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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=peter.fedak@nyu.edu href="mailto:peter.fedak@nyu.edu">Peter Fedak</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 21, 2005 2:02
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [extropy-chat] Re: Profile the
Great Satan? (Peter Fedak)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Mike Lorrey<SPAN class=375351918-21092005>
wrote:</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=375351918-21092005><FONT
size=2>"</FONT></SPAN>On the contrary, anyone with a muslim name who is not a
citizen of<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>Afghanistan or Pakistan but
has spent 2-12 consecutive months in one of<SPAN class=375351918-21092005>
</SPAN>those countries since 1992 has, more than likely, attended an al
Qaeda<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>camp or has taught in a terrorist
recruitment madrassa.<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN class=375351918-21092005></SPAN>The odds of such a person being a
terrorist up to no good is<SPAN class=375351918-21092005>
</SPAN>astronomically greater than those 80 year old white grandmas that
TSA<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>loves to strip search so frequently.
Really, the job can be done so<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>much more
efficiently if we get over this idiotic fixation against all<SPAN
class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>ethnic profiling as inherently 'wrong'. As
polls show 85% of<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>african-americans<SPAN
class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>approve of profiling muslims, its apparent
the<SPAN class=375351918-21092005> </SPAN>queasiness is only among the guilty
left elites.<SPAN class=375351918-21092005>"</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=375351918-21092005>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.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=375351918-21092005><SPAN class=375351918-21092005>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.
</SPAN>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.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=375351918-21092005>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.<BR>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.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=375351918-21092005><FONT face=Arial size=2>Peter
Fedak</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=375351918-21092005><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P></DIV>
<P>
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