Posted on 08/09/2014 9:16:42 AM PDT by chessplayer
What if you were moving to – or visiting – a city where you didn’t know your way around? And what if you were worried about wandering into a high crime area, but didn’t know the layout of the city? What if you were looking for good deals on hotels before your trip, but weren’t sure which areas were safe to go out and grab a cab in? What if you wanted to avoid dimly lit sections of town with scant law enforcement coverage? And if you were to find an app for your phone which could provide all of this information on a map ahead of time, what might you say to the people who developed it?
Well, duh… they’re clearly racists.
At least that’s the very clearly stated opinion of Sam Biddle at Gawker in his “review” of a new app called SketchFactor which does just what I described above.
Is there any way to keep white people from using computers, before this whole planet is ruined? I ask because the two enterprising white entrepreneurs above just made yet another app for avoiding non-white areas of your town—and it’s really taking off!
Crain’s reports on SketchFactor, a racist app made for avoiding “sketchy” neighborhoods, which is the term young white people use to describe places where they don’t feel safe because they watched all five seasons of The Wire
Was I too fast in assuming that the author was trying to insert some hot, race card goodness into the discussion of a new app for your phone? I really don’t think so, given that he goes on to identify the co-developers of the product as grinning caucasians Allison McGuire and Daniel Herrington. Oh, and the actual title of the article was, Smiling Young White People Make App for Avoiding Black Neighborhoods. Oh, that’s not too racially charged now, is it?
This is all a pretty damning condemnation of both the developers and the app… unless, that is, you actually look at what it does. Not only does it not identify places where users see non-white people, but there doesn’t seem to be a category to report the presence of Black Neighborhoods, or ethnic statistics of any kind. But aside from the aforementioned low lighting, higher crime areas, what other sorts of things can all of these racist white people report to the app?
Lots of liberal whining about it under the iphone reviews area.
Guaranteed it will be taken off the market.
Right, because White people are supposed to want to go into high-risk, crime-ridden areas. White people are supposed to try new things and stop being so provincial and closed-minded. I suppose mugging is considered a revenue stream in some areas.
Always loved the cool car he had in that movie.
Then there was my 1st trip to D.C.
After 9:00 p.m., looking for a 7/11 to buy a lotto ticket.
Was directed “just down that road a bit”.
As I waited for the ticket, I noticed all of the patrons inside, looking at me like I was crazy or something....
Wasn’t there a comedienne a few years ago that mused, “Why doesn’t Google maps have an avoid ghetto route”?
Knowledge of where crimes happen is racist? Sounds like something a defense lawyer who’s looking for more work would say.
Seems like the police should use this app to help them decide where to put MORE COPS.
The only thing you need to know is where Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard is.
My wife and I did that in Atlantic City, N.J., several years back. If it's still the way it was back then, my advice is stick to the hotel/casino or the board walk, the adjoining neighborhoods were atrocious.
What ever happened to Microsoft’s “Avoid Ghetto” app?
He’s been sent to the re-education camps...
I wasn’t being facetious, was I?
There is a crime monitoring system available to PDs. I think it was first used in NYC 15 years ago. Bo Dietl used to sell them to PDs.
Would have loved to have had that app when looking for a hotel in Birmingham.
That’s one way to avoid the ghetto.
Right, because White people are supposed to want to go into high-risk, crime-ridden areas.
No mention of race anywhere in it. It only shows where the high crime areas in cities are. But libs think it’s racist if people want to avoid high crime areas.
I don’t go to Panera Bread on MLK Blvd.
I don’t give a damn what city its in.
Thanks for that hat tip libs. :^)
Stay in Hoover. Done
You should have been directed to a guy at the “Rib Tips” market. He can get you on your way......
My wife and I did that in Jacksonville Florida once. The wife was driving. I got the revolver out from under the seat and held it below window level while we found a way out. Turning around wasn’t an option. There were people out and about and taking too much of an interest in us.
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