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Do you "profile" people?
Posted by ArsenicCookies • 28 days ago • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: discrimination, profiling
Today after hearing about the an army shrink opened fire on soldiers getting ready to deploy, myself and a few of my army buddies who stayed in were talking about it. As we were getting the details, someone said yeah his name was "Nidal Malik Hasan" and almost in unison three of us blurted out "Go figure"... We sort of looked at each other like "wow did I say that out loud" and then it got me to thinking, has this war, my time in, the fact that my ex just went back for his 3rd overseas tour and other factors made me a profiler simply due to someone's name... sadly I think in some part of me it has otherwise I wouldn't have said "go figure". Now my questions for discussion are
1. Do you think this type of behavior is something that is more prominant in military, intelligence and law enforcement communities due to the repeated exposure to a certain type of "bad guy"?
2. Do you find yourself profiling or stereotyping others in your mind (somehow I am doubting many will admit to this one)?
3. What do you think the best way to get out of that mindset is?
User Comments
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When you are attacked by them from all sides then perhaps it's common-sense to profile
Being good, being christian etc will come later, because first you preserve yourself-
now there is a view I hadn't even considered. Thank you. I just hate that it's like that by default at this point
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1. The biggest "bad guys" can be found in the military, intelligence and law enforcement communities in my opinion.
2. Police and military recruiters are the worst!
3. The best way to overcome this mindset is to just go with the flow and praise our "heros". USA! USA! -
Profiling has garnered a negative connotation. I think the survival of our species has been, in large part, due to profiling. If I were to see a rattle snake on a path I was walking, I would not stop to wonder if he was a friendly rattlesnake, or not, or if I was wrongly casting an unfair reputation upon him because of the actions of a few like him. I would take steps to protect myself knowing his belief system is substantially different (and can be incongruous) to mine. This belief system extends beyond dangerous plants and animals to fellow humans, too. I do find it amusing that many people work hard to identify with groups, thus gaining unearned support and acceptance from the group identity, but when that identity turns negative, they scream "Foul play! Discrimination!" If you don't think this works both ways, consider your own reaction when you hear someone is a Red Cross worker. They reap positive associations immediately because, while they are strangers, they are "profiled" as "safe."-
But WHY does it "extend beyond dangerous plants and animals to fellow humans"?
Every poison ivy plant is...well...poison. It's part of its genetic structure. Every rattlesnake will strike instinctively if it feels threatened, and will poison you with its venom if it strikes. Those are the defense mechanisms nature gave it.
So unless you are suggesting that every middle easterner, unless genetically flawed, is a mass murdered, your argument makes absolutely no sense. -
I don't limit my personal view of dangerous behavior to genetically disposed behavior - but am extending my argument to "chosen" behavior. Whether a snake chooses to approach me or not, I am cautious and take precautions. I take personal responsibility for not increasing the statistics of snake bites. With religious affiliations, I am cautious because some belief systems can be dangerously incongruous with mine, and therefore present increased elements of danger to me. When someone has a higher-than-normal probability to associate me with Satan, and that they will be rewarded in heaven if they kill me, I maintain caution and view it as prudent. MadameX profiles in her reply by declaring anyone not agreeing with her as ignorant, so, basically, I guess she agrees (and is guilty of) profiling.
Gosh, am so sorry to have to leave this discussion, but I have to volunteer at the school. Catch you all later...maybe.
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I think it's more common among people who have a very narrow experience. I suspect that if those same people who have that same concentration of military experiences were also acquainted with hundreds of other people in everyday life who were of middle-eastern descent and clearly presented no threat to anyone, their views would be different. It's just a form of ignorance, born of seeing only one slice of a population.
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I understand that people in your field, or in the police or other government agencies are trained to profile. I can understand how they may need to do that. The same way a doctor is trained to look for certain "common" signs of disease. Often they will miss at first what is wrong with a patient who has special circumstances, but generally the find this method to work more than fail.
I grew up in Oakland, CA. Google it if you don't know. It was once the murder capital of the US, home of the worst school disctrict in America and usually by the first quarter of the year would house an average of 62 unsolved murders (thats about five per week, every week). I walked those streets and it was a VERY tough neighborhood. In order to survive, I had to profile people. I had to stay away from certain streets, certain people who looked a certain way etc. What I'm saying is, profiling is also just a very natural response to knowing, seeing or hearing about negetivity. You want to stay away from it, or you train yourself to expect certain things. I don't think it's always ok, but I understand why it happens. The media has control over what most of us perceive as the truth about the world. We can't help sometimes, that it plants seeds of suspicion over people we have no business judging.
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