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by overthemoon 2510 days ago
It's bullshit.

https://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/trump-retweets-bogus-crime...

Starting with the most obvious point, the Crime Statistics Bureau of San Francisco doesn't exist.

2 comments

I didn't know this, so I concede, somewhat. But my broader point remains. Availability bias makes the problem seem much much larger than it actually is.
"But don't you understand, it reinforces my worldview and tells me that my irrational fear of minorities isn't just racism."
You can make the argument that there's an irrational fear of police in our society because of availability bias.
but can you back that argument with any credible sources?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010028573...

Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability

edit:

> The reality of the availability bias isn't in question, it's whether or not people's belief about police brutality is accurate

It would be nice to have some objective evidence showing why this example is a special case immune to availability bias.

The reality of the availability bias isn't in question, it's whether or not people's belief about police brutality is accurate and if not, why it isn't. Sure, the AB is real. It MAY be a factor in why people think black people are killed in proportionally higher numbers than people of other races, but what's relevant is whether or not it's actually happening.
That's a straw man. Of course it "happens". the point is that people make it out to be far bigger problem than it actually is.