I hate racism of ANY kind. And I hate hypocrisy almost as much.  Now whenever I hear someone claiming X is racist in US society, for example the prison system, they usually make the statement “the % of blacks in the US is about 20% (or whatever), so we should expect the prison population to reflect that. Because it doesn’t (black% much much higher) that’s evidence that the prison system (and law enforcement) is racially biased.”  That’s the rough argument and rough %‘s. 

Ok, so using that same argument, since the US Olympic team is definitely NOT 80% white, isn’t that evidence of discrimination? And in some events even, say Track, the % of whites in the finals is almost 0%.  Should there be some type of Affirmative Action for Whites in US Olympics?

No I’m not some nutjob neo-nazi. I hate’m, disagree with’em, want them all to go to you know where. BUT I can see some of them making this exact type of argument.

SO how would you respond?

You may not know it, but evolution stops at the neck; the brain is “plastic” (the secular version of a soul) and does as it pleases. The African Americans have obviously evolved to have more athletic bodies than the whites, but they obviously haven’t evolved their brains to behave more violently than those of the whites. So it must be the cops’ fault.

You’re right. There is a level of hypocrisy involved here but also some truth. As you have clearly pointed out, statistical analysis like this can only show an correlation but says nothing about causation. People the read into it the causation that fits their world view.

The percentage of minorities in prison probably results from a more complex set of factors then the percent in the Olympics, ie. cops probably do target minorities more but minorities are disproportionately poor and from single parent homes and bad neighborhoods which all increase the likelihood they will be involved in a crime.

It’s interesting though that the Olympic numbers are not as simple as they seem either though. Blacks dominate track but are only occassionally in the pool, the tennis court, the hockey rink, or the gymnastics events

George - 05 August 2012 11:08 AM

You may not know it, but evolution stops at the neck; the brain is “plastic” (the secular version of a soul) and does as it pleases. The African Americans have obviously evolved to have more athletic bodies than the whites, but they obviously haven’t evolved their brains to behave more violently than those of the whites. So it must be the cops’ fault.

Huh?

You have to decipher it. The key word is “sarcasm.”

George - 05 August 2012 01:48 PM

You have to decipher it. The key word is “sarcasm.”

Yes, I did realize you were being sarcastic. I stand by my “huh?” .

CuthbertJ - 05 August 2012 10:15 AM

I hate racism of ANY kind. And I hate hypocrisy almost as much.  Now whenever I hear someone claiming X is racist in US society, for example the prison system, they usually make the statement “the % of blacks in the US is about 20% (or whatever), so we should expect the prison population to reflect that. Because it doesn’t (black% much much higher) that’s evidence that the prison system (and law enforcement) is racially biased.”  That’s the rough argument and rough %‘s. 

Ok, so using that same argument, since the US Olympic team is definitely NOT 80% white, isn’t that evidence of discrimination? And in some events even, say Track, the % of whites in the finals is almost 0%.  Should there be some type of Affirmative Action for Whites in US Olympics?

No I’m not some nutjob neo-nazi. I hate’m, disagree with’em, want them all to go to you know where. BUT I can see some of them making this exact type of argument.

SO how would you respond?

Discrimination is bad for everyone.  Reverse discrimination is a form of discrimination.

If the fastest runners on earth are black skinned, who cares?  The point of a race is to see who’s fastest.  I can’t see the point of putting a slow person into the race.

If people commit certain crimes, they go to prison.  For justice to work, it has to be blind.  I can’t see the point of incarcerating or releasing people due to the colour of their skin, that’s even mores stupid than injecting slow runners into races.

3point14rat - 07 August 2012 10:13 AM

If people commit certain crimes, they go to prison.  For justice to work, it has to be blind.  I can’t see the point of incarcerating or releasing people due to the colour of their skin, that’s even mores stupid than injecting slow runners into races.

The key phrase here is “blind justice” as you point out. The problem is, justice can never be truly blind because it is administered by flawed humans. Therefore, we have to be constantly vigilant to prejudices in the system. This is why people get concerned with statistics that show an unusually high percentage of minority groups in prison and on death row. Those who point out that correlation is not the same as causation are completely correct, but they miss the point. If there is even a chance that justice is not being administered fairly (and I believe there is evidence to support that contention is many cases) then it is cause for serious concern.

And who is doing the injustice in countries like Jamaica, for example, where everybody is black and which has one of the highest levels of crime and violence in the world?

High crime rates are partly due to the injustice in society.  More minorities are in the have-not class, which is a breeding ground for criminal behavior. 

So fix society, not the justice system that is just responding as it should to the cases it sees.

Any ‘fix’ would be far worse than the present situation.