Color Me Bad

AITOOW thinks that racism isn't as indefensible as it is made out to be? For it to carry the universal stigma it carries, it would have to be wrong in all cases. It would always have to be unpredictive. As it is, it may be statistically useful. What percentage of the time must it (racism) give good data for it to be rational/acceptable? 100%? That seems to be the standard. The "I would rather let all criminals go rather than imprison one innocent man" argument. What other forecasting methods provide that level or accuracy? None. So something less than 100% has to be the standard. That alone gives racism a place at the table. It can't be whole handedly disavowed.

If you are trying to "profile" any suspect group (or any collection of data) then lowering the risk component is good. And to make it more rational than not, it would have to eliminate over 50% of the variables. Now considering our country is split about 50-50 over most issues, can we conclude that most should be suspicious of conflicting/competing agendas? That means we should predict that half the people we meet are a threat to our existence (or the way we choose to exist). A rational person (playing the odds) would therefore see all people (races) as a statistically relevant threat. Or at least as much of a threat as not (which seems very relevant) . If we assume there is an equal distribution among the races, then suspicion/prejudice is the already the smarter policy (to naivete). And given that it is probable that equal distribution is indeed NOT a constant (different groups probably think much differently), the odds of a different group being aligned with your values are probably lower still. Much lower. So from a purely rational/statistical perspective, racism is not only not a bad thing it is a very good thing. The fact that it is so easily visible makes it even more so. I'm not sure how close it gets us to being 100% sure in the opposite direction, but, it it makes it better than a coin flip. All the treatises on statistics say that that is what you need to look for. Racism is mathematically justifiable.