Are we all bigots?

[kallipolis]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-rushing/the-reasons-why-so-many-b_b_883310.html

I quote:

They point out that although Whites and African Americans use and sell drugs at about the same rates, Black men in 2003 were almost 12 times as likely to go to prison as White men. Although Black people are 12 percent of the population and 14 percent of drug users, according to Mauer and Cole, they comprise 34 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 45 percent of those incarcerated in state prisons for such offenses.

 

[kallipolis]

The sub conscious is invariably part of ones frequent decision making process...however, free will also enables the human being to transform ones early life experiences, that have shaped ones understandings, into making life affirming decisions that serve the common good...for to assume that all ones decisions remain buried in a concrete well of learned behavior, immovable and unchangeable is to consider homo sapiens no more than a prisoner of circumstance dictated too by ones early life experiences....a robot fashioned by ones parents, and school teachers unable, and incapable of change the result of not responding to life's daily teaching lessons inviting each of us to continue learning until death.

 

[kallipolis]

I think you all are missing the point. The research shows that the bias exists at the subconscious level. One can consciously tell oneself to not be bigoted all one wants. One has no control over one's subconscious.

To assume this to believe that homo sapiens is incapable of change, the result of ones early life brainwashing...transformation of self is a process of self discovery, enabled by ones daily life experiences....until ones death....the human being at 18 years thinks, and behaves differently from the human person at forty, or sixty, or eighty the result of learning that ones daily life experiences continue to teach lessons, that will improve ones life....

Let's not condemn human life to incarceration in a programmed cell of behavior fashioned in ones very early life.

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
― Lao Tzu

 

[Benvolio]

The purpose of the stop and frisk ( discussed in the think progress account) is to deter the carrying of guns and contraband. It appears to work better among blacks and Hispanics. And the police are more accurate in judging suspicious behavior among whites. Neither consideration suggests a need to change.

 

[kallipolis]

The purpose of the stop and frisk ( discussed in the think progress account) is to deter the carrying of guns and contraband. It appears to work better among blacks and Hispanics. And the police are more accurate in judging suspicious behavior among whites. Neither consideration suggests a need to change.

The published statistics paint a radically different picture from one that you espouse to be correct...I should not need to repeat my post, for the facts speak clearly:

White People Stopped By New York Police Are More Likely To Have Guns Or Drugs Than Minorities.

White New Yorkers make up a small minority of stop-and-frisks, which were 84 percent black and Latino residents. Despite this much higher number of minorities deemed suspicious by police, the likelihood that stopping an African American would find a weapon was half the likelihood of finding one on a white person.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...an-minorities/

 

[Kahaih]

The published statistics paint a radically different picture from one that you espouse to be correct...I should not need to repeat my post, for the facts speak clearly:


http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...an-minorities/

No. The 'facts' do not speak clearly in your link/quotes.

The article does not address the types or legality of the 'weapons' found – permits to own, carry, conceal, and/or legally purchased or 'hot'/stolen?

Nor does the article address the types of drugs found, or the quantity of drugs found – intent to sell – felony – misdemeanour – simply not worth the paperwork?

The article/information is too vague to be of any value. She doesn't even mention time of day/night, or location. I'm left wondering if it is purposely misleading.

 

[frankfrank]

(referring to my own Post #39) Actually, "outstanding" ALSO means something else, entirely unrelated to quality or desirability - such as "accounts receivable" that are still outstanding.

OK, back to topic...

 

[xbuzzerx]

I think you all are missing the point. The research shows that the bias exists at the subconscious level. One can consciously tell oneself to not be bigoted all one wants. One has no control over one's subconscious.

You imply that subconscious kneejerk reactions or prejudgments are not entirely the result of trained and conditioned responses generated by one's peers, upbringing, culture and media.

If you could demonstrate subconscious, racially universal reactions of apprehension to black men, you wouldn't demonstrate that being afraid or suspicious of black men is simply natural. You would only demonstrate that we've all been raised and taught that they are more dangerous somehow. And in the case of those of us who are Americans, we mostly certainly have lived all our lives steeped in that message to the point where it very easily becomes a subconsciously conditioned response.

 

[kallipolis]

No. The 'facts' do not speak clearly in your link/quotes.

The article does not address the types or legality of the 'weapons' found – permits to own, carry, conceal, and/or legally purchased or 'hot'/stolen?

Nor does the article address the types of drugs found, or the quantity of drugs found – intent to sell – felony – misdemeanour – simply not worth the paperwork?

The article/information is too vague to be of any value. She doesn't even mention time of day/night, or location. I'm left wondering if it is purposely misleading.

That you say so....duly noted...

 

[Benvolio]

You imply that subconscious kneejerk reactions or prejudgments are not entirely the result of trained and conditioned responses generated by one's peers, upbringing, culture and media.

If you could demonstrate subconscious, racially universal reactions of apprehension to black men, you wouldn't demonstrate that being afraid or suspicious of black men is simply natural. You would only demonstrate that we've all been raised and taught that they are more dangerous somehow. And in the case of those of us who are Americans, we mostly certainly have lived all our lives steeped in that message to the point where it very easily becomes a subconsciously conditioned response.

It is more likely the reactions of the police are conditioned by their experience in dealing with criminals on a daily basis.

 

[-Kane-]

The simple fact of the matter is; white homosexuals are just as likely to discriminate against Black, Latin and Asian people as their heterosexual counterparts.

 

[The Fly]

The purpose of the stop and frisk ( discussed in the think progress account) is to deter the carrying of guns and contraband. It appears to work better among blacks and Hispanics. And the police are more accurate in judging suspicious behavior among whites. Neither consideration suggests a need to change.

Really? Why is that? Are you saying "blacks and Hispanics" are more sneaky, therefore harder to judge?

 

[luckynumbah7]

It is more likely the reactions of the police are conditioned by their experience in dealing with criminals on a daily basis.

Henceforth, all and sundry may now quote you as saying "Racism is Black People's Fault." Not that we couldn't have done it earlier as you repeat the sentiment so often, but this is the most condensed sentence of it from you I've ever seen.

 

[Benvolio]

Henceforth, all and sundry may now quote you as saying "Racism is Black People's Fault." Not that we couldn't have done it earlier as you repeat the sentiment so often, but this is the most condensed sentence of it from you I've ever seen.

Yours is an example of this logical fallacy, from Wikipedia: "Begging the question means assuming the conclusion of an argument—a type of circular reasoning. This is an informal fallacy where someone includes the conclusion they are attempting to prove in the initial premise of their argument—often in an indirect way that conceals it.[1]"
The question is whether police are motivated by racism, but you assume that as a premise.
My point is that a third of black males spend time in the pen, and half the violent crimes are committed by blacks nationally, and of course, higher in some cities. The ones who do not, seldom come into contact with the police. So, day in, day out, many police deal with the percentage of blacks who commit crimes. And it is THAT experience, I was suggesting, which conditions the police, black and white, to react as they do, rather than any societal "stereotype".

 

[paulmodibe]

Bigotry goes far beyond "intolerance of those holding different opinions. Bigotry is opinion not based on any facts or truth, just raw emotion, hearsay, and in rooted in a debilitating sense of inferiority.