ASD and extreme political beliefs
If bystanders WERE to stand up for you, there are other ways they could do so besides outright lynching.
As I said earlier, lynching has a VERY bad history. A revival of lynching would be a VERY bad idea.
Instead, you might want to check and see if there is a neighborhood watch group in your area, and, if not, whether there is any kind of local civic association or block association that might be interested in organizing a neighborhood watch group.
In a neighborhood watch group, civilian volunteers work together, under the guidance of local police, to deter crime. See this website for info.
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ASPartOfMe
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Not enough bystanders do not get involved for a number of reasons. It may involve a time off from work which could cost bystanders needed salary, if not their jobs, they are intimidated by fear of retaliation, they fear it it would be a waste of time the criminal will get off on a technicality, the bystander is lazy.
That said allowing public lynchings are one of those ideas where the phrase “be careful what you wish for” applies. Innocent people will be killed because anybody who has a beef with somebody could just claim they witnessed that person committing a crime.
Rhetorical question what is one demographic will have a disproportionate amount of innocent people lynched? Answer Autistic people because we often look and sound guilty when we are not.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Rhetorical question what is one demographic will have a disproportionate amount of innocent people lynched? Answer Autistic people because we often look and sound guilty when we are not.
Spot on. I never really thought about this before, but you are so right!
It's not that rhetorical. Here is David Mery, autistic software engineer, and his years-long fight to have his DNA removed from the national database after wrongful arrest. https://gizmonaut.net/bits/suspect.html
White people are privileged in all facets of society although there will be, admittedly, individual variation.
Disparity in educational resources:
https://uncf.org/pages/k-12-disparity-f ... of%20Color
Disparity in educational attainment:
From 2011 to 2021, the percentage of adults age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 34.0% to 41.9% for the non-Hispanic White population; from 19.9% to 28.1% for the Black population; from 50.3% to 61.0% for the Asian population; and from 14.1% to 20.6% for the Hispanic population.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-r ... nment.html
Disparity in economic resources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/2023/12/04/ ... ic-groups/
Obviously, racism is not the only type of discrimination people can experience, but it’s apparent that white people ARE privileged on a macro level in the US whether we want to admit it or not.
The CitiBike nurse story isn't anecdotal. The CitiBike nurse story illustrates an injustice that impacts (or at least has the potential to impact) all whites (The injustice being: The fact any time a disagreement between a white person and one or more minorities goes public, the court of public opinion treats the white person as guilty until proven innocent...which can have severe consequences, like getting suspended from your job and having to go into hiding because of the death threats you end up getting).
Furthermore, I shared the CitiBike nurse story in response to your skepticism of whether I'd really get arrested if I put a minority in a position where they could have died for the color of their skin (like they've done to me). Seeing as we aren't even able to get filmed disagreeing with a minority without getting our lives destroyed, surely we'd get arrested (and get the book thrown at us) for attempting to murder a minority.
As for the charts/statistics you shared, I don't deny whites tend to go to better-funded schools. I don't deny the fact the average white family has a higher income/higher wealth than most minorities. I don't deny the fact whites have higher education levels on average.
What we're in disagreement on is whether those factors you mentioned constitute privilege. For that matter, any time conservatives and liberals disagree on whether whites are privileged, it tends to be a disagreement on what constitutes privilege.
Footnote: There's a reason I said the average white family has a higher income/higher wealth than most minorities. Your charts clearly show Asian households have higher average wealth than white households (Which means the explanation for black and Latino households having lower wealth isn't as simple as "This country holds back minorities")
If bystanders WERE to stand up for you, there are other ways they could do so besides outright lynching.
As I said earlier, lynching has a VERY bad history. A revival of lynching would be a VERY bad idea.
Instead, you might want to check and see if there is a neighborhood watch group in your area, and, if not, whether there is any kind of local civic association or block association that might be interested in organizing a neighborhood watch group.
