{"id":7431,"date":"2015-01-16T05:57:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T05:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/01\/16\/religious-profiling\/"},"modified":"2015-01-16T05:57:08","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T05:57:08","slug":"religious-profiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/01\/16\/religious-profiling\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Religious Profiling’"},"content":{"rendered":"

I heard Nicholas Kristof use the phrase<\/a> the other night. But is there such a thing as religious profiling?<\/span><\/p>\n

I have argued<\/a> that there is no such thing as racial<\/em> profiling.  The gist of my argument is that while race can be an element in a profile, it cannot itself be a profile.  A profile cannot consist of just one characteristic.  I can profile you, but it makes no sense racially<\/em> to profile you.  Similarly, apparel can be an element<\/em> in a profile; it cannot be<\/em> a profile.  I can profile you, but it makes no sense sartorially<\/em> to profile you.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same holds for so-called religious profiling.  There is no such thing.  Religious affiliation can be an element in a profile but it cannot itself be a profile. A profile cannot consist of just one characteristic.  I can profile you, but it makes no sense religiously<\/em> to profile you, or to profile you in respect of your religion.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are 1.6 billion or so Muslims.  They are not all terrorists.  That is perfectly obvious, so obvious in fact that it doesn't need to be said.  After all, no one maintains that all Muslims are terrorists.  But it is equally obvious, or at least should be, that the vast majority of the terrorists in the world at the present time are Muslims.  To put it as tersely as possible: Not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslims.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is this fact that justifies using religion as one element in a terrorist profile. For given the fact that most terrorists are Muslims, the probability that a Muslim trying  to get through airport security is a  terrorist is higher than the the probability that a Buddhist trying to get through airport security is a terrorist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or consider the sweet little old Mormon matron from Salt Lake City headed to Omaha to visit her grandkiddies.  Compare her to the twenty-something Egyptian male from Cairo bound for  New York City.  Who is more likely to be a terrorist?  Clearly, the probability is going to be very low in both cases, but in which case will it be lower?  You know the answer.  Liberals know it too, but they don't want to admit it.  The answer doesn't fit their 'narrative.'  According to the narrative, we are all the same despite our wonderful diversity.  We are all equally inclined to commit terrorist acts.  Well, I wish it were true.  But it is not true.  Liberals know it is not true just as well as we conservatives do.  But they can't admit that it is true because it would upset their 'narrative.'  And that narrative is what they live for and — may well die for.  A terrorist 'event' may well be coming to a theater near them, especially if  they live in New York City.
<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the same with Muslims as with blacks.  Blacks, proportionally, are much more criminally prone than whites.  That is a well-known fact.  And as I have said more than once, a fact about race is not a racist fact.  There are facts about race but no racist facts.  There are truths about race, but no racist truths.  The truth that blacks as a group are more criminally prone than whites as a group is what justifies criminal profiling with race being one element in the profile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, there is no such thing as racial profiling; what there is is criminal profiling with race being one  element in the profile.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two mistakes that Kristof makes.  He uses the unmeaning phrase 'religious profiling.'  Worse, he think there is something wrong with terrorist and criminal profiling, when it is clear that there isn't.
<\/span><\/p>\n

But Kristof's heart is in the right place.  He doesn't want innocent Muslims to suffer reprisals because of the actions of a few.  Well, I don't either.  I have Turkish Muslim friends.  I met Zuhdi Jasser<\/a> a while back. (The sentence I just wrote is logically independent of the one immediately preceding it.)   Perhaps you have seen him on The O'Reilly Factor<\/em>.  An outstanding man, a most admirable Muslim man.  May peace be upon him and no harm come to him.  I mean that sincerely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tsa-baggage\" <\/p>\n

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I heard Nicholas Kristof use the phrase the other night. But is there such a thing as religious profiling? I have argued that there is no such thing as racial profiling.  The gist of my argument is that while race can be an element in a profile, it cannot itself be a profile.  A profile … Continue reading “‘Religious Profiling’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,119,163,15,375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-and-punishment","category-islamism","category-leftism-and-political-correctness","category-race","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}