Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

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OT - political correctness vs. commonsense

Recently a 13-yr-old black car thief was shot to death by police here in L.A. when, in the dead of night, he tried to back a stolen car over a police officer. The black community is screaming racial bias, not even considering that it was the child's family who were responsible for the child's behaviour and well-being (and obviously abdicated that responsibility). Whatever happened to commonsense?

Statistically the most dangerous adversary for any policeman is a young black male. This officer had no way of knowing at the time that this kid was only 13, all he knew was a car thief was trying to run him over.

IMO, while I abhor the necessity, racial/gender profiling makes sense in dangerous situations. Personally, if I am alone walking down a dark, empty street at night in a questionable neighborhood and I see a lone female approaching from the opposite direction, I don't panic (although she could, of course, have a gun or knife and do me in); if a lone male approaches, I'm more alert, but if a young black male approaches, I am likely to cross the street. Ask yourself, wouldn't your internal warning system be sending the same danger signals?

I don't consider myself at all prejudiced in my personal contacts with others, but I am certainly risk-averse and susceptible to applying stereotypes when confronted by strangers in potentially dangerous situations. I think this is a commonsense approach to life. So sue me already!

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