Liberals Silent on Police Profiling of Mafia Members, Serial Killers, and White Collar Criminals
A New York Times editorial this week recommends not singling out subway passengers for bag searches recently implemented by the NYPD:
"The police officers must be careful not to give the impression that every rider who looks Arab or South Asian is automatically a subject of suspicion. They will naturally choose to search the bags of those people who appear suspicious, like those wearing bulky clothes in warm weather. But those who are selected simply because they are carrying packages should be chosen in a way that does not raise fears of racial profiling - by, for example, searching every 5th or 12th person, with the exact sequence chosen at random."
Conservatives would be ready to buy into this type of "concern" if it weren't so selectively applied and agenda driven. For fun, let's imagine these Opinion essays showing up in the NYT:
For more information on the effectiveness of randomness, click here.
"The police officers must be careful not to give the impression that every rider who looks Arab or South Asian is automatically a subject of suspicion. They will naturally choose to search the bags of those people who appear suspicious, like those wearing bulky clothes in warm weather. But those who are selected simply because they are carrying packages should be chosen in a way that does not raise fears of racial profiling - by, for example, searching every 5th or 12th person, with the exact sequence chosen at random."
Conservatives would be ready to buy into this type of "concern" if it weren't so selectively applied and agenda driven. For fun, let's imagine these Opinion essays showing up in the NYT:
- Although more than 90% of serial killers are Caucasian men, the FBI must not single out white men aged 25-45 as suspects. It's believed the Bureau has a "serial killer profile" agents have used for more than 20 years to track down and capture these killers.
- Civil libertarians are concerned about the disproportionate numbers of Italian-American men questioned in connection with Gambino crime family operations over the past 30 years.
- Democrats are alarmed by the disproportionate numbers of white male stock market analysts questioned in connection with insider trading scandals.
For more information on the effectiveness of randomness, click here.
posted by BohemianLikeYOU at 7/28/2005 09:49:00 PM
9 Comments:
This comment placed here for the same purpose that a bartender puts a couple of his own dollars in the tip jar at the beginning of his shift. Comments beget comments.
The last time I flew (out of South Dakota) one of my sisters had given me a pair of those comfortable butt-ugly mother earth type clogs. I was asked to take them off and put them on the belt with my package of Buffalo Jerky and pocket book. The attendant said, "Nice shooth!" I was not amuthed.
Ha ha - don't be offended, just appreciate the random good intentions so no one feels hurt inside! :)
Yay!!
Hey man, just ran across your blog and I love it! It's always good to hear there are more people like yourself out there. Keep it up!
And Republicans are alarmed by the disproportionate numbers of religious conservatives questioned in connection with crimes against women, homosexuals and, well, mankind the past 2000 years.
Right...the numbers killed in the Crusades 700 years ago really dwarf the 100 million killed by Stalin and his Godless successors.
Well, you're right; it’s hard to compare religious zealots to Stalin's Soviet Union (which was, you might agree, a different sort of religion -- a different type of zealotry…).
I don't know the figure of how many humans have died or suffered because of religion -- Christian or otherwise. That would include the Crusades but a WHOLE lot more.
I'm weary of Conservatives when they start saying God is on their side (our side) when it comes to war, especially the current war in Iraq. I think we did the right thing in invading Afghanistan and shutting down the Taliban gov't (talk about religious nutcases!) and eliminating Al Qaeda's "headquarters." The war on terror against Al Qaeda etc. has been diverted because of the war in Iraq. I know that you agree :-)
Anyway, the talk of war and religion (and America) makes me think of this song:
With God on Our Side
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.
Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
Dylan, With God On Our Side, 1963.
How many white collar business men do the police stop and harrass on a daily basis? As a white male myself, I often wonder why I haven't been dragged to the police any time a serial killer is loose in the area? If there really a Gambino Family Crime Syndicate (a conspiracy theory if I've ever heard one), why aren't all the members in jail for all the crimes they alledgedly have committed? Since most of the 'terror suspect' arrests post-9//11 have been Iraeli, why haven't we profiled them? You are entirely missing the point, this is America, our constitution prohibits this sort of thing. So what you are saying is that there is something wrong with the Constitution of the United States and what you really are is a traitor (like Karl Rove, exposing an intelligence operative during a time of war is an open act of treason) and if the terrorists attack us it's because people like you and Karl Rove have made your ideology more important than the country itself. You all are brainwashed (just like them pesky lib'rals) because, like George W Bush, you only listen to those who say what you want to hear. Your knowledge filter will not let the truth into your belief system.
Lew Scannon (great name by the way):)
Thanks for you post.
My post doesn't argue the merits or dangers of profiling.
It said simply that Liberals are silent about it when certain groups of people are targeted by police.
This suggests unequal protection under the law and it damages their credibility.
Cheers!
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