Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> Warp wrote:
>>>   Why does it matter what was used as an example? What does it matter if it
>>> was ethnicity, weight or show size? Ethnicity happened to be part of the
>>> original discussion.
> 
>> All of those examples have nothing to do with whether you're in the country 
>> legally.
> 
>   You just refuse to understand what "example" means, don't you?
> 
>   "If ethnicity is a distinguishing factor, then..." is an example. It's
> not making a claim about what is and isn't a distinguishing factor.

Yes. And you understand that nobody is arguing against the examples that are 
*not* bogus, right?  Nobody thinks it's racist to arrest someone who looks 
mexican for not paying taxes, anymore than anyone thinks it's racist to 
arrest a black man for driving up on the sidewalk.

> 
>>>   I think your problem is that you are too obsessed with ethnicity. Whenever
>>> someone talks about ethnicity, it must always be "racism".
> 
>> Not at all.
> 
>   Then why do I get the feeling? Ethnicity really seems to be a touchy
> subject.

Because the bad examples you give are all examples of ethnicity, or other 
properties irrelevant to the person committing the crime and relevant to the 
group of people that person is in.

Your suggestion is you should look at the entire group of people who *do* 
commit the crime, then lump in other people that share properties of that 
same group to investigate. Except you've offered no examples of properties 
that have anything to do with the actual commission of the crime. You 
haven't offered the suggestion like "we should go look for the people who 
came into the country on a six month visa six months ago."  You haven't 
offered the suggestion of "we should visit the families of people who 
immigrated legally a couple years ago to see if they then snuck their family 
into the country."  None of those have anything to do with ethnicity.

>> Yet you're suggesting exactly that there are neutral and even beneficial 
>> uses of the *act* of racism.
> 
>   Firstly, I'm not suggesting that (and I'm getting really tired of you
> claiming I do, over and over), 

You are. You said "if 90% of the illegal immigrants are of mexican descent, 
police should focus their attentions on that 90%."   I'm sorry if you don't 
recognize that as a racist suggestion, but it is.  It's prejudice based on 
race.  Disclaiming it as a hypothetical/subjunctive assertion doesn't make 
it less racist. It just implies that maybe racism is beneficial in this 
respect.

>   If you keep making that insinuation, I'm going to end this conversation.
> I'm not going to continue this if you keep insulting me.

I'm not insinuating you're a racist. I'm stating that many of the 
suggestions you've made here are racist, namely, suggesting that ethnicity 
is a reasonable distinguishing factor for catching criminals with no 
evidence that any particular crime has been committed.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Linux: Now bringing the quality and usability of
   open source desktop apps to your personal electronics.

Post a reply to this message