If you’re in a high crime area, and you’re at all familiar with crime statistics, why in the hell wouldn’t you lock your car doors if you saw people you didn’t know approaching. Since when is “better safe than sorry” an act of aggressive racism or unfair profiling?
The fact that Obama, and even columnists for more conservative outlets, like Gregory Kane in the Washington Examiner, seek to capitalize on a long-standing trope supposedly indicative of latent, institutionalized racism in America — that whites lock their car doors when they see Blacks approaching — ignores the fact that whites lock their doors in high crime areas when they see whites approaching, or Hispanics, or Asians, etc. Or that, if they do not, they are reacting to other cues than race, like gait, manner of dress, time of day or evening, and of course, the actual facts about urban crime frequency.
Rather than fall back on the victim trope and try to indict white America for its supposed largely unconscious racism, I’d be curious to know whether Mr Kane has ever locked his car doors when he found himself on North Howard Street in Baltimore after dark, or if Obama every traveled through certain parts of Boston and crossed to the other side of the street when he saw a band of white youths strolling down the street after dark.
I will never — nor will I ever allow my children or my wife — let a campaign of political correctness and racial politicking aimed at shaming us into creating vulnerabilities for the sake of “proving” our anti-racist bona fides, keep them from acting responsibly, which includes knowing your environment.
Now, I realize John Derbyshire was fired for saying something like this, but me, I can’t be fired. Unless I fire myself. Which would lead to a long and lengthy court battle pitting me against me.
Instead, I can just be further marginalized. Which is fine by me. Because I refuse to kowtow to the demands of the racial rabble rousers, and it doesn’t matter to me which side of the political aisle they speak from.
Kane and others suggest that Trayvon Martin’s having been in a strange neighborhood in the rain, a neighborhood that had undergone a series of burglaries and that employed a neighborhood watch system, was no reason for George Zimmerman to find anything “suspicious” about Martin’s behavior.
And yet, don’t we have a right to police our own property, to keep our neighborhoods safe and free of crime — particularly when they are neighborhoods that had already been previously targeted?
Martin wasn’t profiled because he was black. He was profiled for his behavior by a man whose job it was to observe that kind of behavior. That’s what being part of a neighborhood watch demands.
To suggest otherwise is to further a racial myth — which, sadly, is precisely the point. Because without it, what will keep Blacks voting Democrat? The high jobs rate in the African American community? The non-existent upward mobility of the black family trapped in urban plantations run mostly by Democrats?
I’m tired of the racial demagoguery. And while the media isn’t, I suspect many Americans are.
So if you want to call me a racist it this point, have at it. I don’t much care, because the accusation has lost its sting, particularly when its most commonly mouthed by anti-Semites, black separatists, or liberals who so long for acceptance that they’ll self-flagellate to fantasies of their own “white privilege” until they bleed, at which point they think they’ve earned the right of honorary blackness.
Which invariably ends with them drawing up plans to help their lesser black brothers and sisters, the poor dumb dears being unable to think or act for themselves.
Look, I don’t care how much legal trouble this is going to get you into, or how many court cases Jeff G v. Jeff G this is going to lead to, the reality is that firing your racist cracker ass is the right thing to do, so you should do it. The longer you give Jeff G a platform to spew his h8tr rhetoric, the clearer it is that you support his misogynistic, racist, homophobic, anti-animal, reactionary, counterrevolutionary, bourgeois, reductionist view of the world.
And I don’t think you want that.
So, you just need to dump the JeffG guy, JeffG.
Whoever created this racism meme about locking doors probably got an award or something. I think I said it the other day, a completely “unprovable negative”-type situation.
If you look like food, . . .
True enough. I recall keeping my guard way, way up during a 14 mile stroll off piste at Glacier National Park, famous for its grizzlies. I also carried two can’s of bear spray which I was prepared to use. I self-denounce as a species-ist.
Martin wasn’t profiled because he was black. He was profiled for his behavior by a man whose job it was to observe that kind of behavior.
