| > This is literally true though. It's true that black Americans are overrepresented among violent criminals, but it's not true that the reason this isn't widely reported (at least without any other context) isn't because "media figures are simply too afraid to acknowledge it" - that was a tongue-in-cheek characterization meant to illuminate the baseless conspiratorial orientation frequently demonstrated by those who consider themselves 'victimized' by political correctness (in other words, those who might consider themselves oppressed when pressured to respect the rights of oppressed minority groups). "You can't handle the truth" is literally a super-popular meme. The reason media figures aren't going around proclaiming that black Americans are disproportionately likely to be violent criminals is, for one, because that would be irresponsible reporting. While that simple statistic is music to the ears of simple-minded racists everywhere, you're not likely to hear them stating other, equally-relevant statistics such as black Americans are disproportionately likely to be poor, unemployed, high-school dropouts, subject to housing instability and poor nutrition, and so forth - all factors that correlate highly with future criminal activity. They're not committing crimes because they're black, they're committing crimes because they're in situations that produce criminals (and they're statistically more likely to be in those situations than other major American racial groups). Academics and (old-fashioned) reporters are accustomed to thinking and communicating in nuance. The average internet racist probably is not, so it's a good thing that media figures aren't adding fuel to their fire by regularly spouting context-free data likely to create confusion and animosity. > You are so dishonest, differences in crime rates are based on victim studies, not arrests and prosecutions, to account for specifically the issue you cite. Most of the stats about black violent crime... Do you actually think I'm making this up? I ask because it seems indecent enough to boldly claim that a random human you're interacting with is lying to your (virtual) face, but it seems even more egregious when you don't have your own facts straight. First of all, you're not being thorough at all - what do you mean by "differences in crime rates?" Which crime rates? According to who? Secondly, while victimization surveys are one source of information regarding criminal activity, "Uniform Crime Reports represent the primary source of data used in the calculation of official statistics regarding serious crimes such as murder and homicide" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_S...). Victimization survey data is used for generating statistics regarding lesser crimes. UCR statistics are periodically collected from state and local law enforcement agencies and compiled by the FBI. Aside from the slanderous implications, none of that really matters - I wasn't directly calling into question to veracity of our crime statistics, i.e. claiming that the numbers are wrong, I was implying that the numbers themselves present a muddled picture that presents few obvious conclusions for researchers. > ...come from reports by THEIR BLACK VICTIMS What's the name of this rhetorical device? The one where you seemingly feign concern for someone while apparently arguing against that persons interests? This is another one of those statistics that racists and the generally-uninformed frequently riff on without realizing that it's actually irrelevant. It's not beneficial to black Americans, victims of crime included, to repeat irrelevant claims that reinforce historically-held racist stereotypes and do nothing to enhance their security. The fact is that most violent crime occurs on an intraracial basis, so most violent crime is white-on-white, black-on-black, or Hispanic-on-Hispanic. Have you ever heard anyone talk about white-on-white crime or Hispanic-on-Hispanic crime? No, well that might be because the American people didn't spend the past few centuries socially-conditioning themselves to the concept that white or Hispanic Americans are uniquely predisposed to criminal activity (or generally inferior, for that matter). |