In a neighborhood watch group, civilian volunteers work together, under the guidance of local police, to deter crime. See this website for info.
Or even something as simple as: Every bystander (in unison) surrounding the perp while telling him to leave me alone. If every bystander did something that simple, I guarantee the altercation would have ended immediately (Because even if the perp dared to take on me, there's no way he'd dare to take on every bystander combined).
If I started throwing fists while telling a much smaller black stranger I'm going to murder as many of his people as possible one of these days, I guarantee bystanders galore (even white ones) would intervene. The fact no one intervened when I was subjected to the reverse scenario shows society doesn't value white lives as much as black lives (which totally invalidates the need for BLM)
That said allowing public lynchings are one of those ideas where the phrase “be careful what you wish for” applies. Innocent people will be killed because anybody who has a beef with somebody could just claim they witnessed that person committing a crime.
Rhetorical question what is one demographic will have a disproportionate amount of innocent people lynched? Answer Autistic people because we often look and sound guilty when we are not.
As I mentioned on my last post, "getting involved" could be as simple as every bystander surrounding the perp while telling him to leave the victim alone. That wouldn't require any of the bystanders to take any time off work.
Back when public executions used to exist in American history, even though there's no way to be 100% sure (as they only kept statistics on race/offense, not neurodivergence), I'm pretty sure there weren't a disproportionate amount of people with ASD getting publicly executed. So I have no reason to believe a disproportionate amount of us would get publicly executed if those days came back.
Again, what we disagree on is the definition of privilege (I admit that using your definition of privilege, whites are privileged).
There's no need for you to share more sources about income/wealth/education, etc (because, for the 2nd time, that's not how I define privilege).
Furthermore, even if the CitiBike nurse story is only one story, the story would have ended extremely differently if the liberal narrative were true.
How would you define privilege?
You seem to be putting a lot of stock into certain stories. Exceptions to the overall trend/stuff that seems to contradict the overall trend doesn’t change the overall trend. If we're sharing stories, I could talk about my experiences with white privilege while working for two businesses when I was young. I was told by management/HR in both places that they wouldn't hire a black person. I suspect that happens a lot going by the research:
The significant racial disparities in unemployment that are observed at each level of education are the strongest evidence against the notion that education or skills differentials are responsible for the black-white unemployment gap. In terms of education, the black-white unemployment rate ratio has hovered around 2-to-1 at every level for most of the last 41 years. In that time, only black workers with advanced degrees have approached anything near parity with their white counterparts, as measured by the unemployment rate. In practical terms, this means that black workers are not just twice as likely to be unemployed as similarly educated white workers, but they are often more likely to be unemployed than less-educated whites.
https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/public ... -outcomes/
^ There's a lot of useful information at this link.
Last edited by TwilightPrincess on 02 Sep 2024, 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ASPartOfMe
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Joined: 25 Aug 2013
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Gender: Male
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That said allowing public lynchings are one of those ideas where the phrase “be careful what you wish for” applies. Innocent people will be killed because anybody who has a beef with somebody could just claim they witnessed that person committing a crime.
Rhetorical question what is one demographic will have a disproportionate amount of innocent people lynched? Answer Autistic people because we often look and sound guilty when we are not.
As I mentioned on my last post, "getting involved" could be as simple as every bystander surrounding the perp while telling him to leave the victim alone. That wouldn't require any of the bystanders to take any time off work.
Back when public executions used to exist in American history, even though there's no way to be 100% sure (as they only kept statistics on race/offense, not neurodivergence), I'm pretty sure there weren't a disproportionate amount of people with ASD getting publicly executed. So I have no reason to believe a disproportionate amount of us would get publicly executed if those days came back.
Innocent people that that act suspiciously get accused then and now.
Fear of retaliation is legitimate even when the criminal is surrounded. What if that person has a gun?
