Here we go again (Black History Month)

[JohnStOnge]

Every year at this time we are treated to misinformation and exaggeration pertaining to the historical accomplishments of people of Black African ethnicity in general and Black Americans in particular. Some years ago I started on a list and looked into what really happened. And in every case save one what I found is that the reported accomplishments were exaggerated. Stuff like Garrett Morgan invented the traffic signal when the one he patented has nothing to do with the one we use today and one that was invented way earlier IS consistent with what we use today. The one exception was Charles Drew; who really did develop an important method for processing and preserving blood plasma.

True to form I received an e mail today about Gerald Lawson. The e mail contained the following language:

This engineer and inventor is the reason why disc-based home video games exist. Gerald A. Lawson, a largely self-taught engineer who became a pioneer in electronic video entertainment.

Before disc-based systems like PlayStation, Xbox and Wii transformed the video game industry, before techno-diversions like Grand Theft Auto and Madden NFL and even before Pac-Man and Donkey Kong became the obsession of millions of electronic gamers, it was Mr. Lawson who first made it possible to play a variety of video games at home. To read more about Mr. Lawson please visit https://www.biography.com/people/jerry-lawson-21330375

So I clicked on the link. It described the development of Fairchild Channel F. First of all, if you read the entire article, what you see is:

In the mid-1970s, Lawson helped create the Fairchild Channel F, a home entertainment machine that was produced in 1976 by Fairchild Semiconductor.

That already tells you that he was part of a team. But then I Googled "Fairchild Channel F" and got this article:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3040889/the ... -cartridge

What it reveals is that neither Fairchild in general or Lawson in particular developed the technology. The technology was developed by a couple of guys named Wallace Kirschner and Lawrence Haskel then it was "...streamlined and turned into a commercial product..." by "...a team at pioneering electronics company Fairchild."

Here's another article identifying the true inventors of the game cartridge as Kirschner and Haskel:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/28/ ... -cartridge

So why do people do this thing of putting out misleading propaganda exaggerating contributions by people of that ethnicity? And it's the same as always. If you do what I just did and point out that some Black History Month tidbit is basically a lie then you're the bad guy.

BTW it's hard to find pictures of Kirschner and Haskel but I'm pretty sure this is one:



I don't think they're Black History Month material.

[Gil Dobie]

Black Mystery Month as no one really knows the true history or the Blacks involved in the history.

For example - First Black NFL player to dress for a game?

[css75]

I think you have a point here. Also, the Warren Commission did a detailed investigation of MLK, which at the least put him in a negative light, but of course it was not discussed in the media.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Ivytalk]

Hey, JSO, quit dissing your party’s most loyal constituency.

[Baldy]

Hey, JSO, quit dissing your party’s most loyal constituency.

JSO is an old school Donk. He probably has a freshly laundered sheet hanging in his closet.

[Ivytalk]

Hey, JSO, quit dissing your party’s most loyal constituency.

JSO is an old school Donk. He probably has a freshly laundered sheet hanging in his closet.

I picture him more in the Huey P. Long tradition. “Share our Wealth” and all that.

[JohnStOnge]

Seriously, guys, it's an interesting phenomenon. Every year at this time there's this massive propaganda effort whereby stories go out exaggerating the contributions of "African Americans" as well as people of Black African ancestry beyond that. And so if you're a person who realizes that's going on it's kind of like wondering if you're just being a party pooper by pointing out that it's exaggeration and misinformation. Should you point out, for instance, that it's not really true that a Black guy invented the air conditioner?

You know, you see these lists where they talk about how different our everyday lives would be without these inventions and say the inventors were Black people. But in almost every case it's not true.

So what do you do? Are you a bad person if you point the truth out? Or is going along with it really the right thing to do because in the end it serves a noble purpose?

It's like the list at http://cw33.com/2016/02/05/30-invention ... erson-for/. It's implied as a list of things that "...would not exist if it were not for Black pioneers."

I'll just take the first one on the list. The Automatic Gear Shift. It says Richard Spikes invented it in 1932. But he didn't. The automatic gear shift was invented by Hungarian László József Bíró. See https://dailynewshungary.com/great-hung ... -ball-pen/.

In any case you can look up the patent of the Black buy in question, Richard Spikes, and see that his invention still involved the use of a clutch pedal. See https://www.google.com/patents/US1936996. It's apparently not even the same thing as we think of when we think of automatic transmissions today. A history of development of those is at https://www.mistertransmission.com/tran ... n-history/. What we think of today as "automatic transmission" was developed in 1939; seven years after Spikes' invention that involved a "gear shift." So the thing at the list I linked that tries to imply that Spikes invention was critical to what we think of today as the shifter on an automatic transmission is a bunch of crap.

And if you go through that kind of process with respect to just about anything you see on lists like that you reach the same place. But does the end justify the means? Is it really wrong to recognize that it's a bunch of crap because the objective behind those lists is to try to engender respect for a group that has historically been disrespected?