4 ms·

Ermmm... why? Would you be "slightly concerned" if Matt Jones brought that to school? Or Alice Jackson?

watty 11y ago
Because he's profiling, it's a survival instinct. He sees on the news daily about Muslims using bombs and blowing things up and he's associating it with this kid. He believes statistically that Ahmed is more likely to be carrying a bomb than Alice. Is this true? I don't know, maybe it is? It's the same reason I am cautious when I walk alone downtown at night and a stranger approaches me. I act differently because I know statistically that they're more likely to be dangerous compared to at 2:00 PM... well, again... I assume so. The hard part is trying to ignore statistics and the media on things like skin color and religion. It doesn't matter if x color or y religion is more dangerous, you need to ignore it. Thinking differently or acting differently because of these statistics is frowned upon. In this case, it's silly. Of course it's not a bomb, of course the kid isn't dangerous.
- vidarh 11y ago
  > The hard part is trying to ignore statistics and the media on things like skin color and religion. If people paid attention to statistics, this wouldn't be an issue: Terror is so exceedingly unlikely to kill you that it's a rounding errro. In the US you're more likely to get killed by lightning. Part of the problem is that the risk has been blown out of all proportion.
- jimktrains2 11y ago
  > He sees on the news daily about Muslims using bombs and blowing things up Did this happen with the Irish in the US during the Troubles? Same reasons Italians and Germans weren't interned to the same extent the Japanese were during the 2nd World War: They can't be told apart from "proper" folk as easily. You can pick out most Arabs, but it's much harder to pick out most Irish. Still a travesty. We need to move beyond hatred, especially of people we've never met.
- ossreality 11y ago
  In this case, we know to read "my made up bias and stereotypes" for everywhere you wrote "statistically". I mean, you even fucking admitted it.

watty 11y ago

Because he's profiling, it's a survival instinct. He sees on the news daily about Muslims using bombs and blowing things up and he's associating it with this kid. He believes statistically that Ahmed is more likely to be carrying a bomb than Alice. Is this true? I don't know, maybe it is? It's the same reason I am cautious when I walk alone downtown at night and a stranger approaches me. I act differently because I know statistically that they're more likely to be dangerous compared to at 2:00 PM... well, again... I assume so. The hard part is trying to ignore statistics and the media on things like skin color and religion. It doesn't matter if x color or y religion is more dangerous, you need to ignore it. Thinking differently or acting differently because of these statistics is frowned upon. In this case, it's silly. Of course it's not a bomb, of course the kid isn't dangerous.

vidarh 11y ago
> The hard part is trying to ignore statistics and the media on things like skin color and religion. If people paid attention to statistics, this wouldn't be an issue: Terror is so exceedingly unlikely to kill you that it's a rounding errro. In the US you're more likely to get killed by lightning. Part of the problem is that the risk has been blown out of all proportion.
jimktrains2 11y ago
> He sees on the news daily about Muslims using bombs and blowing things up Did this happen with the Irish in the US during the Troubles? Same reasons Italians and Germans weren't interned to the same extent the Japanese were during the 2nd World War: They can't be told apart from "proper" folk as easily. You can pick out most Arabs, but it's much harder to pick out most Irish. Still a travesty. We need to move beyond hatred, especially of people we've never met.
ossreality 11y ago
In this case, we know to read "my made up bias and stereotypes" for everywhere you wrote "statistically". I mean, you even fucking admitted it.