When does awareness become prejudice?

[Okiecruffler]

Okay, I'm going to try this even tho' I see it heading down a bad road.

I see continued posts here about "living in yellow" being always aware of your surroundings. And yet if someone mentions being leary of someone because of how they look they are immediately branded as being closeminded at best, racists at worst.

Recently I was involved in a thread that for some reason took a turn to discuss the folks who walk around with tattoos covering every inch of their body. It was stated by many folks with tats that those of us who are a little more suspicous of a fully inked fella were just old fashioned and closed minded. I will fully admit that if I'm walking down the street and there's a 6 foot guy behind me, covered in tattoos with long hair and a goatee, I'll touch the grip on my pistol to make sure it's right where I want it. You should also know that the guy I just described could be either my brother, the nicest most harmless fella you'd ever want to meet, or my son, not quite so nice or harmless, but a nice guy who would never hit you over the head for your wallet. Maybe me, but not you.

Same with young black males who walk around with their pants to their knees. I should mention that almost half of the women I dated before I locked on the ball and chain were black and that my unofficial adopted son is too.

Young Hispanics I view the same way, and yet I'm probably one of the only posters to this board who would argue that we should allow illegals to stay if they can prove they are contributing to society.

So am I just playing the odds and being aware of my surroundings, or am I a redneck racist?

 

[SomeKid]

Well, are you?

If you know you aren't, then you aren't. Only you know whether or not you hate someone on the basis of their skin.

Skin color is one of many things to consider given any environment. Race, age, sex, DRESS ATTIRE (to me that is one of the big ones), whether they fit the area (nice suit in bad part of town or reverse) etc.

But that is me.

 

[Okiecruffler]

Skin color doesn't enter into it, it's more a lifestyle for lack of a better word. In my area the largest percentage of violent crime is committed by whites. Okay, I admit to being a bigot toward white trash, I'll accept that stain.

 

[outerlimit]

I don't feel any guilt for stereotyping anyone. The worst that can happen is that I'm proven wrong. But I like to trust my gut instincts, they have only failed me, when I failed to trust them. I usually stereotype people based on their behavior, not their looks. But someone's looks many times gives a good perception of their general behavior.

Ya I know, welcome to talking in circles 101.

 

[JWarren]

So am I just playing the odds and being aware of my surroundings, or am I a redneck racist?

Since you are already comfortable in making stereotypical generalizations, why stop now?


As mentioned above, I make my decisions based upon behaviors, appearances, etc. rather than static characteristics such as race.

If I person goes out of his way to make an effort to project a certain image, who am I do second-guess them?


-- John

 

[qwert65]

I don't trust anyone- much simpler that way Seriously, I think there's a sig line going around here about being polite and freindly but having a plan to kill everyone you meet. Fact is 99% of the population isn't going to violently attack you. Another fact is you really can only trust yourself.

We automatically assess risks based on sterotypes which in turn are like caricutures based in fact. example- I'm a short Italian from north jersey, do I wear guinea tees and have a gold cross? No(but my brother does) I do talk loudly, talk with my hands and have that "Jersey attitude"

When I went to KS the rednecks there thought I was mexican. I even got pulled over once just so the cop could ask what I was doing there(luckliy I had my student ID)

Sterotypes aren't bad they just give you odds on which you should act accordingly. I trust my father or gf but they can always get a brain tumour think i'm an alein and kill me- NOT likley so I'm in condition white while at home. However, dark street guy with baggy pants, hooded sweatshirt crosses the street to talk to me could be freindly but odds are he isn't then I'm ready to act if need be. Sterotypes work as long as you don't act on them

 

[cambeul41]

It occurs to me that it might be a form of racism for one to refuse to be alerted by behavior -- and clothing choice is a form of behavior -- for fear of being seen as racist.

Being alerted by behavior is not prejudice, it is (to coin a term) postjudice.

 

[Okiecruffler]

I don't want to give the idea that I treat any group differently. Well that's not worded correctly. I don't greet you any differently. I'm a hella friendly guy. Anyone within earshot gets a smile and a "howdy". But some classes will have me watching their hands a little more closely. And it's not a race thing, it's an attitude thing. The "gansta" attitude, or as my son calls it, "thug life".

 

[XDKingslayer]

or am I a redneck racist?

No. Sounds like your feeling guilty of being white though, which is just about normal in this day and age...

 

[Carl Levitian]

Profiling works, no matter if profiled persons like it or not.

Isralli intellengence does it, the F.B.I. pays it's profilers very well to do it, and our own police forces do it even if they don't admit it.

You have to go by statistics. Watch Cop's. Do you see many people in Brooks Brothers suits getting arrested? Loosers most often look like loosers. Thats fact. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it very well may be a duck. If someone had a mode of dress or looks like someone from a prison yard, I am on low red alert.

If they don't like being given the hairy eyeball, let them pull their pants up, and clean up thier act.

I profile heavy, and not apoligetic for it.

 

[Pilgrim]

The author John Norman wrote a series of novels titled: "The Chronicles of Gor." Gor is the counter-Earth, located exactly on the opposite side of the sun so it could not be observed.

Gor was advanced in some ways, primitive in others. Weapons technology was strictly limited: no firearms. Anyone caught inventing and developing a firearm was terminated. You'll have to read the books to figure out how that edict was enforced.

Anyway, the Gorean word for 'stranger' was also used for 'enemy'. The implication was that everyone was naturally cautious around strangers.

Pilgrim

 

[sweetbeard]

Yep you are racist against tattoos!

But in your defense Urban teenages are dangerous, I have been jumped twice for no appearant reason.

 

[Guns and more]

To quote a lawyer, "That's not a blatant generalization, it's a rebuttable presumption."

