Racial Profiling... Pros And Cons

[Emotion]

I'm doing an argumentive paper on Racial Profiling, and i needa little help.

Ever since September 11, 2001, there was all this increased security and all that carp that came with it. One of the things that came with it was increased racial profiling towards people of Arab background or people who look of Arab backgrounds. Obviously, it's wrong in general to do racial profiling just beacause of their nationality and the "chances" of them "being more likely to do it."

But where will we draw the line? When is enough, enough? It's bad enough that there's so much profiling against African-Americans/Black people about how people think they're going to commit a crime or how they all like chicken. That's total carp. Of course those are not the only examples, and probably bad ones, but you get my point. There's already enough discrimination in our country, this just makes it worse.

What do you people think? What are the pros and cons?

[Budge]

Talk about the foolishness of grabbing an 80 year old grandma [of whatever color], on the airport security line and how they make them strip her shoes off and more.

This could have been set up for the camera, but I was watching Little people, Big World, and the -father who is scooter-bound was run through the entire rigomarole, anyone with half a brain knows neither of these folks are a terrorist.

[Aloysius]

of course, we have seen from experience that terrorists instantly perceive any exceptions in our secuirity screenings and act accordingly. if we stop checking all the white people, they will send their white recruits with the bombs or just plant them on random white people. if we stop checking old folks, they will dress as if they are old and/or plant bombs on old people.

that's terrorist tactics 101, exploit exceptions in secuirity checks.

[Budge]

Most 80 year old grandmas arent working for terrorist organizations and have settled down by that age from any extreme radicalism.

Who are they going to use their actual grandmas?

How many "white" American terrorists are there besides a few liberal wannabes like the kid who ran off to Afghanistan?

Anyhow I know most of this terrorist hysteria is mostly an avenue for the powers that be to strip away rights and implement technology that will make 1984 look like a cakewalk. Dont get me wrong, terrorism does exsist, but whatever happen to the concept of courage, and not giving up liberty for security like a bunch of scaredy-cats?

[homeschoolmom]

Except whose "good judgement" are we going to go with? The airport securities?

[desertwoman]

Airport securites should learn from the best in profiling.

[cmotherofpirl]

define racial profiling.

[Aloysius]

you dont think someone can dress themselves to look like they're really old? it is a pretty easy trick.

[avemaria40]

Racial profiling is so annoying. My dad used to get stopped all the time, because he's dark-haired and sometimes has a beard. Oh no, someone has a beard, they must be a terrorist (sarcasm). He doesn't even look Middle Eastern or w/e.

[Budge]

[quote]you dont think someone can dress themselves to look like they're really old? it is a pretty easy trick.[/quote]

And that Baby in the carriage could just be a Little man like they used to show on old time cartoons...

Sheesh, some of the terrorism stuff is getting foolish. Americans used to be proud of having some backbone and courage in life.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Budge' post='1096415' date='Oct 19 2006, 10:36 PM']
And that Baby in the carriage could just be a Little man like they used to show on old time cartoons...

Sheesh, some of the terrorism stuff is getting foolish. Americans used to be proud of having some backbone and courage in life.
[/quote]
American's used to not have to worry about their planes being hijaked and flown into major government buildings, either.
These people don't care who they hurt in the process!

[Anomaly]

Well, based on the evidence of who has been terrorists, the vast majority of the terrorists have been middle eastern males, aged 18-40, with dark hair.
The other fact is that they cannot check everyone, so logic dictates that you should check a higer percentage of middle eastern males, aged 18-40 with dark hair.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't randomly check other races, genders, ages, etc. Were working with probablitly percentages.

The real fact is, it isn't hard to smuggle illegal substances onto a plane. What about all the recent incidents of finding kinives and objects on planes? Even the gel-bomb has been around for a time. In the 'Road to 9/11' it showed that it was being tested before WTC and one had already been set off on a plane.

The goal of terrorism is to cause fear, not just kill. A bunch of smoke bombs going off in planes would disrupt airlines and cost the US economy billions.

Terrorism is emotional black-mail, just like a child throwing a tantrum in the grocery store. The parent can give the child candy to shut her up, or they can abandon the shopping cart 1/2 full of stuff and take the child out to the car for punishment. It's easier to give them candy, but what has that accomplished? You just taught the child that bad behavior has power and will get the child what she wants. Lot's of parents cave in because it's easier, but they are just creating future problems for others who will ahve to deal with the child in school, the playground, as they grow up...

[Winchester]

Racial profiling is a subset of profiling. It does not go by race alone, typically. And if done properly, it works.

[dairygirl4u2c]

I would generally be for racial profiling when there's a purpose, such as when terrorists are commonly arab.

A couple problems generally. If you racial profile, it could be a self fulfilling prophecy. I target blacks, so I wonder who's going to have more arrests? Then blacks have more arrests, so I better target them more...
Also, what if the people who did wrong are only one in a million? I'm going to start profiling blacks now, because one of them did something against whites in resentment. I punishes them all unproportionally.

