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Maybe, maybe because pointing out such a thing is evidence of a bigger problem (systemic discrimination & racial bias) that has been demonstrated to not be only

Maybe, maybe because pointing out such a thing is evidence of a bigger problem (systemic discrimination & racial bias) that has been demonstrated to not be only exclusive to the realm of human investigators, but also in a lot of facial recognition software (that both trains on a disproportionate amount of black faces and is poorly able to differentiate between distinct black faces).

blueflow 5y ago
From what i know about the US, racism is one of your lesser issues. Its just very, very loudly overemphasized because it distracts from the failings of your social, healthcare and governmental system. The poor people suffer the most from this, and take a guess who is disproportionately poor.
- stronglikedan 5y ago
  I live in the US, and your comment has accurately and succinctly summed up the situation. It's good to know that at least some outsiders have the correct perception. Like, seriously good to know. Thanks.
- Niglodonicus 5y ago
  It's one of the larger issues that could reasonably be amended. The more fundamental issues regarding capitalist corruption, ineffective government, and unsustainable growth, while much bigger, are an effectively unsolvable side effect of our society's affliction, and furthermore apply to the entire planet.
  - blueflow 5y ago
    > furthermore apply to the entire planet This attitude is why the world doesn't like the US. You are not the center of the world, many countries fare much better than you do.
    - Niglodonicus 5y ago
      Show me a country where democracy properly, comprehensively works to constrain the cancerous appetite of capitalists. Yes, some European countries, or Japan, or some other outliers do it much better, but not well enough for their capitalism to be fundamentally different from that of the US. Furthermore, on a global scale, the trends of increased energy demand, increased population growth, increased carbon emissions, increased ecosystem degradation, to name just a few of the main actors, are overwhelmingly positive, and hence these are global issues that affect the sustainability of the entire global society. It doesn't matter if Luxembourg or Sweden develops a socdem utilitarian net-zero utopia, they are just a blip on the radar. All of the third-world countries that the first world exploited over the past centuries in order to fuel their own growth & industrialism, are now all fervently contributing to the above trends, to the extent that all of the first world's recent attempts to dial back their consumption, emissions & so on are laughably futile. The only possible way to change these trajectories would be for the majority of capitalists across the world to all drastically alter their priorities and how they operate, but this is absolutely not plausible, given that no corporation has ever not sought to increase its profit and growth every quarter; if they somehow hypothetically did, the system would come tumbling down and simply cause collapse even sooner.
      - blueflow 5y ago
        Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway are actually doing pretty great. They all have a good standard of living, healthcare, not much crime, and the state helps you with social services if you mess up. This is quite different from the late-stage capitalism that is currently going on in the US...
jjk166 5y ago
It isn't evidence, at best it's conjecture, and in this instance a dumb conjecture. This isn't a case of a facial recognition software failing to distinguish two black faces or people going after a black man disproportionately, this is a case of a repeated shoplifter giving a fake name, and the person whose name was given being arrested. There are real cases of systemic discrimination and racial bias having terrible effects on peoples lives; crying wolf makes it harder to get people to recognize and address the actual problems.
- Niglodonicus 5y ago
  You really think the way this case was handled (referring to the wrong person being arrested, repeatedly) doesn't have anything to do with racial bias? This is an absolutely classic example.
  - jjk166 5y ago
    They didn't go out to find a random black man to harass because they "fit the description", they went out of their way to find and arrest the specific person who was indicated to have been involved with the crime. Also this person was not arrested repeatedly. He was arrested once and then had the charges dropped when it was clear he wasn't the right person, and then received a mailed notice of a warrant for his arrest from a different county two weeks later for a separate offense (both instances of shoplifting falsely attributed to him). In a third precinct, after a third incident, a different person with the same name was summoned, and also quickly identified as not being the right person. This is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. It is a problem that can have serious consequences, but it is not related to racial bias.

blueflow 5y ago

From what i know about the US, racism is one of your lesser issues. Its just very, very loudly overemphasized because it distracts from the failings of your social, healthcare and governmental system. The poor people suffer the most from this, and take a guess who is disproportionately poor.

stronglikedan 5y ago
I live in the US, and your comment has accurately and succinctly summed up the situation. It's good to know that at least some outsiders have the correct perception. Like, seriously good to know. Thanks.
Niglodonicus 5y ago
It's one of the larger issues that could reasonably be amended. The more fundamental issues regarding capitalist corruption, ineffective government, and unsustainable growth, while much bigger, are an effectively unsolvable side effect of our society's affliction, and furthermore apply to the entire planet.
- blueflow 5y ago
  > furthermore apply to the entire planet This attitude is why the world doesn't like the US. You are not the center of the world, many countries fare much better than you do.
  - Niglodonicus 5y ago
    Show me a country where democracy properly, comprehensively works to constrain the cancerous appetite of capitalists. Yes, some European countries, or Japan, or some other outliers do it much better, but not well enough for their capitalism to be fundamentally different from that of the US. Furthermore, on a global scale, the trends of increased energy demand, increased population growth, increased carbon emissions, increased ecosystem degradation, to name just a few of the main actors, are overwhelmingly positive, and hence these are global issues that affect the sustainability of the entire global society. It doesn't matter if Luxembourg or Sweden develops a socdem utilitarian net-zero utopia, they are just a blip on the radar. All of the third-world countries that the first world exploited over the past centuries in order to fuel their own growth & industrialism, are now all fervently contributing to the above trends, to the extent that all of the first world's recent attempts to dial back their consumption, emissions & so on are laughably futile. The only possible way to change these trajectories would be for the majority of capitalists across the world to all drastically alter their priorities and how they operate, but this is absolutely not plausible, given that no corporation has ever not sought to increase its profit and growth every quarter; if they somehow hypothetically did, the system would come tumbling down and simply cause collapse even sooner.
    - blueflow 5y ago
      Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway are actually doing pretty great. They all have a good standard of living, healthcare, not much crime, and the state helps you with social services if you mess up. This is quite different from the late-stage capitalism that is currently going on in the US...

jjk166 5y ago

It isn't evidence, at best it's conjecture, and in this instance a dumb conjecture. This isn't a case of a facial recognition software failing to distinguish two black faces or people going after a black man disproportionately, this is a case of a repeated shoplifter giving a fake name, and the person whose name was given being arrested. There are real cases of systemic discrimination and racial bias having terrible effects on peoples lives; crying wolf makes it harder to get people to recognize and address the actual problems.

Niglodonicus 5y ago
You really think the way this case was handled (referring to the wrong person being arrested, repeatedly) doesn't have anything to do with racial bias? This is an absolutely classic example.
- jjk166 5y ago
  They didn't go out to find a random black man to harass because they "fit the description", they went out of their way to find and arrest the specific person who was indicated to have been involved with the crime. Also this person was not arrested repeatedly. He was arrested once and then had the charges dropped when it was clear he wasn't the right person, and then received a mailed notice of a warrant for his arrest from a different county two weeks later for a separate offense (both instances of shoplifting falsely attributed to him). In a third precinct, after a third incident, a different person with the same name was summoned, and also quickly identified as not being the right person. This is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. It is a problem that can have serious consequences, but it is not related to racial bias.