This is really THE key fact in the whole stupid case. And it’s one that the race-baiters and demagogues are desperately trying to ignore or are willfully ignorant of.
I don’t use bear spray myself, I prefer the natural look.
David Horowitz recounts a harrowing tale of a woman he knew who was a Do-Gooder ™. She took in troubled yoots to live in her home, letting them have spending money and refusing to lock her doors because it showed “ill will”. Suffice it to say that her do-gooding came to no good when one of her pet yoots raped and strangled her, leaving her in her bed for her natural children to find her when they became concerned that she wasn’t answering her phone.
bgb, unfortunately, some of your relatives are not as dapper as you.
The Hill offers daily a performative “Click” on the approach of Liz Cheney. Excepting they don’t see themselves as locking their car doors, but locking the doors to the Senate, which they conceive as their private hunting preserve.
Any wonder that the editorial staff at The Hill stands firmly on the side of Mike Enzi? Nah, the bigots on The Hill staff haven’t any scruples.
When I was living alone in NYC, and I was in the subway, I always looked around to see who might be trouble and whom I might want to sidle up to, should the trouble become troublesome.
A mid-40s black man in work overalls, carrying his lunchbox, was not trouble. A young black man in khakis and a polo, carrying a backpack, was not trouble. A black man wearing a necktie and carrying a briefcase was not trouble. A lone black teen reading a paperback or listening to tunes while daydreaming was not trouble. A raggedy black man arguing with his imaginary friend was a little scary but probably not trouble.
A clutch of male teens, wearing gangsta clothing, neck tats, and looking twitchy—they might be trouble. Didn’t matter the race: I was more interested in not getting assaulted than in confirming preconceived notions about the complexions of the people surrounding me.
Damned if every woman in the world doesn’t know this.
Damned if those race hustlers won’t let go of the 1950s.
To the Left, even common sense is a crime.
Every personal safety resource instructs you to be wary and to put your sense of security ahead of some stranger’s potential hurt feelings. Criminals will prey on people who can be guilt-tripped or manipulated into overriding their natural defenses for the sake of appearing polite.
And those same criminals are the natural allies, the muscle employed and protected by a certain group for many many years.
If Hell’s Angel looking bikers pulled up behind Mr. Obama, would he check his car doors? Why?
If Zimmerman profiled Martin as a thug, I’d say he hit the nail right on the head.
Martin profiled Zimmerman as a gay rapist, so…
If you look like food, . . .
Hold on now, are you saying that criminals profile their victims. This is intolerable! Where can I lodge a complaint?
Libby, what you said above about criminals relying on guilt tripping their victims is the truth. Most people, even if they feel uncomfortable about, say, getting on an elevator with someone who just feels “wrong” to them, will shrug it off and get on anyway. The same is true of the Helpful Guy who tries to help you with your packages, either in the parking lot or while you’re trying to unlock your door. He might be a Nice Guy, but then again, he may not.
No, it’s the target. They’re aiming at it deliberately to convince people such things are wrong when they are the most useful survival skills human beings possess.
They’ve figured out that the reason societies are able to resist tyranny in the modern era is that the individual citizen thereof doesn’t need a tyrant to defend him in his day to day life. And a citizen who can defend himelf against a wild animal or a thug (BIRM) can also defend himself against the minions of a tyrant.
I’m sure it’s not fun to be on the receiving end of “the click”, but this is just the the kind of snap judgements people make every day. Who hasn’t received a negative reaction from strangers on occasion? Every time I’ve had to travel on a plane with my young son there were annoyed reactions (sometimes even before her cried). Also gotten dirty looks upon entering a high-end store when not looking like a high roller. So what? Grow up. Heck, maybe the person who you imagine is silently disapproving of you is thinking something else entirely. It’s nonsense to think this universal human behavior can be changed through Leftist social engineering or the power of the state.
I got a head start by not giving a damn what people thought for most of my life.
I hate when I go into Home Depot and everyone assume I am looking for something. Geez.
SoS, spot on. And it’s a multi-front war for them. Gun Control, SYG, Self-defense. Anything upon which the individual relies other than the nanny state.
