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It seems publishers have figured out that injecting identity/race into every single topic gets views these days. What is the benefit of analyzing increasing ped

It seems publishers have figured out that injecting identity/race into every single topic gets views these days. What is the benefit of analyzing increasing pedestrian deaths by race here?

Avicebron 6y ago
It must be a way to generate clicks at this point. There isn't any benefit
xphilter 6y ago
What’s the point of leaving it out if it’s evident after seeing the data?
- brighton36 6y ago
  "There are no facts, only interpretations". It could just as easily be the case that people with black hair are more affected than people with white hair, if that was the taxonomy we applied to the dataset.
devb 6y ago
It raises questions of systemic injustice. If there is a demographic discrepancy, it is worth asking why.
- noofen 6y ago
  > If there is a demographic discrepancy, it is worth asking why. The answer is minorities are notorious bad drivers. The Indians across the street from me do not know they can turn the wheel while in reverse. Every day, for the past year, I see them making 3-4 point turns to get in and out of the drive way. > It raises questions of systemic injustice. Of course it does. Ignore the true cause, and find someone in the "system" to blame. As long as they're white enough.
- ryandvm 6y ago
  Ugh. At least in the US, we already know why. Due to a pretty dark and nasty history of race-based subjugation; race and inequality were tightly intertwined in this country and we're still untangling it to this day. So... since finance is an integral component of pretty much every social interaction, economic inequality rears it's head everywhere. Correlation seems like causation and all that, which means that if every single issue is looked at through the lens of "is this racist?" the result is always "uh oh, maybe it is." I dunno. Seems to me that constantly re-casting economic inequality issues as racial inequality issues is going go to make race relations worse rather than better...
MereInterest 6y ago
Because socioeconomic status is correlated to race due to a long history of racism. That socioeconomic status impacts where people live, street designs in those areas, parking availability, whether people drive, walk, or take public transport, etc. All of these impact how often somebody is on the squishy human side of a human vs car collision. You can't improve a problem without first measuring its impact.
- hcurtiss 6y ago
  But is killing people of any particular race somehow more or less of an issue relative to killing people of another race? That would be a pretty provocative position. One might even say racist.
  - MereInterest 6y ago
    Wow, I wasn't expecting to run into the "All Lives Matter" rhetoric here, but I suppose I'll take the bait. Imagine you have two shifts of workers, making the same product. One shift consistently produces more output than the other. That on its own is an observation that needs more investigation in order to figure out why. Perhaps the faster shift came up with a better method, and that method should be taught to everybody. Perhaps the faster shift is skipping a step, and needs to be retrained. The first step is figuring out why there is a difference. In the case of pedestrian fatalities, there is clearly a difference by race. The next questions are why that difference exists, what can be learned from it, and what needs to be changed. Perhaps it is a difference by location, and sidewalks need to be set back further from the road. Perhaps it is increased miles by walking, and the solution is to have wider public transportation that doesn't need as much walking at the endpoints. No matter what the fundamental cause is, the existence of a measurable difference in fatality rates means that we can look for deeper causes to see why those differences exist, and what can be improved. There's no racism in identifying a difference in death rates. There would absolutely be racism to ignore and allow such a difference to continue.
    - hcurtiss 6y ago
      Sorry, but I don't understand how any of the factors you identify have any association with race. People living in those conditions may be more or less vulnerable, no matter their race. As between equivalent fatality rates, prioritizing a particular race is, of course, definitionally racist. I agree with the parent comment that focusing on race here serves no purpose other than to make a relative statement about the prioritization of races.
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
There’s a particular political subculture dominant at most media outlets, where “by the way this is about race” is just something you’re expected to say from time to time. It’s seen as disrespectful to analyze an issue without thinking about race. Largely I think you can just read past it; you’ll note that most commenters outside this thread aren’t really mentioning race, despite how you or I would react if we encountered a racist policy.
antattack 6y ago
It could be that places where minorities live have less sidewalks, less street lighting, faster posted speed limits, less traffic enforcement, and their economic status require them to walk more.
- NDizzle 6y ago
  Sounds to me like you just described my rural area!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
mc32 6y ago
Wait till they look at vehicle pedestrian statistics from less developed countries and have them figure out a way to blame someone else.

