If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s this: You can make any problem seem smaller by pretending that it doesn’t exist. If you ignore something long enough, the problem you’re pretending isn’t there will become less important. Because it’s going to turn into an even bigger problem that you can’t ignore.
Here’s an example:
If you’re driving your car and the “check engine” light comes on, you should just ignore it. You don’t need to stop and look for whatever your car thinks is wrong. If you pretend that you don’t see the warning for long enough, you’ll no longer be concerned about that little light. Because the warning light will become inconsequential right after you discover that your engine has been destroyed.
See? Problem solved. Sure, you might have to figure out how to pay for a new engine, but at least the light went out.
Here’s another:
The University of Illinois at Chicago has stopped using race and ethnicity to describe offenders in their Public Safety Advisories (PSA) to faculty and students.
According to Spokeswoman Sherri Gonzalez, “The decision is a proactive progressive measure balancing public safety with the potential negative perpetuation of stereotypes. Our goal is to make everyone feel welcomed and safe on the UIC campus.”
Their most recent PSA’s carry the disclaimer: “Effective January 2021, the university will no longer routinely use race, ethnicity or national origin as a descriptor in public safety advisories.”
Well, isn’t that special. It’s nice to know that they’ve put out the welcome mat for bad actors. Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way, but I think that someone’s safety is more important than someone else’s feelings.
When I heard the news, I was pretty sure that the majority of the offenders described in their PSA’s weren’t going to be white males. After all, no self-respecting Liberal university would change their policies to avoid negative stereotypes of white guys.
Fortunately, the list of previous Public Safety Advisories isn’t very long so I could see if my assumption was correct. Their web site shows 14 incidents prior to their policy change that contain a description of the offender. Of those incidents, one offender was white, one was Hispanic, one was Asian and 11 were black.
Yup. I was right. The majority of the offenders weren’t white males. No big surprise there.
But, with 78% of the offenders being black, it’s not the description in a PSA that’s perpetuating a negative stereotype. No, what’s perpetuating the stereotype is the fact that the overwhelming majority of the offenders are, you know, black.
By not adequately describing the offenders, the University of Illinois is essentially ignoring the warning light. Instead of stopping and looking for the real problem, they’re simply pretending that it doesn’t exist. Soon their concern about stereotypes will seem inconsequential because they’re going to have a much larger problem on their hands.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see how this is going to end. Someone of average height, wearing jeans and a nondescript jacket is going to be assaulting young women on the campus. The “racially-sensitive” PSA is going to describe the offender only as being male and wearing jeans and a jacket.
While the campus police are chasing down reports from students who saw a male wearing jeans and a jacket, and who also happens to be the wrong color, the real offender is going to rape and kill someone’s daughter.
See? Problem solved. Sure, an innocent victim will have gotten killed, but at least the University can’t be accused of perpetuating a negative stereotype.
