Decisions are Acceptable

Somewhere along the line we’ve lost something very important. We seem to have lost our ability to see the shades of grey in matters that are actually pretty important. We’ve gotten to the point where not supporting the policies of Israel makes you an anti-semite, not being in favor of affirmative action makes you a racist, and thinking Will & Grace is kind of a lame show makes you homophobic. The thing is, we are all judgmental and racist and classist to a degree. We have to accept that, and then learn to tolerate it to the extent that it does not interfere with the freedom and progress of our society. We then can define when it is unacceptable and harmful. In other words, if ALL judgments and perceptions are unacceptable, then they all become equally acceptable.

Look I’m not a big fan of racial profiling. It just smacks of... wrongness. On the other hand, the statistics bear out some trends we would be stupid to ignore. Certain types of terrorist attacks tend to be perpetrated by a certain class of people. Do we ignore that? When you’re on a plane, don’t tell me you don’t look around and size up the passengers.

I once heard some executive of a large fried chicken franchise doing a radio call-in show. Someone called in and accused him of running a racist company: “It’s disgusting and racist! How come you put those fried chicken places in black neighborhoods more than white ones?”. This business man was obviously confused by the inference. He didn’t understand the problem here. He didn’t make a connection between racial stereotypes of black people eating fried chicken and his business. He saw demographics, revenue stream reports, profit and loss statements and marketing budgets. His answer: “Well, the reason we do that is because black people proportionately eat more fried chicken than white people. I’m not sure I understand the question.”

Is he a racist?

The trick here is to rely on accurate information. There's no question that stereotypes can be bad. But they can also make things move more smoothly. It depends on how they are applied. There is room for minutia here. In order to make rational decisions we need to have the right information. We cannot obtain that information in a vacuum of secrecy. If we become afraid of even considering a judgmental thought we are doomed to innaction. All things become equally bad or equally good. Therefore, everything becomes black and white, right and wrong, good an evil.

Polarized.

There is an acceptable level of judgmental behavior that is not only normal, but actually necessary in order to get through our daily lives. We make decisions based on our circumstance and what we know. We can't possibly consider everything from every angle. We have to make the best decisions with the information we have available.

I know that not EVERY old lady behind the wheel is a bad driver, but you won’t see me lingering behind her on the Interstate. I know that not EVERY little kid is a screaming, annoying irritation machine, but you won’t see me eating at Chuck E. Cheese. Making a judgment about two creepy looking guys hanging out in a dark alley may make you walk across the street and avoid that dark alley. Maybe those guys were just helping to clean up garbage for their local Rotary Club. I don’t know, and that’s okay.