Dopey Philly Inquirer Letter of the Week

Peter A. Friedrichs, like one of the LGOMB (pandora), doesn't understand what profiling is:

Racial and ethnic profiling is morally reprehensible because it seeks to label people based solely on their race or nationality ("Fear of offending is a threat to us all," Nov. 12). It is a policy that promotes fear of anyone who doesn't look or act like "us," and it has been proven to be both costly and ineffective.

Friedrichs is clever by slipping in "racial" and "ethnic." But the article which he references (Michael Smerconish's, here) doesn't advocate singling out someone based solely on one's race or ethnicity. Indeed, Smerconish quite blatantly outlines other behaviors (by, in this case, Muslims) that triggered reactions by law enforcement and others.

As for "costly and ineffective," perhaps Friedrichs should speak to Israeli authorities about that.

(Side note: The only instance where outright racial profiling is commended seems to be when discussing so-called "white privilege." Then, it's "all whites are inherently racist" -- a blanket statement that doesn't need any supportive back-up whatsoever.)

Posted by Hube at November 20, 2009 04:03 PM | TrackBack