It seems publishers have figured out that injecting identity/race into every single topic gets views these days. What is the benefit of analyzing increasing pedestrian deaths by race here?

Avicebron 6y ago

It must be a way to generate clicks at this point. There isn't any benefit

xphilter 6y ago

What’s the point of leaving it out if it’s evident after seeing the data?

brighton36 6y ago
"There are no facts, only interpretations". It could just as easily be the case that people with black hair are more affected than people with white hair, if that was the taxonomy we applied to the dataset.

devb 6y ago

It raises questions of systemic injustice. If there is a demographic discrepancy, it is worth asking why.

noofen 6y ago
> If there is a demographic discrepancy, it is worth asking why. The answer is minorities are notorious bad drivers. The Indians across the street from me do not know they can turn the wheel while in reverse. Every day, for the past year, I see them making 3-4 point turns to get in and out of the drive way. > It raises questions of systemic injustice. Of course it does. Ignore the true cause, and find someone in the "system" to blame. As long as they're white enough.
ryandvm 6y ago
Ugh. At least in the US, we already know why. Due to a pretty dark and nasty history of race-based subjugation; race and inequality were tightly intertwined in this country and we're still untangling it to this day. So... since finance is an integral component of pretty much every social interaction, economic inequality rears it's head everywhere. Correlation seems like causation and all that, which means that if every single issue is looked at through the lens of "is this racist?" the result is always "uh oh, maybe it is." I dunno. Seems to me that constantly re-casting economic inequality issues as racial inequality issues is going go to make race relations worse rather than better...

MereInterest 6y ago

Because socioeconomic status is correlated to race due to a long history of racism. That socioeconomic status impacts where people live, street designs in those areas, parking availability, whether people drive, walk, or take public transport, etc. All of these impact how often somebody is on the squishy human side of a human vs car collision. You can't improve a problem without first measuring its impact.

hcurtiss 6y ago
But is killing people of any particular race somehow more or less of an issue relative to killing people of another race? That would be a pretty provocative position. One might even say racist.
- MereInterest 6y ago
  Wow, I wasn't expecting to run into the "All Lives Matter" rhetoric here, but I suppose I'll take the bait. Imagine you have two shifts of workers, making the same product. One shift consistently produces more output than the other. That on its own is an observation that needs more investigation in order to figure out why. Perhaps the faster shift came up with a better method, and that method should be taught to everybody. Perhaps the faster shift is skipping a step, and needs to be retrained. The first step is figuring out why there is a difference. In the case of pedestrian fatalities, there is clearly a difference by race. The next questions are why that difference exists, what can be learned from it, and what needs to be changed. Perhaps it is a difference by location, and sidewalks need to be set back further from the road. Perhaps it is increased miles by walking, and the solution is to have wider public transportation that doesn't need as much walking at the endpoints. No matter what the fundamental cause is, the existence of a measurable difference in fatality rates means that we can look for deeper causes to see why those differences exist, and what can be improved. There's no racism in identifying a difference in death rates. There would absolutely be racism to ignore and allow such a difference to continue.
  - hcurtiss 6y ago
    Sorry, but I don't understand how any of the factors you identify have any association with race. People living in those conditions may be more or less vulnerable, no matter their race. As between equivalent fatality rates, prioritizing a particular race is, of course, definitionally racist. I agree with the parent comment that focusing on race here serves no purpose other than to make a relative statement about the prioritization of races.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

There’s a particular political subculture dominant at most media outlets, where “by the way this is about race” is just something you’re expected to say from time to time. It’s seen as disrespectful to analyze an issue without thinking about race. Largely I think you can just read past it; you’ll note that most commenters outside this thread aren’t really mentioning race, despite how you or I would react if we encountered a racist policy.

antattack 6y ago

It could be that places where minorities live have less sidewalks, less street lighting, faster posted speed limits, less traffic enforcement, and their economic status require them to walk more.

NDizzle 6y ago
Sounds to me like you just described my rural area!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

mc32 6y ago

Wait till they look at vehicle pedestrian statistics from less developed countries and have them figure out a way to blame someone else.