# For the love of your country, fill out your census form! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713 "2010-03-17T00:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/101 "2010-03-17T16:35:34Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > I think it’s the opposite. I think the Census data has been specifically used to gerrymander to dilute the minority vote (not to prevent it) and used by individuals and businesses to cherry-pick areas based on the racial make up of the area. There are “black only” congressional districts as a result of gerrymandering. In a plurality voting system you can wind up severely disenfranchising minority groups depending on how the districts are drawn, and since human populations don’t neatly cabin into arbitrary voting district lines (which is what would happen if you didn’t have the relevant population data or if you used county lines) the odds are that without the data necessary to engage in “good” gerrymandering, you’re going to decrease their representation. Oh, also, gerrymandering by race is unconstitutional. > [@](#): > > _The government has no business asking about race or ethnicity_. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S (as a friend-of-the-court brief ) held the view that there should be “racial neutrality in governmental decision making”; it seems to me, that asking about ethnicity in order to “correct inequalities” goes against that. Yes, and the U.S. was proven wrong (assuming their amicus came down in support for Grutter?) when the Supreme Court upheld Grutter. Unless you’re suggesting that the U.S. government (the Executive) cannot modify their views in accordance with Supreme Court decisions, lest they become inconsistent? > [@](#): > > I don’t like the fact the federal funds are given based on total head count and not U.S citizens. I also don’t like that 1/5 of the Census is devoted to questions about race and that this information is made publically available on a website, no less. If there was a 72 year lag before that data was released, I would have no problem with it. I don’t believe the identifying information is made public? It really upsets you if the public can find out that %x in area y are of group z? ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/102 "2010-03-17T16:50:19Z")
This was the first time I’ve done a census (just moved into my own place, ker-woot!) and when I’d finished filling it out I thought maybe I’d lost a few pages. From all the commotion I’ve heard from the insane people, I was expecting to have to fill in my job, income, social security number, height, blood type, political affiliations, penis length, religious preferences, level of lactose tolerance, favorite vampire fantasy series, bank account PIN code, and sexual orientation. Name, age, gender, race. Man. The invasion of privacy… it… it physically hurts me. I was a bit confused by why it asked both my age and my birthday. Seems like one would answer the other. I guess they’re allowing for an instance where someone knows how old they are but not their exact birthday, but couldn’t you save the space by putting “enter as much as you know”? Whatever. I participated in something. I also paid my taxes today. Man, I’m like, a member of a society or something. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/103 "2010-03-17T17:21:53Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > Don’t know if you added this one to make your list seem absurd, but I actually heard this a _lot_ during the changeover, that the government didn’t have the right to regulate broadcast standards (though the folks complaining usually wouldn’t have known or understood the concept of broadcast standards)… the government’s doin’ something’ and it must be bad! It was on the list because it was both factual _and_ absurd. If there was a rational argument for that position, I sure didn’t hear it. It does kind of tickle me though to think about Thomas Jefferson and his compadres sitting around debating the role of government in regulating broadcast TV standards. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/104 "2010-03-17T18:53:42Z")
I got my census form today! And the rest of you, getting all hot and bothered - if you don’t want to specify your race then mark “OTHER” and write in HUMAN or MUTT or MARTIAN or BEESQUICK%!BOPTOPOM or whatever makes you happy. Holy crap, there have been what, 23 of these things in US history? You’d think people would have noticed by now this happens every 10 years and the world _doesn’t_ end! (That’s because it ends in 2012, which is NOT a census year!) Really, think the government can’t find you if it wanted to? Try Google Earth sometime. You’re not as Super Secret Hidden as you think you are. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/105 "2010-03-17T19:03:20Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > Man, I’m like, a member of a society or something. Ain’t it weird? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/106 "2010-03-17T20:22:04Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > I think it’s the opposite. I think the Census data has been specifically used to gerrymander to dilute the minority vote (not to prevent it) and used by individuals and businesses to cherry-pick areas based on the racial make up of the population. _The government has no business asking about race or ethnicity_. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S (as a friend-of-the-court brief ) held the view that there should be “racial neutrality in governmental decision making”; it seems to me, that asking about ethnicity in order to “correct inequalities” goes against that. Whatever happened to the we’re all equal, there no differences, race doesn’t exist, we’re all just Americans blahblahblah? Of course private businesses use Census data to make decisions about which areas to open locations. They also use other data, including data they collect themselves as well as from other organizations. If, say, Target decides not to open a store in the Allison Hill area of Harrisburg because Allison Hill doesn’t have the demographics Target is looking for, then it’s a business decision based on profit motive, which is what American companies do. That Census data are used to make these decisions is simply a product of convenience; the government collects the information and makes it available. For that matter, social services agencies use Census data to make decisions on where to concentrate their efforts; it makes no sense to establish, say, a Hispanic center in a majority-white neighborhood. Again, the Census data are used because that information is available. That being said, the mandate of the Census is to collect the information that Congress and other federal agencies ask it to collect. From the Constitution: > [@Article I](#): > > The actual enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. What this means is that the Census will be held every ten years, and that Congress ultimately dictates how it will be done. All the Census does is collect the data that it has been told to collect. It does not pass judgment on how its data are used, and it does not place conditions on how its data can be used. > [@](#): > > I don’t like the fact the federal funds are given based on total head count and not U.S citizens. I also don’t like that 1/5 of the Census is devoted to questions about race and that this information is made publically available on a website, no less. If there was a 72 year lag before that data was released, I would have no problem with it. There is a 72-year lag between the year the Census data is collected and the year it’s released. Individual records taken in the 1940 Census won’t be released until 2012, and the individual records from the 2010 Census won’t be released until 2082. Until then, data can be released collectively, just as Gallup or Quinnipiac release the data from their surveys. There is also a good reason to include non-citizens. Whether they’re here legally or not, they use community resources. They send their kids to school, use the local hospitals, roads, public-safety services, and so forth. If they’re not counted, communities lose the funding for these services that they are otherwise entitled to. But, as I said, if you want to ignore the race question or put yourself down as Wookiee or whatever, feel free. Just know that you’re not helping anyone by doing that. ---
**Author:** ![twopiecesofeight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@twopiecesofeight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twopiecesofeight)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/107 "2010-03-17T20:31:53Z")
Guess what I got in the mail? In case anyone is curious: (The form has ten questions. The questions are repeated on additional pages if there’s more than one person in the household. I took the liberty of shortening the language.) 1. How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010? 2. Were there any additional people [that weren’t accounted for in Question 1]? 3. Is this [place] mortgaged/owned/rented/free? 4. Telephone number? 5. Name, first and last? 6. Male/Female? 7. Age and birth date? 8. Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? 9. Race?\* (Choose one or more checkboxes.) (\*“Race” is the wording on the form, but I think “ethnicity” works here, too.) 10. Live elsewhere sometimes? (College dorm, military, jail, etc.) This is Form D-1. I think it’s the short form. I did not see any questions asking for income. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/108 "2010-03-17T21:23:07Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I wrote in [“HUMAN”](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/653/what-percentage-of-black-parentage-do-you-need-to-be-considered-black). That may or may not be an applicable model to the present case, however. I filled out my form, the short one, and I also filled in HUMAN as my race. Everything else I answered exactly as asked. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/109 "2010-03-17T22:00:12Z")
They’re just going to assume all the people who put “human” are white, because only a white person would be so indignant about a harmless question. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/110 "2010-03-17T23:10:32Z")
Nope, I’ve met people of other ethnicities who were just as adamant about it as some white folks - probably a lower percentage overall, but they are out there. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/111 "2010-03-17T23:40:29Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I filled out my form, the short one, and I also filled in HUMAN as my race. Everything else I answered exactly as asked. I get the impression that this assumption doesn’t fit the correspondent quoted with evident approval by Unca Cecil in the link. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/112 "2010-03-17T23:44:53Z")
