Posted on 04/01/2013 9:42:05 AM PDT by neverdem
Over at the Washington Post, two “researchers and consultants on social and political issues” argue that American mass shooters are overwhelmingly white males, and that therefore the opinions of white males on what to do about mass shootings should be discounted.
They are correct that the demographics of mass shooters are interesting — certainly, mass shooters differ from other murderers (and from the general population) in various ways. But mass shooters are not as overwhelmingly white as the authors imply, and the conclusions they draw are utterly bizarre.
Frankly, the authors don’t seem to have a very good grasp of the situation. They list Fort Hood — the massacre committed by a pale-skinned man of Palestinian descent named Nidal Hasan, who yelled “Allahu Akbar” — as a white-male rampage. They say that “immigrants with mental health issues are not committing mass shootings in malls and movie theaters,” which might be true, but only because Korean immigrant Seung-Hui Cho targeted a school and Laotian immigrant Chai Vang killed six hunters in the woods.
Nowhere do the authors give the only two numbers that matter: the percentage of mass shootings committed by white males, and the percentage of mass shootings we might normally expect to be committed by white males.
According to liberal journalist David Sirota, “70 percent of mass shooters have been white men in a country where only 30 percent of the population is white men.” Of course, anyone who isn’t a liberal journalist realizes that this has a lot more to do with maleness than with whiteness — a better way to put it is that 70 percent of mass shooters are white males in a country where about 60 percent of potential mass shooters (i.e., males) are white. That’s not exactly a huge discrepancy.
And regardless of the exact degree of the disparity, what does it mean? Here’s what the authors think we’d do if the shooters were black, and they see this as a model for how we should treat white men:
Imagine if African American men and boys were committing mass shootings month after month, year after year. Articles and interviews would flood the media, and we’d have political debates demanding that African Americans be “held accountable.” Then, if an atrocity such as the Newtown, Conn., shootings took place and African American male leaders held a news conference to offer solutions, their credibility would be questionable. The public would tell these leaders that they need to focus on problems in their own culture and communities.
Yes, the idea here is that when it comes to race and crime, Americans frankly assess the numbers and demand racial accountability — except when the criminals are white. I’m not sure this even deserves a response, but take a look at the numbers for murder in general. Blacks are dramatically overrepresented. Has anyone demanded that blacks as a group, not just the individual murderers, be “held accountable”? Has anyone said that black organizations that suggest ways of reducing violence should be scrutinized more heavily than non-black groups that similarly offer solutions? Of course not.
And that’s a good thing — we shouldn’t ignore racial disparities, but we shouldn’t shun entire groups based on statistical trends, either.
Here's a quote:
"Unlike other groups, white men are not used to being singled out."
How about. utterly clueless at the Washington Compost? The last 40 years were just a bad dream for white men from their depiction in thw BS media as the bumbling idiot or evil bad guy, or getting the short end at either family court or affirmative action decisions!
White men are the single most systematically discriminated-against group in our country.
FROM THE WASHPOST ARTICLE: “Imagine if African American men and boys were committing mass shootings month after month, year after year.
Yeah, imagine if African American men and boys were committing shootings month after month, year after year. Who could ever imagine something so preposterous.
FROM THE WASHPOST ARTICLE: “Articles and interviews would flood the media, and wed have political debates demanding that African Americans be held accountable.
Hypothetically, if African American men and boys were shooting people regularly, I’m going to guess that the media would go the other direction and try to suppress that information. Call me crazy, but that’s just my guess.
Are these “researchers” actually living in America?
the medium is the message.
truth does not matter.
only a “newspaper” reports white men bad.
the medium is the message.
I guess they don’t count drive by shootings where 4 or 5 black or hispanic teenagers are killed or wounded by blacks or hispanics as a “mass shooting”.
If they put drive by shootings into the mix, I suspect the demographics might be a bit different.
More and more the Soros paid propaganda machine is demonizing white males. Obamabots must be convinced they have a permanent majority with black, latinoes and welfare women.
Sad part is that almost all of the non-white population in the US believe this to be the truth.
The sadder part is a big percentage of the WHITE population believes this is truth....
The non white and non female part of America are racist sexists who feel entitled to oppress white males.
I ain’t no college freshman who can be oppressed without putting up a fight. Although I do answer like a Pavlovian dog to my wife’s commands with yes dear.
It’s the Washington Post: Only fags ,liberals and Communists read it anyway.
...when they are not having sex with their cousins...
/s
...so are we to exclude Hispanics from Open border laws and discussions?
Are we to exclude blacks from discussions of gang violence?
-PJ
About 4 - 5 million white voters went AWOL last November, IIRC.
Don’t forget VA Tech.
THEY ARE committing mass shootings. They're just not doing them all at once, in one location. Journalists are completely incapable of critical thinking in 21st Century America. They're not much more than parrots, reading from the Marxist hymn book, retranslated into Democrat Party talking points.
American mass shooters are overwhelmingly white males, and that therefore the opinions of white males on what to do about mass shootings should be discounted.
These are the same people who say white people (men included) should not have an opinion on anything that has to do with blacks, hispanics etc..So according to them, whites are not allowed to have an opinion
“These are the same people who say white people (men included) should not have an opinion on anything that has to do with blacks, hispanics etc..So according to them, whites are not allowed to have an opinion”
Yes. To the authors, freedom of speech means: We are free to speak, you are not!
You are quite correct. AA’s who murder whites don’t fit their religion. The media would ignore it or report it with obfuscating gobbledygook only if they had to.
What percentage of liberal communists go on shooting sprees?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.