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Does that logic work for why I cross the street when I see a black person coming my way? Why? I'm hypersensitive; is it more likely I got that way apropos of n

Does that logic work for why I cross the street when I see a black person coming my way? Why? I'm hypersensitive; is it more likely I got that way apropos of nothing, that I just bought into some racist culture that is determined to create claims of issues wholecloth against blacks to rail against, or because I -have- been mugged by a black person enough times that I assume the worst? Would you take an empathetic view to where I'm coming from?

rezonant 6y ago
What if you had been mugged by a white person? Would you then carry the same fears moving forward? I have to assume you are not black, and thus, to you, black is "the other". You are making the assumption that because one person was dangerous, everyone else with that skin tone is dangerous. I'm sorry, but that is textbook racism EDIT: After a second look I realize this is probably what the parent post is trying to get at :-)
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  Yes. I agree it is textbook racism. Now for jumping to the defensive the moment a man asks you a benign question, because you assume he is sexist because of his gender - isn't that sexism?
- vc8f6vVV 6y ago
  It's a bias. Let's assume that all muggers wear red pants (or you have been mugged mostly by people in red pants). So when you see somebody in red pants you cross a street. It's surely not a textbook racism, since no race is involved. Also how do you know that anybody wearing red pants is a mugger? The tragedy of blacks is that they can't change skin color, unlike pants. This bias will exist until crime percentages will at least equalize between blacks and whites (do they?). You can call it a racism if you want but it doesn't change anything. I have worked with many blacks, I had zero problems with any of them, I don't consider them worse than me in any way, but I will cross that street. Sorry. There is a difference between a concrete person and statistics.
icebergonfire 6y ago
> Would you take an empathetic view to where I'm coming from? I personally would be empathic to you. However I would also expect you to recognize the failure in that heuristic, even as you continue to execute it.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
lostcolony 6y ago
A black person, or a black man? A black man, or just any man wearing street clothes? Any man wearing street clothes, or just any man wearing street clothes on an otherwise empty street? Because if you do that in broad daylight, on a well populated street, because a black woman in business clothes appears to be a possible threat, but you don't do it for the white man in street clothes on an empty street at night, then it sounds like maybe you have a pretty racist heuristic. Otherwise, yeah, I'm pretty empathic; race may indeed be an additional input, especially given your history, but if it's just one more heuristic that makes you slightly more likely to cross the street, and you also -recognize- that it's a generalization you're making, and that it's unfair to the individual even though it's based on personal experience...yes, I'm empathic towards where you find yourself. Certainly, as a man, if the input of "a man approaching" on its own caused you to be more likely to cross the street, I don't view it as some sort of misandry, and would not take it personally. (And yes, I know this is an attempt at a rhetorical counter argument, but I'm purposely treating it as a real position to make clear I don't view it as a particularly compelling argument)

rezonant 6y ago

What if you had been mugged by a white person? Would you then carry the same fears moving forward? I have to assume you are not black, and thus, to you, black is "the other". You are making the assumption that because one person was dangerous, everyone else with that skin tone is dangerous. I'm sorry, but that is textbook racism EDIT: After a second look I realize this is probably what the parent post is trying to get at :-)

oh_sigh 6y ago
Yes. I agree it is textbook racism. Now for jumping to the defensive the moment a man asks you a benign question, because you assume he is sexist because of his gender - isn't that sexism?
vc8f6vVV 6y ago
It's a bias. Let's assume that all muggers wear red pants (or you have been mugged mostly by people in red pants). So when you see somebody in red pants you cross a street. It's surely not a textbook racism, since no race is involved. Also how do you know that anybody wearing red pants is a mugger? The tragedy of blacks is that they can't change skin color, unlike pants. This bias will exist until crime percentages will at least equalize between blacks and whites (do they?). You can call it a racism if you want but it doesn't change anything. I have worked with many blacks, I had zero problems with any of them, I don't consider them worse than me in any way, but I will cross that street. Sorry. There is a difference between a concrete person and statistics.

icebergonfire 6y ago

> Would you take an empathetic view to where I'm coming from? I personally would be empathic to you. However I would also expect you to recognize the failure in that heuristic, even as you continue to execute it.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

lostcolony 6y ago

A black person, or a black man? A black man, or just any man wearing street clothes? Any man wearing street clothes, or just any man wearing street clothes on an otherwise empty street? Because if you do that in broad daylight, on a well populated street, because a black woman in business clothes appears to be a possible threat, but you don't do it for the white man in street clothes on an empty street at night, then it sounds like maybe you have a pretty racist heuristic. Otherwise, yeah, I'm pretty empathic; race may indeed be an additional input, especially given your history, but if it's just one more heuristic that makes you slightly more likely to cross the street, and you also -recognize- that it's a generalization you're making, and that it's unfair to the individual even though it's based on personal experience...yes, I'm empathic towards where you find yourself. Certainly, as a man, if the input of "a man approaching" on its own caused you to be more likely to cross the street, I don't view it as some sort of misandry, and would not take it personally. (And yes, I know this is an attempt at a rhetorical counter argument, but I'm purposely treating it as a real position to make clear I don't view it as a particularly compelling argument)