They ask for age and DOB, as either are acceptable answers. You really only need to answer three of the questions for it to be a valid response. Responding to the race question is not required for you to be counted in the census, nor is your name for that matter. At group quarters, such as nursing homes and women’s shelters, people are often identified as “Person #1, Person #2”, etc., along with other identifiers such as room number and age. Outrage over the asking of the race question is just stupid, since nobody is going to be knocking on your door with a warrant if you don’t answer it. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/113 "2010-03-18T00:13:41Z")
I just hope the white team wins. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/114 "2010-03-18T00:42:30Z")
What’s wrong with white people wanting a bit more specification? I can think of several distinct groups within “white” populations that it wouldn’t be very difficult to add. For example the form could go : White, mixed or unknown Slavic/Russian Germanic Anglo/Irish/Scots Scandinavian Eastern European/Arabic ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/115 "2010-03-18T01:19:25Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > Yep. Census porn. Oh, baby! Count me! **COUNT ME!!** ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/116 "2010-03-18T01:26:48Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > My favorite story is the dipshit who saw my badge while we were in line at Rite Aid. He insisted that the Census is unconstitutional. :rolleyes: I’ve got more, but I can’t share them. Well… if you’re implying that he is a dipshit because the Census is required by the Constitution, you’d be wrong, wrong, wrong! Everyone civilized enough to raise their Right pinky at a tea party knows that this librul-countin’-numberz thing the Socialist-Obamites are jamming down our freedom-loving throats right now is **not** what the Founding Fathers meant **at all** when they mandated a national Census. A very reliable source (chicken-scratches on a chalkboard on TeeVee) reveals that in Colonial times, the word **“Census”** was a high-brow way to write\*\* “Sense Us”\*\*! The Framers _never_ proposed that Commies’ count the God-fearing from black helicopters while air-dropping condoms, not at all! They actually envisioned a nation-wide “sense us”, or more precisely, a group _“see me, feel me, touch me”_ every decade, thereby beating the Redcoat scoundrels _The Who_ to the _Tommy_ punch by two centuries! If you would just **listen** to Glenn, you’d **learn**!!! ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/117 "2010-03-18T01:41:03Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I got my census form today! > > And the rest of you, getting all hot and bothered - if you don’t want to specify your race then mark “OTHER” and write in HUMAN or MUTT or MARTIAN or BEESQUICK%!BOPTOPOM or whatever makes you happy. Holy crap, there have been what, 23 of these things in US history? You’d think people would have noticed by now this happens every 10 years and the world _doesn’t_ end! (That’s because it ends in 2012, which is NOT a census year!) > > Really, think the government can’t find you if it wanted to? Try Google Earth sometime. You’re not as Super Secret Hidden as you think you are. For race, put Indy 500 or Kentucky Derby. For sex (if they didn’t change the word to gender), it’s more fun… Yes/No/Lots/Sometimes 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/118 "2010-03-18T01:54:32Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > They’re just going to assume all the people who put “human” are white, because only a white person would be so indignant about a harmless question. They’d (and presumbly you as well) presume wrong. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/119 "2010-03-18T02:03:17Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > He takes notes (no shit!) on Glenn Beck. Why not just use paper? I mean, Glenn Beck strikes me as being a remarkably poor surface for note-taking. He’s kinda squishy and moves around a lot. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713/120 "2010-03-18T02:08:38Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > What’s wrong with white people wanting a bit more specification? I can think of several distinct groups within “white” populations that it wouldn’t be very difficult to add. For example the form could go : > > White, mixed or unknown > Slavic/Russian > Germanic > Anglo/Irish/Scots > Scandinavian > Eastern European/Arabic This makes as much sense as splitting the Asian contigency down into (essentially) nationalities. And why not do black/African the same way? I truly don’t see the difference between Korean vs Chinese, yet “white” is considered all the same. :dubious: (of course, we are all the same under the skin, but not for purposes of the census). Me, I’ve always wanted to answer “pacific islander”, but won’t. Should I put in WASP instead? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-your-country-fill-out-your-census-form/532713.md?page=7)