Paul Mirengoff, a regular blogger at
Power Line,
critiques Slate's interpretation of the findings of a
Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Slate interprets the findings as showing:
A significant slice of Americans expressed racist views against blacks, and those who identify as Donald Trump supporters are more likely to fall into that group, though Hillary Clinton supporters are definitely there too.
Mirengoff's main issue with the Slate interpretation is the following:
What were the “racist views against blacks” that so many Americans expressed? The only ones that garnered anywhere close to 50 percent assent from Trump supporters (and 33 percent from Clinton’s) were that blacks are (1) more criminal and (2) more violent than whites.
But these opinions are true. Crime statistics show that the rate of criminality per capita, including violent criminality, is much higher among blacks than whites. In fact, blacks commit as many murders as whites even though they represent only a around 12 percent of the U.S. population.
It’s obviously unfair to infer racism among those who hold the correct view of the comparative criminality and violent criminality of blacks and whites. Some who hold this view may be racist, but they aren’t racist by virtue of holding the view.
A fairer statement would be that those who believe blacks and whites are equally criminal and equally violent are poorly informed.
Progressives are, by definition, poorly informed. Ignoring inconvenient realities, for them, is a virtue, an act of faith.