I lock my car doors when I see young mormon missionary men walking down the street and the old Jehova’s Witness ladies. Or a guy with one of those ice cream vending bike-freezers. They are my solenoid actuated door locks. I’m not interested in permission or advice regarding their appropriate deployment.
car lock? don’t be silly, you are obviously not familiar with the sound of a magazine being inserted into a semi-automatic pistol.
I have a double action .357 revolver currently.
that was a joke that fell flat, suppose to be addressing someone question the racial sensitivity of a person locking their door.
Persons unfamiliar with that sound, bgbear, would likewise not recognize one racking a shotgun, either.
Think of it as an extra 15 seconds to aim before their brain engages.
When I want to be racially insensitive I say, “Hey, greenskin! Are those antennae on your forehead or are you just happy to see me?”
-Jeff wrote: And yet, don’t we have a right to police our own property, to keep our neighborhoods safe and free of crime — particularly when they are neighborhoods that had already been previously targeted?
The Left, members of the Republican Establishment, and certain law enforcement officials and authors would have us believe the lie that only Law Enforcement is allowed to police.
When the people of The United States in their local communities and in the Several States began allowing for the creation of police departments, they never relinquished their right to self-defense or their right to exercise policing powers. They merely delegated the day-to-day business of it to an organized [training came later in the 19th Century] group run by a government entity, much as they had delegated protecting our borders and other national security matters to the government. This creation of police departments was done because it freed-up individuals to concentrate on other concerns, such as earning a living, making one’s lot in life better, taking care of one’s family needs. We never gave up our power to police. We never made ourselves subjects to governmental beneficence. Sovereignty rests only with the people of The United States.
-McGehee: Your comment at 2:48 PM is dead solid perfect. The Left wants to disarm us mentally, like the authorities did to Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
[…] a very good post by Jeff Goldstein concerning those on the Right who buy into the Leftist Big Lie of the pervasiveness of […]
“When I want to be racially insensitive I say,”
Kentucky Derby? Hah! Why you’re not even a Rhode Island Straw Boater!
(Oof. That was awful.)
“NASCAR? I barely even touched ‘ar.”
“NASCAR? Is that anything like gaydar?”
“NASCAR? Is that anything like gaydar?”
McGehee,
You’re way too far from the Mason Dixon Line to be peeing on the Southern Holy Grail. ;^)
I diss the Braves and Falcons all the time, and the only reason I ever rooted for the Georgia Bulldogs was they were playing against Alabama.
I even rooted for Boise State against Georgia a couple of years ago.
Boise State won.
I bet you step on sidewalk cracks too.
I thought Larry Correia’s take on it was just right:
[T]his happens to black men, white men, Asians, Latinos, you name it, and I think that’s awesome. That means that woman is paying attention to her surroundings and knows that simple physics gives a huge advantage to the male in case he decides to do something. Aren’t you from the same side that is constantly complaining that America has a “rape culture”?
I happen to look like a scary 6’5” Tony Soprano. I’m actually physically intimidating, and that is at 37 years old and years of desk job. When I was in my 20s I could bench press 365 pounds and was 270 pounds, 16% body fat, of Big Ugly. I usually had a shaved head and a goatee and I looked like my favorite hobby was punching things, which it was. I was a hundred times more physically intimidating that President Lady Parts on his best day. So I’ve been profiled tons, and I’ve had lots of women obviously assess me like I was a threat.
And I don’t think it is a bad thing at all.
Look this grievance stuff is just the modern form of the apple of discord.
Except instead of kallisti it reads ??? ?? ???? (for the victim)
This blog’s text handling is (not) greek to me.
Late to the party here, but, since I happended to read this in American Hunter this morning, I think I’ll go ahead and quote the whole thing:
Offered in support of comments made by leigh and McGehee.
And anyways, there’s only three kinds of “clicks” to worry about –and one of them isn’t really a click. The “click” of a misfire, the “click – – BOOM!” of a hangfire, and, of course, the “dead man’s click.”
After which, you’re worries are over.