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Silly That This Should Be Made Necessary
10/29/2002

Instapundit offers the service of rounding up a handful of proof that, yes, the media did push hard on the "angry white male" angle in sniper speculation. In my opinion, it is ridiculous that such proof should be made necessary.

The most telling phrase, spoken by retired FBI profiler Gregg McCrary and related by Courtland Milloy, of the Washington Post:

"White males belong to a long-advantaged group that is now having to share power and control. But I think it has less to do with race than social class."

Break that down. McCrary's first point is that white males were advantaged and are now having to "share power and control," suggesting that recently secured equality breeds resentment among them. His second point is that it is more a matter of "social class," suggesting that a social deficiency is the motivator. Combined, McCrary is positing an angry white male sniper lashing out against a society because it has leveled the playing field in such a way as to push him into a lower class.

Either this is a non-sequitur, or it is racist. One cannot be below average and average at the same time — unless, of course, "below average" refers to aptitude while "average" refers to opportunity.

Posted by Justin Katz @ 10:28 PM EST

1 Comment

Right on.

As far as social class goes, you
probably have more to worry about
from immigrants who feel displaced
and unable to adapt to the new
society. Certainly, they register
a lot of cases of explosive violence while not making up a very large fraction of our society.

Sometimes the violence is directed at themselves (very noticeable among the Hmong in the Midwest), sometimes it is directed out.

Harry @ 10/30/2002 12:32 AM EST