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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 17, 2023

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And that, therefore, there is some reason to think that this person -- who apparently acted out of fear of a young, black male -- might have responded, in part, because of the race of the victim. Such a hypothesis is consistent with what we know about interracial dynamics.

...

Re the other incident, I did not say that it is not rational to believe that black people have no racial motivations -- see my reference in another comment to the Zebra killings -- but rather that there is no evidence of that in this particular case other than the race of the respective parties.

These two prongs of your argument seem to be in tension. When a white guy shoots a black youth, "interracial dynamics" can be appealed to. When a black guy shoots a white kid, why do similar "interracial dynamics" not apply? Just as there's a common perception among the white population that black youths are disproportionately criminal, there's a common perception among the black population that white people are disproportionately racist/evil/innately-hostile. Why should the former inform our understanding, but not the latter?

but rather that there is no evidence of that in this particular case other than the race of the respective parties.

At the moment at least, there's no evidence in the current case either, that I can see. Isn't population-level inference the entire case you're arguing for?

Unlike the case of the old guy, this incident is so unique that there are no previous incidents to draw upon to make an inference.

It's not, though. Unprovoked, vicious attacks on other ethnicities by blacks are... I'm not sure we have a working definition of "common" good enough to apply here, but certainly common enough that they've resulted in multiple live national-scale political issues over the last several years: various examples of anti-white hate crimes, the recent spate of Anti-asian hate crimes, and whether or not "polar-bear hunting" exists being three examples. There's another example of a lady abruptly shooting a white kid in her yard in this very thread.

These two prongs of your argument seem to be in tension. When a white guy shoots a black youth, "interracial dynamics" can be appealed to. When a black guy shoots a white kid, why do similar "interracial dynamics" not apply?

AsI said, because of the specific facts of the cases. Those dynamics often result in individuals feeling fearful of young black males and acting accordingly. In contrast, they do not often result in people shooting little kids in broad daylight.

At the moment at least, there's no evidence in the current case either, that I can see. Isn't population-level inference the entire case you're arguing for?

Which is why I was very careful to say that it is possible that race might be a contributing factor. I also specifically said that it is quite possible that the shooter is just insanely paranoid, as was the wife in the Japanese exchange student case I linked to. In contrast, as I said, the OP claimed that this was a blatant case of racial hatred. Which, as I said, is a much, much stronger claim.

not, though. Unprovoked, vicious attacks on other ethnicities by blacks are... common enough .., hate crimes.

The problem with relying on hate crime data is that hate crimes do not require any evidence of animosity. For example, choosing a gay victim for a robbery out of a belief that gay men are wimps unlikely to resist is enough to constitute a hate crime. Also, of course, purse snatching in which the perp says, "let go, bitch" will be charged as a hate crime. Because overcharging is what DAs do.

Perhaps more importantly, you are ignoring the very unusual facts of this case, ie, the age of the victim.

But again, the key point is the very strong nature of the claim made by the OP.

Edit: BTW, black people commit a lot of crimes, many with white victims. But only a tiny minority are hate crimes. Why should we think (let alone be as sure as OP is) that this is an exception?