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
You seem to be putting a lot of stock into certain stories. Exceptions to the overall trend/stuff that seems to contradict the overall trend doesn’t change the overall trend. If we're sharing stories, I could talk about my experiences with white privilege while working for two businesses when I was young. I was told by management/HR in both places that they wouldn't hire a black person. I suspect that happens a lot going by the research:
The significant racial disparities in unemployment that are observed at each level of education are the strongest evidence against the notion that education or skills differentials are responsible for the black-white unemployment gap. In terms of education, the black-white unemployment rate ratio has hovered around 2-to-1 at every level for most of the last 41 years. In that time, only black workers with advanced degrees have approached anything near parity with their white counterparts, as measured by the unemployment rate. In practical terms, this means that black workers are not just twice as likely to be unemployed as similarly educated white workers, but they are often more likely to be unemployed than less-educated whites.
https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/public ... -outcomes/
^ There's a lot of useful information at this link.
To address your question of how I'd define privilege, there are a number of examples of black privilege and white non-privilege.
As a matter of fact, my parents are in the upper tier of wealth. In other words, I am a straight white man from a wealthy family (the epitome of what Huff Post would call privileged). Yet my fictitious privilege has done absolutely nothing to shield me from getting treated poorly for the color of my skin.
The fact my family is wealthy ends up disproving the idea that whites are privileged. If even a white person from a wealthy family has been in positions where he could have died for his white skin, imagine a white person from a less prosperous family.
My story isn't an isolated incident either. Numbers show a nationwide pattern where being black in a predominantly white environment is a lot safer than being white in a predominantly black environment. Yet the media buries this fact. Even worse, the media portrays an alternate reality where there's a bloodthirsty white supremacist hiding behind every corner.
Another example of black privilege: Even though (as you pointed out) the black unemployment rate is higher, a black man/woman with a job at least has the peace-of-mind that they won't lose their job if they rally around their racial interests. No one has ever lost a job for getting spotted at a BLM demonstration (Hell, the woman running for POTUS right now even started a fund to bail out arrested BLM members).
On the other hand, when whites rally around our political interests, we run the risk of losing our jobs (and possibly our lives). Everyone who got filmed chanting "you will not replace us" at Unite The Right got fired.
Whether you think demographic change is a bad thing is a matter of opinion. It's a well-documented fact (backed up by census data), however, that there have been massive demographic changes these past 2 generations. We deserve the right to protest (without getting fired) over the fact a country that was 80-90% white for most of history has dipped below 60% white (and is on track to become minority white 20 years from now).
In a country where whites are privileged, we certainly wouldn't lose our jobs for attending a pro-white rally.
To make matters worse, one of the Unite The Right participants lost more than a job: He lost his freedom.
James Fields was chased to his car by a pack of liberals. Once he was in his car, the pack of liberals then surrounded his car. He had valid reason to believe he could die (or at least get severely injured). And there was no way for him to escape other than driving through the crowd. Yet he got sentenced for 419 years for driving through the crowd.
Yet another example of black privilege: An angry mob of BLM was allowed to gather right outside the courthouse chanting "no justice, no peace" during the George Floyd trial. Even if in your personal opinion George Floyd was murdered, there's no way you can say Derek got a fair trail. The angry mob of BLM outside the courthouse was a form of juror intimidation.
Imagine if an angry mob of Proud Boys gathered outside the courthouse during the Ahmaud Arbery trial (in an attempt to intimidate the jury into setting the McMichaels free). Oh wait, there's no point in imaging it...it would never be allowed.
In other words, a pro-black group is allowed to gather outside the courthouse to manipulate the results of a trial, a pro-white group wouldn't be allowed to gather outside a courthouse to manipulate the results of a trial, yet somehow whites are privileged?
