[extropy-chat] Re: Profile the Great Satan? (Peter Fedak)

[kevinfreels.com]

I see Mike's point and it isn;t about race. It is about using our evolved gut instinct and profiling people through several layers - race just being one of those. Right now, the people conducting the searches have to be "equal and fair" with their searches. They can't single anyone out for any reason that might lead anyone to believe that the possibility exists that that person may have possibly been chosen for a search because they might fit into somone's idea of a racial profile. This is crap. 
When underwriting mortgage loans, underwriters have a little thing they deal with called "layered risk". Supposing a person had a 580 credit score,  no money in the bank, self-employed for 6 months, and was buying a house from a friend, and no money down. None of these things in themselves would stop a person from buying a home. But taken together, they add up to a high risk of foreclosure. Often, an underwriter will turn down such loans.

In a similar way, a white supremist, veteran, white male christian is  a high risk. A black veteran christian on the other hand is a much lower risk.
Creditors and insurers play the risk game every day. And our brains are already wired for it with "gut" instinct and stereotyping. If taken control of properly, these tools could be fine tuned to greatly reduce the risk.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter Fedak 
  To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 2:02 PM
  Subject: [extropy-chat] Re: Profile the Great Satan? (Peter Fedak)


  Mike Lorrey wrote:

  "On the contrary, anyone with a muslim name who is not a citizen of Afghanistan or Pakistan but has spent 2-12 consecutive months in one of those countries since 1992 has, more than likely, attended an al Qaeda camp or has taught in a terrorist recruitment madrassa. 

  The odds of such a person being a terrorist up to no good is astronomically greater than those 80 year old white grandmas that TSA loves to strip search so frequently. Really, the job can be done so much more efficiently if we get over this idiotic fixation against all ethnic profiling as inherently 'wrong'. As polls show 85% of african-americans approve of profiling muslims, its apparent the queasiness is only among the guilty left elites."

  An assumption is not grounds for an act, nor is a poll. Strip searching 80 year old Muslim grandmas is no better than 80 year old white grandmas, and will produce the same empty results. The assumption is not universal. To profile you would have to be so exacting in your assumptions that you would catch the criminal at the moment of intent, which is impossible. And if you were profiling, the criminal would catch on and find ways around the system.

  Polling an ethnic group to profile any other group will also probably produce even poll results across the board. Poll whites to profile blacks, poll blacks to profile Muslims, poll X to profile Y, you will find the people will accept it, as long as group X has reason to believe group Y threatens them in some way, especially since there is still racism and prejudice prevalent in our society, however hard we try to hide it or look away. Unfortunately, this is a short-sighted, selfish view that will produce little results. Racial profiling, or any selective sampling, will not catch the exceptions to any rule. Recent terrorism in the US is proof in itself: Timothy McVeigh, Jose Padilla, Ted Kaczynsky, John Walker Lindh... These individuals were not necessarily in or from the Middle East, nor did they attend a military camp there. So profiling is useless, as is using a poll to justify it.

  If the entire problem is to be addressed, a step back should be taken to analyze the broader picture. The US's market economy is very strong and the way of life here is vastly different from other parts of the world. Some people live in poverty, some live in wealth. However, few live better than Americans. So, knowing human nature, what would make those with little the most upset? Those with the more than them. As the wealthiest nation, we are wearing a red, white and blue target for that resentment. How can it be resolved? The answer to that would solve the problem of terrorism.
  The Libertarian view is one of non-involvement, financially and responsibility-wise, which could be one solution. However, non-involvement also led to this mess in the first place, as in assuming we are impervious and faultless. Now that the holes in our armor are found, we should analyze these issues and, rather than leaving those holes open and moving on, try to understand why we had these problems in the first place and devise ways to prevent it next time.

  Peter Fedak





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