Rhetorical imagery when describing Detroit

[majohnson]

Dyes is a more constructive and objective forum than the Freep.com comment section.
Keeping Dyes that way requires a certain level of self-policing when discussing the events and issues confronting Detroit and Metro-Detroit.

For example:
I know a couple who purchased a Royal Oak house in the $100s that had been empty for longer than a year. I purchased a house that had been empty for 6 months for far less. People frequently refer to the latter only as an abandoned house.
What are the implications of framing a property as abandoned? Especially in terms of buying the house and obtaining financing, local investment, defacement?

Another example:
thug imagery
Consider the Webster's definition of thug, "brutal ruffian or assassin".
Looking to its more established usage, a self employed thug robs and a thug employed by others may be hired to beat or kill. Simply driving above the speed limit, beating your partner, or resolving another type of inter-personal conflict with violence does not make a person a thug. Such behaviour simply qualifies her as a criminal.
Labeling someone a thug is quite powerful, it brands the person as a violent professional criminal. The label establishes the idea that the person, guilty or not of the action being discussed, has a long criminal history.
What are the implications of framing a conflict as being between professional criminals? How does this affect the level of concern shown for the victims, for treatment of the criminal if caught by police, of the level of effort society should invest in preventing similar crimes?

Example:
characterization of criminals as young, no matter their actual age
I admit that an 80 year old may describe a 65 year old as young. So I seek to narrow 'young'. Webster defines it " being in the first or an early stage of life, growth, or development". A 30 year old is not in the first or early stage of life. Consider another perspective, what age of person would you address a person as 'young man' or 'young woman'? Clearly not a 30 year old.
The mention of youth into a conversation is quite insidious, it is a dog whistle at best.
Age is often overlayed with other seemingly harmless tropes.
Two shirtless men in a pickup truck, four men in a car, four women in high heels and mini skirts. Add race and age descriptions, does the meaning change? Why?
Now add a geographical description.

[Carey]

Is this a test? Will we be graded on a curve?

[majohnson]

It is not a test.
Just for people to read and think.

[Bham1982]

Obviously folks' biases help explain their descriptives. This is human nature, and not in itself "bad", IMO.

If you're walking down a proverbial dark alley, alone late at night, do you prefer the footsteps behind you come from an elderly Korean woman dressed like grandma, or a young African American male dressed in hip hop gear? This is a bias, and rooted in perceptions behind probablities.

People do need to take a more nuanced view of things, though.

[majohnson]

Bham,

What is hip hop gear? I am wearing gym shoes, jeans, and a t shirt right now. Is that hip hop gear?
The number one rap song right now according to Billboard is I'm On One by Rick Ross, Drake, and Lil Wayne.
Google "rick ross clothes", "drake clothes", and "Lil Wayne clothes".
If you are going to tell me Drake and Lil Wayne are not the kings of hip hop right now you need to snap out that dream.
Also, is hip hop clothing only applicable to men?
The most popular female rapper right now is Nicki Minaj. Google 'Nicki Minaj clothes'.

So back to the alley. One alley, young black man in hip hop clothes, the other a young black woman in hip hop clothes. Let me guess, you picked the alley with the woman?

At some point you have to resist your social conditioning to feel threatened in the presence of young black men, dressed in "hip hop clothes" or not.
prejudice: 1. a judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known 2. suspicion, intolerance, or irrational hatred of other races, creeds, regions, occupations

Having racial prejudice is distinct from being a racist. And even so, having racist thoughts does not make one a racist.

Italy is going to have to deal with its budget deficits soon. It has recently distracted itself with expelling Gypsies and blaming them for their societal ills. At some point however the bond market will burn away the folk tales and force Italians to deal with their real problems.
The question is not whether you want a young black man behind you in the alley. A more relevant question is do you want a fixed rate mortgage or a variable rate, how long are will the government distort the market by subsidizing xyz.

Racial imagery is a tool used to distract people from focusing political attention on the hard decisions.
No need to have a national conversation about defense spending when we can harrass people of terrorist descent. No need to talk about [[inter)national competitiveness of SE Michigan when we can distract ourselves with blaming our central city's demise on thugs wearing hip hop gear. Trust me Ford doesn't close a factory because a local pharmacy was robbed.

[Bham1982]

Bham,

At some point you have to resist your social conditioning to feel threatened in the presence of young black men, dressed in "hip hop clothes" or not.
prejudice: 1. a judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known 2. suspicion, intolerance, or irrational hatred of other races, creeds, regions, occupations

I think you're right, and folks do need to get away from this stereotyping and social conditioning.

Obviously the vast majority of young black males dressed in hip hop gear are decent folks, and present no threat.

But, putting aside blatant bigotry, most reaonable folks make calculation based on perceived risk. It isn't crazy to say that young folks are [[on average) more intimidating than old folks, men more than women, certain races more than other races. This isn't bigotry [[IMO), but it is bias.

The problem is that I think much of this is actually inherent in being a sentient human being, i.e, profiling is how we get through our days.

For example, a young lady is profiling when she chooses a nicely dressed, handsome, gainfully employed suitor. It may be that this guy is really a horrible creep, but she's "playing the odds", or at least her perception of the "odds".

[majohnson]

Bham,

I agree with profiling.
I claim that the American story and progressive reality is that Americans try to resist prejudices against others based on age, sex, or race.
A young petite attractive female engineer was hired at my place of employment.
Some of my coworkers question here potential and have openly stated they don't think a woman can do the job. That is simply a prejudice, she has yet to prove herself capable or inept.
But that prejudice has real impact on her lifelong earning potential.

Prejudice not only harms the observed but also the observor.
I recently hired an older male plumber, assuming he would have great skill at his age. Wrong!
Money down the drain.
Most of us don't employ prejudice to make decisions in dark alleys. Prejudice is used where and in what we spend most of our time doing, which is not hanging out in alleys.

You are shopping around for sugery, a 35 year old petite attractive blond walks in, she is your surgeon?
As soon as Bing made it into office a coworker told me he knew Bing would be a great mayor. 'Great', how, because he has a mustache? I admit on first thought perhaps Burt Reynolds makes a more reassuring politican than Pee Wee Herman, but that is how we end up with unneedlessly dissapointing officials, appearances.

I enjoy your posts Bham, always articulate. I may not always agree with your position, but you always cleanly parse the issue.