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So, for my philosophy class, we have to write an argumentative essay about the death penalty. Now, I'm fairly comfortable with my personal view of the validity of this form of punishment. That's not the issue. My issue is that in order to do this essay, we have to read 2 articles out of our text books and use them as the basis for our essay. The one for the defense was ok, nothing hugely spectacular that left me agreeing whole heartedly with the author, but then, I'm not really all that surprised. The one for the case against, on the other hand, makes me want to scream.
I have only gotten 2 pages in to it, and I want to kill someone..... no the irony does not escape me on this...... The article is so racially biased that I'm having a hard time trying to read it for any factual evidence. some of the things they are using make me want to find the author and ask him if he bothered to look at the figured for the rest of the country. He seems to be focusing on the areas of the US that are notorious for not treating people the same way due to the colour of their skin.
It's this kind of writing that makes me want to slap people and tell them to get their heads out of their asses. That African-American population has come a long way since the days of slavery, and I applaud them for the success they had found. No-one has the right to treat others differently simply because they don't look like you. I know it still happens, but I try (I'm not perfect, and I will never say I am) to treat people the same no matter what.
For an article like this to be used in a course about morality makes me want to scream.
Ok, done now. Sorry about this guys...... just a little wound up today..... ignore as you will
I have only gotten 2 pages in to it, and I want to kill someone..... no the irony does not escape me on this...... The article is so racially biased that I'm having a hard time trying to read it for any factual evidence. some of the things they are using make me want to find the author and ask him if he bothered to look at the figured for the rest of the country. He seems to be focusing on the areas of the US that are notorious for not treating people the same way due to the colour of their skin.
It's this kind of writing that makes me want to slap people and tell them to get their heads out of their asses. That African-American population has come a long way since the days of slavery, and I applaud them for the success they had found. No-one has the right to treat others differently simply because they don't look like you. I know it still happens, but I try (I'm not perfect, and I will never say I am) to treat people the same no matter what.
For an article like this to be used in a course about morality makes me want to scream.
Ok, done now. Sorry about this guys...... just a little wound up today..... ignore as you will
There's an article against the death penalty which is racially biased and focuses on areas of the US notorious for racial descrimination.
If I got that part right, which direction is it racially biased in and why does it bug you? Because it sounds like it's an article against the death penalty because it would be used more often against racial minorities.... But I can't see why that would get your goat in a ranty sort of way. Did I completely miss something?
Just think the article is very racially inflamatory. My opinion.
I'm not trying to poke at your opinion - I'm trying to figure out what it is. Because it strikes me that an article addressing racial discrimation and the death penalty is exactly the kind of thing that should be discussed in a class about morality, so there must be an angle that I'm not getting that makes you feel the way you do.
As for the article, The way I read it, the author was not providing accurate information the whole way through. What he was doing was using whole statistics for the country, but for situational evidence was using only information from states that are notoriously biased towards minorities.
Now, yes, you are right in that it would be a good topic to have as a subject for a class on morality, but at the same time, the fact that I felt it was inflamatory and biased made me very angry to read it for said class. Hard for me to try and expalin, but I hope that makes more sense? God knows I don't.
I assume that the article focuses on the US? Is capital punishment a federal thing or a state thing? Do you think that the situational evidence was inaccurate for those states? (I'm avoiding, right now, the extrapolation of said situational evidence to the rest of US because I agree with you insofar as such extrapolation is never automatically self-evident.)
Was it inflammatory in the sense that it's focus was on blame rather than on revelation of an existing bias? Because, frankly, it would not surprise me in the least if the article's basic premise ("Black people are more likely to be sent to death row for crimes than white people.") was true.
... Hey, is it possible for you to send me the article? Or something? Because talking vaguely about an article I haven't read is a little... vague. Or maybe if I could get the title and author, I could find it myself? Assuming it's printed in a journal or something I can get my hands on....