Our friends on the left and their media allies have a propensity for running around screaming that the world is coming to an end, because of a problem that doesn’t exist.
Politicians and the media have presented the Chauvin case as evidence of pervasive systemic racism throughout law enforcement across the country. The Chauvin case is, in fact, a single data point. Ask a statistician to draw inferences and conclusions from a single data point sometime.
Proposition: “There is systemic racism within law enforcement.”
Question: “What evidence do you have of systemic racism?”
Answer: “The outcome.”
Question: “What evidence do you have that racism is driving the outcome?”
Answer: “The outcome.”
Perfectly circular, as Ben Shapiro points out in a recent Town Hall article, which is to say perfectly worthless. Andrew McCarthy points out that no evidence of racism (systemic or individual) was presented during the Chauvin trial.
A system, broadly defined, consists of a set of inputs, the internal machinations of the system (how the inputs interact and are acted upon), and the outputs. Outputs are simply that; results. Causes can not be found in outputs. Causes are found in inputs and internal actions and interactions within the system.
The left can not point to any evidence of systemic racism other than the outputs, yet every proposed “solution” involves changes to the inputs and the internals of the system. I can only guess that this makes sense in the world of circular logic and postmodernist thinking.
Let’s have a look at this outcome “evidence” then.
Washington Post maintains a database of police shootings. Interestingly, the Post does not trust Justice Department data (note that the Post claims the FBI underreports police shootings), they state that they rely on news media accounts, social media, and police reports. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the database does not record whether or not the shooting was justified.
According to the Post database, in 2019 there were 12 police shootings of unarmed black people. The same year there were 26 unarmed white people shot by police (2x), and 39 people killed by entrapment in grain bins (3x).
When was the last time you recall breathless media reporting on grain bin deaths? Have you ever heard a politician mention grain bin deaths? Is this the outcome “evidence” that supports the notion of systemic racism?
The shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant was (at least initially) reported by the media as yet another case of systemic racism in law enforcement. No mention of the fact that from all appearances it was justified. She wasn’t shot because she was black, she was shot because she was in the act of assaulting another person with a deadly weapon. Floyd wasn’t killed because he was black, if such evidence existed the prosecution would certainly have presented it. Yet these single data points are presented without nuance or perspective as “evidence” of a widespread “problem.”
Depending on the source, and the year, rifles are used in about 2% of homicides. Put another way, 98% of homicides are not committed with rifles. This is all rifles, not limited to those the media deem scary looking. Nonetheless, the existential threat to public safety is the “assault rifle” according to the left.
These numbers, in context, are vanishingly small. No matter what race you are, of all the things that can kill you, the odds of being shot by police, or being shot with an “assault rifle”, are practically non-existent. But you won’t hear this from the media or politicians.
Our constitutional republic depends, for its very existence, on an informed electorate. Today, those of us seeking accurate information have a daunting task. When reporting on police shootings and gun control, The Washington Post could use their own data to provide perspective and nuance; they don’t. How many real problems could we be addressing if the national conversation was not consumed by non-existent “problems” fabricated by the media?
The damage and disservice to our republic presented by the media can not be overstated.
Gadsden1
Resources:
The Washington Post
Police Shooting Database
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/
ANDREW C. MCCARTHY
What the Media Didn’t Tell You about the Chauvin Case
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/04/what-the-media-didnt-tell-you-about-the-chauvin-case/?utm_source=recirc-mobile&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=hero&utm_content=related&utm_term=first
Ben Shapiro
The Circular Logic of Systemic Racism
https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2021/04/28/the-circular-logic-of-systemic-racism-n2588619
The Dispatch, Jonah Goldberg
https://thedispatch.substack.com/p/the-war-on-nuance
Podcast, National Review, Charles C.W. Cooke and Kevin D. Williamson
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/mad-dogs-englishmen/episode-308-grain-silo-fearmongering/
Bart Pfankuch
Grain Bin Accidents and Deaths Rising Due to Poor Crop Conditions
https://dailyyonder.com/grain-bin-accidents-and-deaths-rising-due-to-poor-crop-conditions/2020/06/10/
Originally published at https://gadsden1.com on May 1, 2021.
