Bill Bennett's comments - and the more ludicrous response
Of course you know about conservative talk-show host Bill Bennett's comments, saying that if every black baby were aborted, crime would go down (which he immediately followed with, "That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.")
So I laughed outloud at this comment in this article in the primary Cincinnati daily:
"I think it's horrible to say that an entire race of people shouldn't have been born," said a relatively prominent local College Democrat.
Um, that's not what Bennett said at all. But to give the paper and reporter the benefit of the doubt, perhaps that's the only quote-worthy thing College Dem said.
One way to examine the comments: One could compare it to someone saying, "If I wasn't born, this bad thing wouldn't have happened." It's not a nice thing to say, arguabley irresponsible if coming from a mouthpiece, but if said soberly and followed with several disclaimers to acknowledge that such a course of action is simply inconceivable, could be part of a valuable debate. The introduction of race into the equation raises other questions as well, but I think ultimately it was neither surprising nor big news. Most of the media and politicians apparently reached a similar conclusion and didn't make a huge deal out of it.
If you're going to overanalyze the ramblings of another right-wing commentator, here's one angle that no one has exploited, to my knowledge: Why did he first list "impossible" among the reasons for why his modest proposal would not work? From what I've read, no one has pointed that out. Perhaps it is because it means nothing.
One other interesting sidenote: Apparently crime rates have decreased since Roe v. Wade, leading the authors of pop-econ book Freakanomics to suggest the latter has contributed to the former.
So I laughed outloud at this comment in this article in the primary Cincinnati daily:
"I think it's horrible to say that an entire race of people shouldn't have been born," said a relatively prominent local College Democrat.
Um, that's not what Bennett said at all. But to give the paper and reporter the benefit of the doubt, perhaps that's the only quote-worthy thing College Dem said.
One way to examine the comments: One could compare it to someone saying, "If I wasn't born, this bad thing wouldn't have happened." It's not a nice thing to say, arguabley irresponsible if coming from a mouthpiece, but if said soberly and followed with several disclaimers to acknowledge that such a course of action is simply inconceivable, could be part of a valuable debate. The introduction of race into the equation raises other questions as well, but I think ultimately it was neither surprising nor big news. Most of the media and politicians apparently reached a similar conclusion and didn't make a huge deal out of it.
If you're going to overanalyze the ramblings of another right-wing commentator, here's one angle that no one has exploited, to my knowledge: Why did he first list "impossible" among the reasons for why his modest proposal would not work? From what I've read, no one has pointed that out. Perhaps it is because it means nothing.
One other interesting sidenote: Apparently crime rates have decreased since Roe v. Wade, leading the authors of pop-econ book Freakanomics to suggest the latter has contributed to the former.
posted by bp at
1:25 PM
3 Comments:
It's not the abortion issue!
It doesn't matter that he said it would be wrong!
He linked blacks with crime rates, and that is just racist.
By
Julia, at 2:54 PM
I don't think it's racist to suggest to point out that crimes are disproportionately committed by African-Americans (or Hispanics like me). It would be racist to suggest that ALL blacks are criminals, or to suggest that this crime rate is caused by racial (or genetic or whatever) factors. Yes, crime is disproportionately higher among African-Americans, but this could also be explained by other factrs. Such as racism that leads to poverty, job discrimination, etc.
I think Bennet clearly mispoke. But I also think he was doing just what the Freakonomics authors did -- make a bad use of statistics (which I think he was criticizing those authors for doing).
Would crime rates go down under his example? Sure. But it would be an immoral use of statistics, which I think was his point.
For example: Would crime rates go down if we banned all offensive speech? Probably. But would this be the right thing to do (think First Amendment)? No.
By
Miguel Centellas, at 6:02 PM
Thanks for visiting.
As far as racism, I will defer to Miguel's points, and reiterate that Bennett spoke based on statistical realities, but failed to mention any sort of causal factors for crime other than race - and chose to single out a race other than his own. It was either ignorant or an attempt to offend, in typical talk-radio fashion.
I think Miguel's term, "immoral use of statistics," describes the situation well. One could tout the benefit of Hitler's medical experiments on humans and announce that future experiments could potentially cure cancer (while following it with a disclaimer acknowledging the immorality of such acts), but it would be rather irresponsible.
That's the best way I can describe it - irresponsible.
Some might be tempted to decry the backlash as excessive political correctness, but (1.) that is a pretty loaded term and (2.) it oversimplifies a complicated situation.
By
bp, at 9:47 PM
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