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Yang swipes at Biden: 'Maybe Americans don't all want to learn how to code'

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  tig  •  4 years ago  •  19 comments

By:   Joseph A. Wulfsohn

Yang swipes at Biden: 'Maybe Americans don't all want to learn how to code'
"Give me a break! Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake." ⇨ Joe Biden

Anyone who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to design integrated circuits, become an automotive engineer, become a financial adviser, do genetic research, practice law, train to be a physician's assistant, become a corporate cost accountant.       jrSmiley_78_smiley_image.gif

This just kills me.   Apparently Joe has no idea that ' programming ' is a learned skill practiced typically by degree-holding professionals who necessarily have a strong mathematical and algorithmic aptitude.   Going from shoveling coal to applying computer science (even in its most basic form:  programming) is like suggesting a house framer can be simply retrained to engineer buildings.

Odd that Yang was so gentle with Joe's latest foot in mouth.    

Joe, get your act together, you might be the only thing preventing a second Trump term.


S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang  took aim at one of his rivals, former Vice President  Joe Biden , after the 2020 front-runner suggested that displaced coal miners should learn to code.

On Wednesday, without saying his name, the tech businessman took a clear swipe at the Democrat juggernaut.

"Let them do the kind of work they actually want to do, instead of saying to a group of people that you all need to become coders. Like, what is that about?" Yang said at a campaign event in New Hampshire. "You know, maybe Americans don’t all want to learn how to code.”

At a recent campaign event, Biden spoke about coal mining jobs that are in peril in his home state of Pennsylvania, and how American workers may have to evolve their skill sets in order to survive in a modern economy.

"I come from a family and an area where it's coal mining in Scranton," Biden told the crowd. "Anybody who can go down 300 to 3,000 feet in a mine sure as hell can learn to program, as well, but we don't think of it that way."

He later added: "My liberal friends were saying, 'You can't expect them to be able to do that.' Give me a break! Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake."

"Three consecutive presidents have enjoyed stints of economic growth due to a boom in oil and natural gas production. As president, would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth even knowing that it potentially could displace thousands, maybe hundreds [of thousands] of blue-collar workers in the interest of transitioning to that greener economy?" Politico reporter Tim Alberta asked.

"The answer is yes," Biden had responded.


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TᵢG
Professor Principal
1  seeder  TᵢG    4 years ago

Just cannot resist this.   Maybe because I know so much about this field, I overly-appreciate the enormously stupid comment Biden just made.

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1.1  Vic Eldred  replied to  TᵢG @1    4 years ago
Maybe because I know so much about this field, I overly-appreciate the enormously stupid comment Biden just made.

I think many of the 50-something year old coal miners in that audience kind of appreciated the stupidity of it as well

 
 
 
The Magic 8 Ball
Masters Quiet
1.2  The Magic 8 Ball  replied to  TᵢG @1    4 years ago
I overly-appreciate the enormously stupid comment Biden just made.

save room on your plate... there will be more... LOL

 
 
 
XXJefferson51
Senior Guide
1.2.1  XXJefferson51  replied to  The Magic 8 Ball @1.2    4 years ago

I agree with all of you on this.  Between willing to give up hundreds of thousands of high paying working/middle class jobs to achieve a goal and thinking us 50+ age people not ready to retire yet, can retrain from a life time hands on career to something else and do so easily is just ludicrous.  

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
1.2.2  seeder  TᵢG  replied to  XXJefferson51 @1.2.1    4 years ago

Personally, I am not even limiting this to 50+ workers.   Take a 25 year old miner.   This is not likely to be a person who has the aptitude for a highly skilled cognitive profession;  he (most likely) is a person who chose a physical job because it best suits his aptitude and desires.   No doubt there are some who (when given the opportunity) might take well to a professional, highly-skilled job and would be willing to earn the degree necessary to pursue it.   I doubt many would and that many even could.