Suppose every time you see a story about a mugging, the guy the cops are leading away is wearing baggy pants and his hat sideways. Then you are approached by a guy with baggy pants and his hat sideways, and you get defensive, is that prejudice? No that's common sense. Forget all the PC bullcrap, keep your defenses up.

 

[CannonFodder]

Watch Cop's. Do you see many people in Brooks Brothers suits getting arrested?

No. They have attorneys who help them stay out of jail.

Those at the lowest rungs of society tend to only hurt those around them. Those at the upper echelons can hurt far more and get away with it.

 

[Zip7]

In my part of the country, most of the violent crime happens in bad neighborhoods. The worst neighborhoods are majority black. Are they being wrongly persecuted? I couldn't say, but the local crimestoppers put up billboards with the current 5 most wanted fugitives. Almost all black, almost all the time.

When you see security camera footage on TV around here of violent crime, the perp is black.

Gang violence in my area is mostly confined to majority black neighborhoods, and housing projects, which are majority black.

Personally, almost every time I've been down to the tourist district, I've been approached by a group of teenagers, sometimes they are running a scam of some sort, sometimes asking for money or a cigarette, sometimes trying to sell drugs. 100% of the ones who have approached me have been black.

But for all that, the overwhelming majority of black people that I know and meet in my area are good, decent people. I actually meet more white people that are disturbing to me than I do blacks. But maybe that's because I don't hang around the areas that criminally minded young blacks do.

TO make a long story short, where I live, it would appear that the majority of people who are wanted for violent crimes have two things in common. 1: they are black, and 2: They aren't dressed like Tiger Woods.

 

[rantingredneck]

I've posted this a couple times before, but I'll repeat it here.

I look more at what the person is doing and what they are paying attention to more than how they are dressed.

Pay attention to those who are paying attention to you.

 

[mbt2001]

uhhhhh

I guess the question is w[hat] difference does it make if a guy with tats comes up to you in a dark alley OR a guy with a business suit comes up to you in a dark alley???

I spend more time trying to focus on things that weren't there before, things that aren't there usually, people corresponding their movements to mine, people covertly watching me, people that are not focused on the hot blonde that just walked by, instead focusing on you...

Some idiot walking by tatted up or not, is just some idiot walking buy. His actions determine his intent.

Trust your guts.

You would know you are racist if, for instance, it is OK to be approached by a nutty looking white guy, but a non-nutty looking black guy sends you grabbing iron...

 

[Schutzen]

I think you are confusing issues. You need to think "situational awareness" and not "stereo typing". I live in a community that is 95% white (primarily because land rarely transfers outside of family). If an unknown black man appears in my front yard, I should be immediately suspicious because he is out of the norm for this area. That being said when black friends arrive, the door is wide open and the welcome mat is out. It also works the other way. If I, a redneck county bumpkin, show up cruising the streets of Harlem the residents should be alarmed. I'm out of place and need a reason to be there. They should not be afraid to ask and I should not be offended if they ask. Fall is fast approaching, I will be much more alarmed if a balding white guy in a $45,000 4X4 truck pulling a $12,000 4 wheeler parks in one of my field entrances that if a black man or a Mexican knocks on my front door. That truck is probably a city dweller illegally hunting on my property, while the black man and the Mexican are probably tobacco workers with a broke down or stuck vehicle. Again, be aware of the situation and aware of what is not "normal" for the situation.

 

[bennadatto]

I don't think skin color has any bearing on my personal level of awareness. There are white "thugs," black "thugs," hispanic "thugs," and so on and so on. If someone looks like trouble, they probably are, but for me it has nil to do with skin color. It is more an issue of how someone carries him or herself.

If someone looks like a thug, talks like a thug, acts like a thug...they probably are a thug, and should rightfully be regarded as such. If they don't enjoy "thug treatment" by society, they have the option to clean up a bit. And people usually demonstrate on the outside what exists inside.

 

[SSN Vet]

to me, it depends on where you are, and what is 'normal' for that location....

there's 'statistically normal' miscreants, that are specific to a particular area...

and

there's 'statistically normal' straight shooters, that are specific to a particular area....

That doesn't mean that a 'statistically normal' straight shooter won't car jack you, and it doesn't mean that a 'statistically normal' miscreant, won't give you the shirt off his back.

In general, I find that if it looks like B.S, and smells like B.S., I don't need to taste it to prove that I should avoid stepping in it.

 

[GEM]

I was at Whole Foods in Austin and checked out by two very attractive young ladies with arms and backs covered by tatoos of flower and birds and graceful designs. I immediately became very observant of these tatoos.

However, my wife went to Condition Red - and was very observant of me!

Sigh - too old anyway. Wife said if I got a tatoo, I would look like Popeye.

 

[Arc-Lite]

I watch a person of religion.....the same way I watch a person of scum.... key word is WATCH.

 

[rainbowbob]

The "gansta" attitude, or as my son calls it, "thug life".

I don't care what color a person is if they are projecting that image. They chose to project that for a reason - they are trying to tell the world something about themselves. Having little else to go on - unless I have had the opportunity to observe their behavior - I have to accept their "statement" at face value.

 

[springmom]

Color and gender are only part of the mental equation when scanning surroundings. A blond haired, blue eyed female who acts suspiciously is going to get the same level of awareness and readiness as a young black male with the gangsta pants. It has a lot more to do with "how close is this person to me? how much attention are they paying to me? are they moving to close off my route? do they have friends around who seem to be 'moving into position'?"

That sort of stuff is colorblind.

Springmom

 

[VegasOPM]

Condition yellow is condition yellow. Be aware of everyone and if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't. Don't overthink the whole thing, trust your instincts. Don't let political correctness and "Mind Crimes" make you feel guilty about your own safety.