Race-The Worthless Metric
The subject of race has been on my mind more lately than it has in some time. I generally don’t think about it much, because I don’t waste time on chasing my tail. What I mean by that is that you can’t garner any usable information about someone from knowing their race, so why even bother. Race is a worthless metric. We use it to determine so much in America, yet it provides no real information about someone.
Telling you that Alan Keyes, Calvin Broadus, Louis Eugene Walcott and Al Sharpton are all black does nothing to inform you what these people are like. It gives you not a hint into their politics, their manner of dress, their lifestyle, their education, their manner of speaking, marital status, wealth, place of birth, favorite color, or hairstyle. The reason being is that one would be hard pressed to find many substantial similarities at all among these men, except for their race. So knowing that about them ahead of time, does nothing for you.
The same example can be done for a group of white men. Let’s take Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Charles Manson, and H. Ross Perot. Wait, that’s not a good example because all four are bats ass crazy and highly delusional. But that and white are the only two commonalities that those four men share. So how does knowing someone’s race inform us even vaguely? It doesn’t. Why waste the time?
Someone, I’m sure will want to give me a “statistically speaking” answer on this, but statistically speaking, most serial killers are white men. Should I therefore be wary of myself? Or should I shun white guys on the street for fear that they may be “the one”? I think not.
So I try to do something that may seem a little outlandish, but it works for me. I treat everyone with respect when I first meet them. The people that don’t want it or deserve it show me soon enough. That way I never treat anyone badly that hasn’t earned it. I may have done alot of things in my life that have made me feel guilty, but treating an innocent with disrespect is not one of them.