Urgently important new essay by @steevqj:
The Race To Focus On Race:
What happens when the narrative outpaces the truth?
"You’ve probably heard that on March 16th, Robert Long attacked two massage parlours in Atlanta killing eight people & seriously injuring another...
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The Race To Focus On Race:
What happens when the narrative outpaces the truth?
"You’ve probably heard that on March 16th, Robert Long attacked two massage parlours in Atlanta killing eight people & seriously injuring another...
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"You’ve also likely heard that six of the eight victims were Asian women. In the days following the attack, news outlets published a string of reports blaming Long’s actions on racism.
Trevor Noah made the case more clearly than most:
"You’ve also likely heard that six of the eight victims were Asian women. In the days following the attack, news outlets published a string of reports blaming Long’s actions on racism.
Trevor Noah made the case more clearly than most:
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" '…The Atlanta shooter blamed a specific race of people for his problems and then murdered them because of it. If that’s not racism, then the word has no meaning.'
There’s no arguing with Noah’s logic here. The problem is, what he’s saying isn’t true.
" '…The Atlanta shooter blamed a specific race of people for his problems and then murdered them because of it. If that’s not racism, then the word has no meaning.'
There’s no arguing with Noah’s logic here. The problem is, what he’s saying isn’t true.
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"Long didn’t blame a specific race for his problems. Instead, as far as anybody currently knows, he attacked the massage parlours because he saw them as an outlet for a sexual addiction that was causing him to “fall out of God’s grace”. Long was specifically asked...
"Long didn’t blame a specific race for his problems. Instead, as far as anybody currently knows, he attacked the massage parlours because he saw them as an outlet for a sexual addiction that was causing him to “fall out of God’s grace”. Long was specifically asked...
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"...whether the attack was racially motivated and said no. But we have more than his word to go on.
In '19, Long shared a room in a halfway house for recovering addicts with a man [who] has come forward to reveal that Long had been visiting the parlours for years before...
"...whether the attack was racially motivated and said no. But we have more than his word to go on.
In '19, Long shared a room in a halfway house for recovering addicts with a man [who] has come forward to reveal that Long had been visiting the parlours for years before...
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"...he attacked them, despite struggling with 'a deep feeling of remorse and shame' whenever he did so. [He] confirmed that Long used massage parlours because they were 'safer than paying for sex elsewhere', and not because of the ethnicity of the people who worked there.
"...he attacked them, despite struggling with 'a deep feeling of remorse and shame' whenever he did so. [He] confirmed that Long used massage parlours because they were 'safer than paying for sex elsewhere', and not because of the ethnicity of the people who worked there.
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"But despite all this, the media seems desperate to ignore these facts in favour of a racial narrative.
'So what?'
Why should we care if a few details are wrong? What’s wrong with highlighting racial injustice whenever possible?
"But despite all this, the media seems desperate to ignore these facts in favour of a racial narrative.
'So what?'
Why should we care if a few details are wrong? What’s wrong with highlighting racial injustice whenever possible?
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"Who cares if this particular shooting wasn’t racially motivated when a wave of anti-Asian crime is sweeping America? These are important questions, to which there are two answers.
"Who cares if this particular shooting wasn’t racially motivated when a wave of anti-Asian crime is sweeping America? These are important questions, to which there are two answers.
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"The first is that if you treat the news like a story, the people who don’t fit the plot are edited out of it. The white man & woman who were murdered have families & loved ones too.
There’s a second, more costly consequence of leaning into false narratives: if we don’t...
"The first is that if you treat the news like a story, the people who don’t fit the plot are edited out of it. The white man & woman who were murdered have families & loved ones too.
There’s a second, more costly consequence of leaning into false narratives: if we don’t...
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"...correctly identify the cause of a problem, we risk creating solutions that do more harm than good. This exact scenario played out in Minneapolis last year.
In the aftermath of Floyd’s murder, the narrative was that the police were an existential threat to black lives.
"...correctly identify the cause of a problem, we risk creating solutions that do more harm than good. This exact scenario played out in Minneapolis last year.
In the aftermath of Floyd’s murder, the narrative was that the police were an existential threat to black lives.
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"The perception was enough to inspire calls to abolish the police entirely, and Minneapolis City council unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city’s PD. Over 100 police officers left the force in response, leading to a surge in violent crime.
"The perception was enough to inspire calls to abolish the police entirely, and Minneapolis City council unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city’s PD. Over 100 police officers left the force in response, leading to a surge in violent crime.
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"The council then backtracked, but not before homicides rates increased by 50% , leading to 32 more deaths than the previous year.
The most frustrating thing about this move is that it came despite the objections of the black community it was supposed to protect.
"The council then backtracked, but not before homicides rates increased by 50% , leading to 32 more deaths than the previous year.
The most frustrating thing about this move is that it came despite the objections of the black community it was supposed to protect.
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"That Minneapolis City council only listened to their citizens when they were dying in the streets is a perfect example of the harm that false racial narratives can cause. The stories we weave from them are so powerful that the truth rarely stands a chance.
"That Minneapolis City council only listened to their citizens when they were dying in the streets is a perfect example of the harm that false racial narratives can cause. The stories we weave from them are so powerful that the truth rarely stands a chance.
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"One would hope this would go without saying, but one should also know better. So here it is: none of this is an attempt to minimise the violence plaguing the Asian-American community or racial violence in general.
"One would hope this would go without saying, but one should also know better. So here it is: none of this is an attempt to minimise the violence plaguing the Asian-American community or racial violence in general.
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"This eagerness to apply a racial filter to tragedies erases the victims who don’t fit the story. It obscures the motivations of the criminals. Worst of all, it tempts us to weigh the value of human life in racial terms.
"This eagerness to apply a racial filter to tragedies erases the victims who don’t fit the story. It obscures the motivations of the criminals. Worst of all, it tempts us to weigh the value of human life in racial terms.
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"The urgency with which we approach racial issues today can be a good thing. God knows they need to be addressed. But we give ourselves the best chance of doing so when we resist the temptation to put the narrative before the truth."
Read it here: medium.com/illumination-c…
"The urgency with which we approach racial issues today can be a good thing. God knows they need to be addressed. But we give ourselves the best chance of doing so when we resist the temptation to put the narrative before the truth."
Read it here: medium.com/illumination-c…
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