Furthermore, George Floyd's family got a $27 million payout. If a white suspect died under the same exact circumstances (which has happened), there's no way the family would get a $27 million payout (and the dead white suspect certainly wouldn't get multiple nationally televised funerals with a gold casket)
You seem to be putting a lot of stock into certain stories. Exceptions to the overall trend/stuff that seems to contradict the overall trend doesn’t change the overall trend. If we're sharing stories, I could talk about my experiences with white privilege while working for two businesses when I was young. I was told by management/HR in both places that they wouldn't hire a black person. I suspect that happens a lot going by the research:
The significant racial disparities in unemployment that are observed at each level of education are the strongest evidence against the notion that education or skills differentials are responsible for the black-white unemployment gap. In terms of education, the black-white unemployment rate ratio has hovered around 2-to-1 at every level for most of the last 41 years. In that time, only black workers with advanced degrees have approached anything near parity with their white counterparts, as measured by the unemployment rate. In practical terms, this means that black workers are not just twice as likely to be unemployed as similarly educated white workers, but they are often more likely to be unemployed than less-educated whites.
https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/public ... -outcomes/
^ There's a lot of useful information at this link.
One part of your post that I think deserves a separate reply: The part about higher ups at past jobs admitting they wouldn't hire black employees.
When you say these jobs were during your youth, I'm guessing we're talking 15+ years ago (correct me if I'm wrong).
A lot has changed in the past 15 years. At a decent-sized company in 2024, if a hiring manager was caught saying they refuse to hire black applicants, chances are the hiring manager would get fired.
On the other hand, there are plenty of DEI initiatives in 2024 where hiring managers are explicitly told to not hire white applicants.
Are there small white-owned businesses in 2024 that refuse to hire black employees? Absolutely. Then again, there are plenty of Latino-owned small businesses that only hire Latino employees, plenty of Asian-owned small businesses that only hire Asian employees, and plenty of black-owned small businesses that only hire black employees. In other words, a small business only hiring their own is something that happens among all ethnic groups. In fact, I'd venture to guess it happens less often at white-owned businesses than at minority-owned businesses.
It might be useful to provide links to support your information/data. Otherwise, it doesn't seem worthwhile to address it. Apart from that, I'm seeing once again a lot of anecdotal evidence and supposition rather than firm research. Specific examples say nothing about overall trends.
Pro-White rallies/Proud Boys are about hate. They are in no way comparable to BLM.
Here’s some informative research concerning disparities pertaining to policing and criminal justice:
According to a large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States, “police stop and search decisions suffer from persistent racial bias.” The study, the largest to date, analyzed data on approximately 95 million stops from 21 state patrol agencies and 35 municipal police departments across the country. The authors found Black drivers were less likely to be stopped after sunset, when it is more difficult to determine a driver’s race, suggesting bias in stop decisions. Furthermore, by examining the rate at which stopped drivers were searched and turned up contraband, the study found that the bar for searching Black and Hispanic drivers was lower than that for searching white drivers.
https://www.ncsl.org/civil-and-criminal ... ice-system
- Specifically, Black males received sentences 13.4 percent longer, and Hispanic males received sentences 11.2 percent longer, than White males.
- Hispanic females received sentences 27.8 percent longer than White females, while Other race females received sentences 10.0 percent shorter.
The sentencing differences in the data the Commission examined largely can be attributed to the initial decision of whether the sentence should include incarceration at all rather than to the length of the prison term once a decision to impose one has been made. In particular, the likelihood of receiving a probationary sentence varied substantially by gender and race.
- Black males were 23.4 percent less likely, and Hispanic males were 26.6 percent less likely, to receive a probationary sentence compared to White males.
- Similar trends were observed among females, with Black and Hispanic females less likely to receive a probation sentence than White females (11.2% percent less likely and 29.7% less likely, respectively).
https://www.ussc.gov/research/research- ... sentencing
https://innocenceproject.org/race-and-w ... l%20system.
Probably related, in part, to the fact that Black people are more likely to be stopped by police due to bias:
https://www.sentencingproject.org/repor ... -policing/
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-a ... y-us-jails
The amount of evidence that's out there demonstrating white privilege in so many facets of society is overwhelming. Research that's been cited in this thread so far is just a tiny tip of the iceberg.