admire someone parroting the status quo? What's the point in just repeating the safe, standard narrative? Is that worthy of admiration, even if it was true - which it generally isn't? I don't think so.

Finally, many of the people on my list are also flawed. Well, that's no surprise because everyone is flawed, but that tends to be emphasised more when it is seen in famous figures.

So let's look at one example from my lists. Unsurprisingly, he is a middle-aged (not old, and not dead) white guy. I'm talking about Elon Musk here. I cannot begin to understand how anyone could not have a certain amount of admiration for this person. He controls several of the most innovative, important companies on the planet. Any other person who was in charge of just one of these would be worthy of admiration.

But he is founder, CEO, or has another primary leadership role in the following: SpaceX (a aerospace and space transport company, now doing real orbital flights), Tesla (the most well known electric car company in the world), The Boring Company (an infrastructure and tunneling company), Neuralink (a company working on brain-machine interfaces), and OpenAI (a non-profit artificial intelligence lab).

Not only are these all incredibly useful by any measure, but they are also all involved with important new technology, and are all making real progress, rather than just producing theoretical potential benefits.

I have heard Musk speak on various occasions - most notably in his infamous appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, where he smoked weed and drank whiskey - and he effuses an impression of extraordinary thoughtfulness, and optimism, but also enough realism to understand the challenges he faces. Sometimes there is an uncomfortable pause before he answers a question, but he is actually thinking about the answer before presenting it, and generally it is worth the wait.

It's rare for anyone to make any genuinely original contributions without that person being a little bit strange, and Musk has just enough of that to get things done. Note the discussion on this aspect of genius in a blog post "We Need the Crazies" from 2019-01-15.

So, sure, I don't apologise for choosing old white guys as my heroes. Elon Musk alone seems to be more important to society than all the women on the politically correct BBC's list put together!

Comment 1 (6267) by Anonymous on 2021-01-19 at 15:22:50:

The way you enjoy having such a bigoted attitude is worrying!

Comment 2 (6268) by OJB on 2021-01-19 at 17:09:03:

Is it bigoted if it is true? If the answer is yes, then being bigoted is fine, because I am also correct. If the answer is no then show me where I’m wrong.

Comment 3 (6280) by Anonymous on 2021-01-25 at 10:15:36:

I think you just proved my point.

Comment 4 (6282) by OJB on 2021-01-26 at 08:24:27:

Well I disagree, obviously. My point is that I don’t really care about subjective assessments of bigotry. I’m only interested in what is true.

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