3 ms·
> Facts taken out of context can obviously be racist. A fact is a statement about reality. It can induce racism, but cannot be racist in itself. Facts are scie
by Udik 6y ago
> Facts taken out of context can obviously be racist.
A fact is a statement about reality. It can induce racism, but cannot be racist in itself. Facts are scientific, and science is not political.
> More crime than who?
Of non-Aboriginal people.
> Or, More crime than all other groups with the same economic opportunities?
Maybe or maybe not. That is beside the point. If you compare incarceration rates of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people you have already decided that that is the division of the population you want to reason about. You cannot argue that the reason group A has higher incarceration rates of group B is because of racism, and when someone else proposes crime rates as an explanation, suddenly you switch to different population subdivisions: by economic opportunities, by health issues, etc.
The question about incarceration is: are Aboriginals more likely to be incarcerated for the same crimes than non-Aboriginals?
- underwater 6y agoStatistics can absolutely be both racist and inaccurate, because you can choose which numbers to highlight, or how to slice and dice your data. Simpson's Paradox is a perfect example of how you can bucket data to show a trend that is the opposite of reality.
- Udik 6y agoA statistic is a calculation. Are you saying that the result of a calculation can be racist? It can be produced with a racist intent, or it can be interpreted as such. You can talk of the result of the calculation in a racist way, or derive racist conclusions from it. But per se, it cannot be racist. And you cannot decide to ignore the result of a calculation because you don't agree with the discussion or the questions it generates. EDIT (rate limited): as for your other answer "By saying "Aboriginal people just commit more crime" you are declaring that race is a relevant factor..." you are confusing correlation with causation. Or you are assuming that I might be confusing them.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- doctor_eval 6y agoSo, are you saying that the expression "Aboriginal people just commit more crimes than non-Aboriginal people" is not racist? Really?
- Udik 6y agoIt's a statement about reality. It can be true or false. Racist/ not-racist is not a category of reality, it's an attribute of human intentions and actions.