At least 6 dead in Mass Shooting du Jour

[Toni]

Those 'funny' religions I was most thinking of are Islam and Judaism.

Hence my use of "kafir". That's the Islamic term for non-Muslims. My point was that such judgments can go both ways.

Your definition of kafir only partially accurate. Judgments do go both ways. However, in the US, Muslims are a small minority. The force of the culture, society and the law is much more Christian--or atheist oriented. My assumption has been that we are primarily discussing the US, although also Australia and perhaps Europe.

 

[Toni]

In the US there is enough of a racial pattern that you can make a chart like this, but race is just a proxy for the true issue.

And that issue is poverty.
But since it correlates with race due to long term structural economic racism, it makes a great tool with which to claim, without lying, that black people commit disproportionate amounts of homicides, implying a race based proclivity for crime. Then they chant ‘lock em up’ as if that was a solution.

Poor people also commit more crimes. We should lock them up too. And anyone else who can be identified with a carefully constructed crime profile. /

Poor people are more likely to be arrested, tried and convicted of crimes. That’s not the same thing as committing more crimes.

 

[Toni]

You are aware that recruitment letters are not letters of acceptance, right? You are aware that many schools do their best to broaden the range of students who will apply? And I suppose you also are aware of the fact that one of the ways that schools get such a high number of applicants with respect to the number of seats they have open in any class is to recruit outside of the usual populations of students who apply? And that by boosting the number of applicants for that limited number of seats also boosts the school's selectivity score.

Reality check time: They aren't going to send a recruitment letter to someone they know they won't admit. SAT differences on recruitment letters (and note that they did not deny it) mean they have different standards for admission for different races. Smells rather like gunsmoke to me.

Oh, that’s not true at all! They send recruitment letters out to a lot of students who are less likely to consider Harvard. All the Ivies do, as well as any selective school. They may get applications from an excellent student they would not have otherwise heard from. And—they get to keep their stats up.

Look, Loren, back in the day I received letters inviting me to apply to some pretty fancy schools out East. I doubt I would have been accepted at all of them if I had applied. As it was, family circumstances dictated that I stay within an hour’s driving distance, so my theory will forever remain untested.

 

[IIDB Staff]

Thread locked while a split of the derail is done.

 

[IIDB Staff]

Split complete. Go here for the discussion on Affirmative Action.

Affirmative Action (split from shooting du jour)

STAFF EDIT: This thread is split from https://iidb.org/threads/at-least-6-dead-in-mass-shooting-du-jour.25922/ Unfortunately people are still judged as wanting because they are black. Or have a ‘foreign accent.’ Or practice a ‘funny’ religion. Or are gay or trans. Or female. I know you...

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