Anybody following the unrest in Ferguson Missouri?

[ddgently]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/opinion/nicholas-kristof-is-everyone-a-little-bit-racist.html

Interesting article. I think it highlights some of the things those protesting (not looting! two distinct things!) are saying about race and America.

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/opinion/nicholas-kristof-is-everyone-a-little-bit-racist.html

Interesting article. I think it highlights some of the things those protesting (not looting! two distinct things!) are saying about race and America.

“In our minds, young black men are associated with danger.”

Well, yeah.  They are more associated with danger.  That's a fact.  Why should we force ourselves to be stupid and pretend it's not true?  Even the pathetic liberal Juan Williams said he's more likely to be afraid if he sees an Arab boarding his plane than a white guy boarding his plane.  It's a reasonable fear, since an Arab is more likely to blow up a plane than a white guy. 

This doesn't mean all black people are dangerous, or all Arabs blow up planes.  It's just a healthy response to undeniable facts. 

 

[ddgently]

At least you're being honest about your biases. Did you try either of the tests mentioned in the article?

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

At least you're being honest about your biases. Did you try either of the tests mentioned in the article?

It's not a bias, it's reason.  It is the ability to recognize a pattern, which leads to a reaction in proportion to the probabilities. 

Let me state it without involving race, and perhaps you'll understand.  If someone who wears his pants down below his butt (gang banger style) is more likely to be a danger to you than someone who wears pants normally, then it makes perfect sense to be more vigilant around people with gang banger pants.  If you refuse to be more vigilant for the cause of the PC religion, and as a result you are caught off-guard and get beaten or killed, then you have your self-imposed stupidity to thank for that. 

This doesn't mean that everyone who wears their pants that way is a danger.  It doesn't mean that wearing pants that way causes the violence.  It doesn't mean that you should hate people who dress that way.  It simply means that there is a pattern, and you recognize it both consciously and unconsciously. 

What PC police are advocating is self-imposed stupidity. 

No, and I'm not inclined to take the tests. 

 

[Ransom]

At least you're being honest about your biases. Did you try either of the tests mentioned in the article?

What's wrong with being biased?

 

[ddgently]

At least you're being honest about your biases. Did you try either of the tests mentioned in the article?

What's wrong with being biased?

Did you read the article? I know you're in Canada, but based on your participation I assume you're following our news.*

Some biases are good. For instance, I am biases towards environments that lack oxygen.

Others are bad. Like biases that cause black bodies that pose no danger to be shot quicker and more frequently than white bodies that pose no danger. I'm sure you can see the difference.

*Sorry to say that we only follow your news when a mayor is being videoed getting high or one of our fast-food chains is seeking a tax shelter by buying a beloved donut shop. Or when Survivorman is on.

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

At least you're being honest about your biases. Did you try either of the tests mentioned in the article?

What's wrong with being biased?

For instance, I am biases towards environments that lack oxygen.

Ah, now it's all starting to make sense.  So that's how you got this way. 

 

[ddgently]

Obama and the media have set up back into the 1960s with the racism.

Are you from a parallel universe? That's so cool. How are you able to post here?

This author just wants to contribute to this set back.

If you agree with this article, are you not admitting that you are racist?

We're all racist. Not overtly, like making it impossible to vote, or lynching, or refusing to serve lunch at Woolworths. It's implicit. And yes, we should all admit that we all do it.

I am not racist, In the least.

I'm sure you have a "black friend" to prove it too. Have you asked him what he thinks of all this?

Thugs look like thugs whether their skin color is brown, white or yellow.

Well you sound incredibly ignorant. Should I treat all fundamentalists as such based on that observation?

 

[ddgently]

At least you're being honest about your biases. Did you try either of the tests mentioned in the article?

What's wrong with being biased?

For instance, I am biases towards environments that lack oxygen.

Ah, now it's all starting to make sense.  So that's how you got this way.

Ha! you got me there. I'll leave it as is so that your dig continues to make sense.

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

I'm sure you have a "black friend" to prove it too. Have you asked him what he thinks of all this?

Because black people have no dog in this hunt, and are therefore totally unbiased, right?

 

[ddgently]

I'm sure you have a "black friend" to prove it too. Have you asked him what he thinks of all this?

Because black people have no dog in this hunt, and are therefore totally unbiased, right?

