4 ms·

LOL your argument against black people being targeted for arrests is percent of arrests as proof of black people "committing more crimes"? Holy shit it's like a

LOL your argument against black people being targeted for arrests is percent of arrests as proof of black people "committing more crimes"? Holy shit it's like an Onion article came to comment.

blisterpeanuts 13y ago
The reality is that for some types of crimes, African Americans, especially 18-39 year-old-males, are over represented. For example, roughly half the 32,000 gun homicides annually are committed by black males (see bjs.gov for the numbers). (Most of their victims are also black.) Most white gun deaths are from suicides. Latinos are also high up on this unfortunate list. These numbers aren't made-up or based on biased arrest patterns; they're pretty much reality, sad but true.
- ThomPete 13y ago
  No but there are reasons why these numbers are high for them and they are as much to do with how society treats them and what their prospects with regards to making it are.
  - blisterpeanuts 13y ago
    Can you expand on your point a little? Does any other group behave this way because of "how society treats them"?
    - ThomPete 13y ago
      No because society doesn't treat them that way.
      - CreakyParrot 13y ago
        So there's only one group of people society treats badly? What about other demographic sets of people with higher-than-average crime rates?
    - datphp 13y ago
      I'm white, from Switzerland. The only time I experienced racism was taking a vacation in Spain, in a place where there are a lot of french tourists. They get a lot of hate, and me speaking french got me treated like one of them. I'm a very laid back, cool guy, and I'm usually the last one to get angry. But being at a restaurant and being made fun of randomly by the waiter, and then wondering if someone spat in my food, and having this impression that everyone hated me for now reason... It was a terrible feeling. But I knew the only reason they were like that was because of a misunderstanding. All I had to do was mentioning I was Swiss or speak Spanish and it would stop instantly. Now if I had been french, and I had no way to defuse the situation, I can imagine how frustrating it would have been. Then I can see how things being like that your whole life must feel, specially when its something that stands out as much as your skin color. I've been extremely frustrated on rare occasions in my life, and I've done things I would never thought I would. Karma is a thing. If people give you shit without a good reason, you'll do the exact same, probably to someone else, just to balance things.
  - bullseye 13y ago
    How is this argument any different than the absurd Affluenza argument that gained popularity this week? Successful/great people rise above all kinds of adversity and come from all sorts of backgrounds. Criminals likewise span every demographic in the U.S. The "poor" in our country live an order of magnitude better than many in the world and some of our most affluent groups have some of the highest suicide rates. I don't even know what my point was anymore... I just get so tired of hearing everyone blame everyone else except themselves for the directions of their lives.
    - Guvante 13y ago
      > Successful/great people rise above all kinds of adversity and come from all sorts of backgrounds. Bullshit, almost every rags to riches story has a "And I got lucky and _____" it isn't someone overcoming adversity, it is luck that got their talent noticed. I am not saying those who face hardship don't have talent, just saying it rarely gets noticed due to biases. > Criminals likewise span every demographic in the U.S. The poor are extremely more likely to commit crimes. You have to exclude economic factors or you cannot compare anything about crime, it is that large of an impact. Heck the "black problem" you list is 90% due to being poor much more often than other groups. > The "poor" in our country live an order of magnitude better than many in the world Pointless argument. Let me turn it around on you. The poor don't have to worry about starving to death nearly as much as elsewhere, but because of this they have a ton of spare time. How many things can you do that are illegal and are entertaining + cheap? I bet you can make a long list. This could just as easily be used to explain why being poor is a bigger problem in the US when using the level of logic this thread is using. > I just get so tired of hearing everyone blame everyone else except themselves for the directions of their lives. Are we talking about one singular person? Take the OP, he never claims he shouldn't have been treated as a criminal, his only complaints are that he should have been able to see his family, and he shouldn't have gotten 3 years parole for a non-violent offense. Are we talking about a group, like poor blacks? You can't blame individual things like this for an entire population, it doesn't make sense. We aren't saying Johnny didn't go to college because he is poor, we are saying the poor on average go to college this much less, which for these reasons is because they are poor.

