4 ms·
A better rule of thumb is how much sympathy can be garnered from a prisoner's class, race, and general appearance. Take your average white American, for exampl
by softcore_yawn 6y ago
A better rule of thumb is how much sympathy can be garnered from a prisoner's class, race, and general appearance.
Take your average white American, for example, and how they regard people in prison.
Upper-middle class, white, looks a bit like them? "What a crying shame, all that wasted potential!" they'll say adoringly, ignoring the fact he killed two kids.
Poverty class, black, looks a bit scary to your average racist white? "That thug got what it deserved, glad it's locked up!" they'll snarl instead, about some guy banged up for the rest of his life for selling a few bags of weed.
- sebmellen 6y agoTwo things: 1. There are a number of accounts created in the last 30 minutes commenting on this thread, including yours. Did you just happen across HN? If so, welcome! 2. If you read my other comments, you'll see I'm very much in favour of reforming non-violent drug law sentencing. I'm even in favour of clemency for the vast majority of non-violent offenders. I also think you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone in this thread who thinks in the way your strawman/caricature does. The whole point is that draconian prison sentences are a shame and do little do address the core problem (whether it's drug abuse or violent crime). I also think using phrases like "your average racist white" is unnecessarily provocative, and the phrase itself is inaccurate.