[Anomaly]

[quote name='dairygirl4u2c' post='1098179' date='Oct 21 2006, 11:49 PM']
I would generally be for racial profiling when there's a purpose, such as when terrorists are commonly arab.

A couple problems generally. If you racial profile, it could be a self fulfilling prophecy. I target blacks, so I wonder who's going to have more arrests? Then blacks have more arrests, so I better target them more...
Also, what if the people who did wrong are only one in a million? I'm going to start profiling blacks now, because one of them did something against whites in resentment. I punishes them all unproportionally.
[/quote]
Great point. That's what anti-profilers do to argue against profiling. If 1 arab out of 90,000 searched is given a hard time for the wrong reasons (using profiling as the excuse), they don't want any profiling which puts the other Million people at risk.

[musturde]

I don't have anything against racial profiling. If the country is in a state in which it can be attacked at any time, it needs to take action.

[quote]Dont get me wrong, terrorism does exsist, but whatever happen to the concept of courage, and not giving up liberty for security like a bunch of scaredy-cats?[/quote]

I don't believe in any way that we're being cowards by doing this. If by being a coward, we are saving lives, then it is more just to be a "coward". In all honesty, I'm for the patriot act also, only in these circumstances. The Patriot act goes against the basic rights of the American people. However, what is more important in this case, stopping people from attacking us, or holding onto a liberty? It's pointless to have full liberty and be dead as opposed to allowing the government to do things that would usually be unconstitutional in order to save the lives of its people.

[Socrates]

Politically incorrect as it may be to say this, racial profiling (as with other kinds of profiling) is necessary in order for law enforcement to be effective.

The fact is that most acts of terrorism lately have been comitted by young Middle-eastern men. So when conducting airport security searches, for instance, it would make far more sense to pay more attention to men of this description.

This in no way makes a racist statement against Middle-easterners, nor implies that all men of such a description are terrorists. It simply makes more sense in a real-world situation. Yes, some people may feel upset or humiliated by this, but that is hardly worth the risk of mass deaths by a terrorist act.

Fo instance, if there had been a recently in my area a rash of bank robberies by 30-year-old white men of my description, it might make sense for cops to be suspicious if I am around the bank. Yes, their suspicion of me might make me unconfortable and be humiliating for me, but it could hardly be called unjustified.

Likewise with cop racial profiling of blacks. The simple fact is that statistically blacks commit more crime than people of other races. I'm not going to get in a discussion of the reasons for this, nor whose at fault, but that's the facts. So cops have reason to be more suspicious of young black males. This in no way means that all black men are thugs or criminals. (Likewise, young men of any race commit more crime than their older or female counterparts, so they are naturally going to be the object of more police suspicion. So far, no one accuses police of "gender profiling" or "age profiling" that I am aware of)

Can racial profiling be abused? Of course. But this doesn't mean that it has no place.
Crime in the real world is not spread out evenly among all people to fill some sort of p.c. quota. Law enforcement acting in the real world must act accordingly. When lives are at stake, there is no room for politically-correct bean-counting.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Socrates' post='1098771' date='Oct 22 2006, 11:12 PM']The simple fact is that statistically blacks commit more crime than people of other races.[/quote]
Can you produce evidence for this "simple fact", broken down by every race throughout the world?

[kujo]

Ever since 8th grade, I have been stopped at airports when flying...every single time. Why? Because I am dark and I have a beard.

Am I of Middle Eastern dissent? No.
Is it annoying to be stopped? Yes.
Is it a little embarassing? Yes.
Do I have anything to hide? No.

Small inconveniences are nothing when lined up next to my desire to fly safely. If myself and others who look like me have to endure the big bad metal detector so that the security officials are sure that there is nothing being brought onto the plane that could be used by a terrorst to harm, than I am for it.

It boils down to a simple question: Are you willing to sacrifice your sensibilities in order to be safe?

[musturde]

[quote name='kujo' post='1099319' date='Oct 23 2006, 05:56 PM']
Ever since 8th grade, I have been stopped at airports when flying...every single time. Why? Because I am dark and I have a beard.

Am I of Middle Eastern dissent? No.
Is it annoying to be stopped? Yes.
Is it a little embarassing? Yes.
Do I have anything to hide? No.

Small inconveniences are nothing when lined up next to my desire to fly safely. If myself and others who look like me have to endure the big bad metal detector so that the security officials are sure that there is nothing being brought onto the plane that could be used by a terrorst to harm, than I am for it.

It boils down to a simple question: Are you willing to sacrifice your sensibilities in order to be safe?
[/quote]
'
exactly. I think America is even more sensitive than some other countries (like France and Italy) when it comes to airport security.

Edited October 23, 2006 by musturde