LOL your argument against black people being targeted for arrests is percent of arrests as proof of black people "committing more crimes"? Holy shit it's like an Onion article came to comment.

blisterpeanuts 13y ago

The reality is that for some types of crimes, African Americans, especially 18-39 year-old-males, are over represented. For example, roughly half the 32,000 gun homicides annually are committed by black males (see bjs.gov for the numbers). (Most of their victims are also black.) Most white gun deaths are from suicides. Latinos are also high up on this unfortunate list. These numbers aren't made-up or based on biased arrest patterns; they're pretty much reality, sad but true.

ThomPete 13y ago
No but there are reasons why these numbers are high for them and they are as much to do with how society treats them and what their prospects with regards to making it are.
- blisterpeanuts 13y ago
  Can you expand on your point a little? Does any other group behave this way because of "how society treats them"?
  - ThomPete 13y ago
    No because society doesn't treat them that way.
    - CreakyParrot 13y ago
      So there's only one group of people society treats badly? What about other demographic sets of people with higher-than-average crime rates?
  - datphp 13y ago
    I'm white, from Switzerland. The only time I experienced racism was taking a vacation in Spain, in a place where there are a lot of french tourists. They get a lot of hate, and me speaking french got me treated like one of them. I'm a very laid back, cool guy, and I'm usually the last one to get angry. But being at a restaurant and being made fun of randomly by the waiter, and then wondering if someone spat in my food, and having this impression that everyone hated me for now reason... It was a terrible feeling. But I knew the only reason they were like that was because of a misunderstanding. All I had to do was mentioning I was Swiss or speak Spanish and it would stop instantly. Now if I had been french, and I had no way to defuse the situation, I can imagine how frustrating it would have been. Then I can see how things being like that your whole life must feel, specially when its something that stands out as much as your skin color. I've been extremely frustrated on rare occasions in my life, and I've done things I would never thought I would. Karma is a thing. If people give you shit without a good reason, you'll do the exact same, probably to someone else, just to balance things.
- bullseye 13y ago
  How is this argument any different than the absurd Affluenza argument that gained popularity this week? Successful/great people rise above all kinds of adversity and come from all sorts of backgrounds. Criminals likewise span every demographic in the U.S. The "poor" in our country live an order of magnitude better than many in the world and some of our most affluent groups have some of the highest suicide rates. I don't even know what my point was anymore... I just get so tired of hearing everyone blame everyone else except themselves for the directions of their lives.
  - Guvante 13y ago
    > Successful/great people rise above all kinds of adversity and come from all sorts of backgrounds. Bullshit, almost every rags to riches story has a "And I got lucky and _____" it isn't someone overcoming adversity, it is luck that got their talent noticed. I am not saying those who face hardship don't have talent, just saying it rarely gets noticed due to biases. > Criminals likewise span every demographic in the U.S. The poor are extremely more likely to commit crimes. You have to exclude economic factors or you cannot compare anything about crime, it is that large of an impact. Heck the "black problem" you list is 90% due to being poor much more often than other groups. > The "poor" in our country live an order of magnitude better than many in the world Pointless argument. Let me turn it around on you. The poor don't have to worry about starving to death nearly as much as elsewhere, but because of this they have a ton of spare time. How many things can you do that are illegal and are entertaining + cheap? I bet you can make a long list. This could just as easily be used to explain why being poor is a bigger problem in the US when using the level of logic this thread is using. > I just get so tired of hearing everyone blame everyone else except themselves for the directions of their lives. Are we talking about one singular person? Take the OP, he never claims he shouldn't have been treated as a criminal, his only complaints are that he should have been able to see his family, and he shouldn't have gotten 3 years parole for a non-violent offense. Are we talking about a group, like poor blacks? You can't blame individual things like this for an entire population, it doesn't make sense. We aren't saying Johnny didn't go to college because he is poor, we are saying the poor on average go to college this much less, which for these reasons is because they are poor.