They're the ones getting pulled over, shot, harassed, and jailed at disproportionate rates, so I'd assume they have a dog in the fight.

I'm curious how you process stories like aleshanee's, or John Crawford III's (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/26/video-shows-police-shot-ohio-man-on-sight-as-he-leaned-on-toy-gun-in-walmart-attorney-says/), or this father's (http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/what-i-learned-about-stop-and-frisk-from-watching-my-black-son/359962/)?

Do you see injustice? Or are people making things up? Or making too big a deal of it?

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

you can choose your clothes and you can even change them... you can even change your mind when it comes to your personal biases and false assumptions

Except the statistics aren't false assumptions.  They're facts. 

I do have sympathy for people who are lumped into a statistical group through no choice or fault of their own.  But that doesn't change the facts. 

And I'm not talking about being more likely to shoot one person than another.  I'm talking about the statement the author made.  “In our minds, young black men are associated with danger.”  It's not just a figment of our prejudiced imagination.  It's not just in our minds.  It's a fact.  Young black men are more associated with danger. 

 

[Ransom]

Did you read the article? I know you're in Canada, but based on your participation I assume you're following our news.*

As a matter of fact, I tend to follow more American news than Canadian. Your bias is showing if you assume we Canadians don't pay much attention to current events outside our own borders.

I did read the article. I want you to explain to me why bias is bad. Go.

 

[ddgently]

I want you to explain to me why bias is bad. Go.

Probably casting pearls before swine, but here we go:

Other[ biaes] are bad. Like biases that cause black bodies that pose no danger to be shot quicker and more frequently than white bodies that pose no danger. I'm sure you can see the difference.

I'm sure you have a "black friend" to prove it too. Have you asked him what he thinks of all this?

Because black people have no dog in this hunt, and are therefore totally unbiased, right?

They're the ones getting pulled over, shot, harassed, and jailed at disproportionate rates, so I'd assume they have a dog in the fight.

I'm curious how you process stories like aleshanee's, or John Crawford III's (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/26/video-shows-police-shot-ohio-man-on-sight-as-he-leaned-on-toy-gun-in-walmart-attorney-says/), or this father's (http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/what-i-learned-about-stop-and-frisk-from-watching-my-black-son/359962/)?

Do you see injustice? Or are people making things up? Or making too big a deal of it?

 

[ddgently]

We're all racist.

Speak for yourself.

Well you sound incredibly ignorant.

I am not the racist.

Take the two tests linked in the article (the Shooting one and the implicit association test) and then tell me you have no automatic preference for white over black.

 

[Ransom]

Probably casting pearls before swine, but here we go:

Yes, I did read that post. You said only that some biases are good and some are bad, without explaining why, which only begs the question.

 

[ddgently]

We're all racist.

Speak for yourself.

Well you sound incredibly ignorant.

I am not the racist.

Take the two tests linked in the article (the Shooting one and the implicit association test) and then tell me you have no automatic preference for white over black.

I don't need to take a test put together by someone who says we are all racist.

You're reading comprehension shows its ugly face again. He didn't design the tests.

I grew up in Metro Detroit and Metro Flint area.

RE: "I know what black people are like."

I judge people by their actions and presentation.

Actions= being black; presentation= being around me

Anyone who would admit they are racist has no sound judgment. I have relatives who are racist (even mildly)... it turns my stomach.

Said the alcoholic as he poured himself another drink.

 

[ddgently]

Just so we're clear, as I can tell this is getting heated and we might be using different definitions:

When I say we are all racist to some extent, I'm not saying we all hate black people, want to go back to Jim Crow, and are all one sheet and torch away from joining the Klan.

What I am saying is we have deep seated, automatic preferences for white faces and people. And while that preference expresses itself subtly on the individual level, it has devastating consequences when compounded across a society.

 

[ddgently]

I have been very clear. I still am not what you describe above.

Skin color has NEVER meant anything preferential to me. Why does it to you?

I wish I could believe you. I wish it didn't to any of us.

But the myth of the colorblind society is just that. A myth. Research bears this out. Heck, a perusal of the evening news confirms it.

To deny it is to perpetuate the problem.

 

[Ransom]

What I am saying is we have deep seated, automatic preferences for white faces and people.

Who do you mean by "we"?