Unintentional Parallels

As made apparent throughout history, science was (and to a lesser degree is still) rather one minded. There is a lack of equal representation, excluding based on gender and race, which has been made apparent through agenda setting as well as different historical writings. The evaluation of the Manhattan project, followed by the revision of White Supremacy Culture was unsettling, as the two coincided so well that it seemed as if Cole’s writing aimed to hit all of the many points included in Okun’s article. A sense of urgency, for instance, said to be part of a white supremacy culture. This is almost paralleled through the statement, “It was extremely hectic. Very few people walked around the laboratory; they usually ran…Everyone was tireless and frantic…”(Cole). Another characteristic is described as “either or” thinking and is essentially what all scientists were doing when attempting to develop the atomic bomb. The goal was to beat Hitler to the final product; either Germany or anyone else. The comparisons are seemingly endless, as if every statement regarding the Manhattan Project could be applied to this type of culture, but the most prominent of them all was probably in regards to power hoarding. The article begins by immediately discussing various physicists, all of which were of course male. The large majority of individuals mentioned were men, and if (in the rare circumstance) a woman was mentioned her name was included last, and not to be mentioned again. Further, the threat of Hitler may have initially provided a reason to work towards the creation of the bomb, however, once he was defeated, “Nobody slowed up one little bit” (Cole); it was now a power trip for science. Everyone male scientist wanted to put their name in the history books, and refrain from others coming along with it.

It’s almost as if the writing intentionally incorporated these things, which is what makes the aforementioned examples so significant as none of this was done intentionally. The writings were not made to degrade women, express the severity of the disparities during the given time period, or incorporate the many signs of white supremacy. Rather, this was simply written as an informational piece about the science behind the atomic bomb at the time. Leaving women out of science, barely discussing them, and speaking of them as if insignificant was not to emphasize a point, but the fact that it wasn’t intended to do so helps to illustrate the true issues at the time even more so.