It's time to stop racial profiling and start profiling rich white men.
February 26, 2002 10:19 AM   Subscribe

It's time to stop racial profiling and start profiling rich white men. So says one man's editorial. I think we can all agree -- it'd probably prevent another Enron.
posted by tiny pea (30 comments total)
 
horray!
posted by Satapher at 10:24 AM on February 26, 2002


This is the best example I've ever seen of why "clever" doesn't necessarily equal "smart".
posted by dagny at 10:26 AM on February 26, 2002


Wouldn't profiling rich white men still be racial profiling?
posted by Saima at 10:27 AM on February 26, 2002


'cause, you know, we'd rather have another 3000 go t*ts up than lose $3000 out of our 401(k)'s... I think the expression for this sort of this is "not 'smart' smart, more like 'smartass' smart"...
posted by clevershark at 10:31 AM on February 26, 2002


This article has to be a joke.

Where an ordinary American sees a baby calf suckling at its mother's teat, a rich white man sees veal;

we must round rich white men up and segregate them from society so they can do no harm.

rich white men maintain a standing army of blacks, Latinos, and poor white men to do their fighting for them.


I think this is the best example I've seen in awhile of how so-called "reverse-racism" is really just plain old every day racism.
posted by plaino at 10:37 AM on February 26, 2002


It's obviously satire, kids. Get over it.

Jesus, I guess people are going to have to start putting smileys on their editorials now.

:) :) :)
posted by RylandDotNet at 10:43 AM on February 26, 2002


Looks like an immodest attempt at A Modest Proposal. Swift is gravespinning. Still, if we're doing racial profiling on Muslims, no one's immune. I see the guy's point, but I don't see why he chose to get it across in this manner. It's counterproductive and unhelpful... like most of my smart ass remarks on MeFi, come to think of it.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:54 AM on February 26, 2002


Actually, it wouldn't surprise me at all if "rich white males" are profiled in the white collar crime divisions of police agencies. I'm fairly certain that particular rich white males and their businesses are routinely investigated, audited, and surveyed for securities fraud and a host of other crimes -- without any real reason to suspect guilt other than the fact that they are rich, white executives.
posted by pardonyou? at 10:58 AM on February 26, 2002


Drop the White and he has a better point. It's a class thing, not a race thing. See Jim Goad's Redneck Manifesto. (sorry, couldn't link it, preview isn't showing Link, just text).
posted by Mondo at 11:00 AM on February 26, 2002


Drop the White and he has a better point. It's a class thing, not a race thing. See Jim Goad's Redneck Manifesto. (sorry, couldn't link it, preview isn't showing Link, just text).
posted by Mondo at 11:00 AM on February 26, 2002


Just as some people took Swift's "Immodest Proposal" seriously (as well as Daniel Defoe's earlier outing in this line), it seems that people are taking Mr. Flynn seriously. The high dudgeon of some of those responses on that page, however, is funnier than the original piece. He's definitely in need of sarcasm tags.
posted by thomas j wise at 11:06 AM on February 26, 2002


Folks might be taking Flynn too seriously, but he's ignoring the fact that women like Lynda Clemmons were instrumental in some of Enron's high-level scams; Business Week called Clemmons "emblematic" of Enron's culture. She was known as the "Weather Babe" and came up with their weather derivatives business (which, like most of their businesses, failed to live up to its hype). The point is that the rich-white-men argument remains stupidly sexist whether it's meant as an attempt at satire or not.
posted by mediareport at 11:19 AM on February 26, 2002


Stupid offensive yet right on and makes a point. Some people fall for it, some people are proud not to fall for it, some people are called to action. Swiftian, yet clumsy and halfassed.

Well no, nobody called to action. That was a joke.
posted by Settle at 11:29 AM on February 26, 2002


start with congress. truly a den of theives.
posted by quonsar at 11:36 AM on February 26, 2002


I'm fairly certain that particular rich white males and their businesses are routinely investigated, audited, and surveyed for securities fraud and a host of other crimes -- without any real reason to suspect guilt other than the fact that they are rich, white executives.
you live in a dream world.
posted by quonsar at 11:38 AM on February 26, 2002


Do you think if the link was to a site with the domain www.itsfuckingsatireyoudumbfuck.com people would still insist on taking it literally?
posted by kerplunk at 11:44 AM on February 26, 2002


I think www.dumbsatirebyadumbf*ck.com would be more appropriate.
posted by Catch at 12:25 PM on February 26, 2002


quonsar: "you live in a dream world"

Do I, quonsar, or do I know a number of District Attorneys and Assistant Attorneys General in white collar crime divisions? I guess if it's all a dream, I'll never know.
posted by pardonyou? at 12:25 PM on February 26, 2002


Wow! We've really come a long way since Howard Stern's 'kill whitey' bit 20-some years ago. (NOT)
posted by HTuttle at 12:42 PM on February 26, 2002


Sorry to burst anyone's bubble but adequacy.org is 100% satire.
posted by eyeballkid at 1:07 PM on February 26, 2002


...just not very good satire.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 1:33 PM on February 26, 2002


You can bet if someone produced a 'satirical' piece about how petty criminals are always poor black men who should be 'rounded up', and someone linked to it here, it would be deleted instantly.

Stupid racial generalizations, whether they seem true or not, are stupid racial generalizations, and only serve to foment the kind of soft-minded thinking characteristic of bigots on both sides.

Gimme a break, folks.
posted by evanizer at 1:55 PM on February 26, 2002


evanizer = voice of reason.

And for that crime, we must now hunt him down and kill him. Loose the hounds! :)
posted by UncleFes at 2:11 PM on February 26, 2002


evanizer = voice of reason.

And for that crime, we must now hunt him down and kill him. Loose the hounds! :)
posted by UncleFes at 2:11 PM on February 26, 2002


And we must do it TWICE!
posted by UncleFes at 2:13 PM on February 26, 2002


this is the exact same thread as every other time someone's posted an adequacy.org link.

i'd say the author has successfully accomplished what he set out to do.
posted by chrisege at 2:52 PM on February 26, 2002


Er...Swift's "Modest Proposal" ('scuse the earlier typo) is the eighteenth-century equivalent of "a 'satirical' piece about how petty criminals are always poor black men who should be 'rounded up.'" (Does anti-Irish prejudice no longer count?) It offers a "logical" endorsement of extreme prejudice. That was the point, and that remains the point whenever somebody does a piece in that mode.
posted by thomas j wise at 2:53 PM on February 26, 2002


Oh, damn. I didn't notice this as an adequacy.org article. I feel violated :(
posted by kaemaril at 3:28 PM on February 26, 2002


Does anti-Irish prejudice no longer count

Nope, were just another bunch of (pasty) white people now.
posted by Mick at 4:59 PM on February 26, 2002


Nope, were just another bunch of (pasty) white people now.

Until we've had a pint or two, then we're rosy-cheeked pasty white people, Mick.

For the clue-impaired:

ME AND MICK'S COMMENTS ARE SATIRE!

Cheesy mediocre satire, yes, but so was the article that started this thread.
posted by jonmc at 7:30 PM on February 26, 2002


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