I just had an opportunity to view a MVA record (driving record) from Maryland that listed the individual’s race as “2″.
Could it be much more derogatory than assigning an order to race? “W” and “B” are not good enough? Can’t the computer distinguish between two letters as easily as it can two numbers?
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there is the human race, all the rest are silly, meaningless and superficial constructs. once one understands this, letters, numbers, and all manner of designations will be viewed as equally insignificant.
archer on October 25th, 2007 at 4:16 pm | Link
@ archer:
the human race is one large all-encompassing use of the term “race” but race actually is a more accurate term to describe extremely large extended families. In a globalized civilization, race is now used to describe larger groups and if it helps to identify a suspect in a serious crime we need to stop all the hand-holding, cumbaya-singing, politically correct BS and admit that black, white, asian, middle eastern, polynesian and all other people do indeed look different. If you get robbed at gun point, if someone hits your car and drives off, when the police come to fill out a report are you gonna say “well i don’t see color, i only see human”?
@ the complainer:
you don’t state which race was #2. Either way, if the races were designated as letters or words, people would be disputing their own race with the DMV and the DMV doesn’t want to deal with that. You get a number, you don’t get to choose that number and you can only assume what that number actually signifies.
in profiling for criminals and terrorists physical descriptions which involve skin color, hair and eye type, and etc. are essential, but they are no different than any shorthand terms associated with observable characteristics, such as “walks with limp”, “has tattoos”, “missing left ear”. as i said; superficial. if we kept our concept and undersanding of these designations on that level, i would have no argument with it.
archer on October 25th, 2007 at 8:36 pm | Link
so regardless of numerical value, that is what has been done on the driver’s license.
archer and DBlock, you are right and speak the truth my brothers ( at least on this post
), but the numerical value is the whole point, I suppose.
I’m guessing “Race 2″ was not White. I don’t think it was “Asian” either. And I certainly don’t think it was “Pacific Islander” because that has virtually disappeared as an option on most forms that ask for race.
I’m pretty damn sure “Black” is got runner up to “White” and that does seem to be an unnecessary shove in the face.
Sure, I’m on board with archer and Jon Lennon, too. But for the time being, numbering the races is both technically and ethically unnecessary.
of course it’s unnecessary, a drivers licence, after all, has your damn picture on it! my point was since it’s stupid in principle what difference does it make how the stupidity is manifest? letters, numbers, symbols–the thinking person is not going to take this any more serioiusly than so much other effluvium of government bureaucracy.
as for being grouped with john lennon; for me, that’s an uncomfortable first–at least socio-politically. i think his “imagine” is one of the stupidest songs ever written.
archer on October 26th, 2007 at 11:11 pm | Link