Biden grossly underestimates the difference between a physical (even if skilled) and a professional, skilled mental job.

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
1.2.3  charger 383  replied to  TᵢG @1.2.2    4 years ago

sometimes it is old story of trying to force square pegs into round holes

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
1.2.4  Tacos!  replied to  TᵢG @1.2.2    4 years ago
Take a 25 year old miner.   This is not likely to be a person who has the aptitude for a highly skilled cognitive profession

I mean if it were that easy, we'd all be doing it right out of high school and be getting paid minimum wage for it.

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
1.2.5  seeder  TᵢG  replied to  Tacos! @1.2.4    4 years ago

It is the core of my parental advice for years.   The good professions are those where the skills are marketable, valuable and rare.   If anyone could do it, the compensation would suck and one would be treated as an expendable.

 
 
 
The Magic 8 Ball
Masters Quiet
1.2.6  The Magic 8 Ball  replied to  XXJefferson51 @1.2.1    4 years ago
is just ludicrous.

I love how he argues with voters... tells them what to think.

that's how ya get votes... LOL

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
2  Texan1211    4 years ago

And Joe Biden is the very best the Democratic Party has to offer America?

Are Democrats really going to pin all their hopes on Joe Biden?

Seriously?

 
 
 
bugsy
Professor Participates
2.1  bugsy  replied to  Texan1211 @2    4 years ago
Are Democrats really going to pin all their hopes on Joe Biden?

Well, they pinned all their hopes on Hillary, and we see what that got them. Three years of screaming at the sty and pussy hats. I can't wait to see and hear 5 more years of it.

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
3  Tacos!    4 years ago
Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake.

Anybody who can shovel shit the way Joe does can learn how to program, for God's sake. Get on that shit, Joe!

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
4  JohnRussell    4 years ago

I don't think Biden's comments were meant to be taken entirely literally. He is encouraging both the workers and those who will be charged with helping these workers transition into careers in technology to be open minded about what can be done. 

And no, I dont think many coal miners will become programmers. 

Politicians on the campaign trail tend to talk in broad strokes. 

Settle down. 

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
4.1  seeder  TᵢG  replied to  JohnRussell @4    4 years ago
I don't think Biden's comments were meant to be taken entirely literally.

It is bad for a politician to make public statements that are not meant to be taken literally.

Politicians on the campaign trail tend to talk in broad strokes. 

I agree.   He should have stated that retraining is going to be a priority in his administration and avoid making specific (and very, very stupid) statements like this.

Settle down. 

Not emotional about it John.   But thanks for the advice.

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
4.2  Tacos!  replied to  JohnRussell @4    4 years ago
He is encouraging both the workers and those who will be charged with helping these workers transition into careers in technology to be open minded about what can be done.

Maybe, but the way he said it insulted everyone he was talking about - miners and programmers.

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
4.3  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  JohnRussell @4    4 years ago
I don't think Biden's comments were meant to be taken entirely literally.

C'mon John. Be honest for once. If this were Trump you would be all over it saying that his words should be taken verbatim.......each and every word picked apart and defined as the most nefarious yet from his mouth/tweet. 

 
 
 
Sparty On
Professor Principal
4.3.1  Sparty On  replied to  Just Jim NC TttH @4.3    4 years ago

Spot on.   Such illustrates the hypocrisy coming from the left.   Shotgun Joe gets a pass, Trump not so much.

TDS is a terrible, terrible thing ....

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5  It Is ME    4 years ago

"Give me a break! Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God's sake."

Are "Burger Flippers" that smart too ?

Can the past VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES...….. learn how to "Program" in less than a year (Paychecks need to come quickly) ?  After all, they are one of the "Smartest" people on the planet.....so I've been told ! 

 
 
 
Paula Bartholomew
Professor Participates
6  Paula Bartholomew    4 years ago

I guess if Al Gore invented the internet, Biden figures that coding is easy.  Show us some code you have written Joe.

 
 

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