# Look, we all know that if Michael Brown had been white . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 25, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603 "2014-11-25T16:23:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/121 "2014-11-29T19:08:10Z")
People who don’t like being lumped into groups shouldn’t lump people into groups. “Don’t trust whitey” and similar comments is a fantastic way to cause a whole bunch of minds to snap shut. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/122 "2014-11-30T01:42:19Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Yeah, it’s not obvious to ‘you people’ who naturally assume anyone who dares criticize African-Americans for anything whatsoever must be a racist. You’ve all proven my point, that political correctness rules your thought & speech. Well good luck with that. > > And as an aside, you apparently haven’t noticed that a major theme of The Straight Dope is the truth. Cecil’s politics tend to lean left, but he never lets that make him deny the plain truth about any issue or question, regardless of whether it fits into anyone’s comfort zone… Political correctness is the absolute antithesis to the very core of what this board is about. And since the vast majority of regular posters here agree with this I don’t think there’s much point in continuing this discussion… No, they fucking don’t. The belief of this board is that “political correctness” just means basic politeness and not being a dick to people. In fact, it was the fact that you brought up political correctness as something bad that made me first think you might be racist. Lack of political correctness has nothing at all do with truth, because political correctness has nothing to do with hiding the truth. The people who tend to think it does have to do with truth tend to believe racist things as being true, and blame political correctness for not being able say them. Saying you don’t want to have to be politically correct is saying “I want to be able to be a douchebag and not have anyone call me on it.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/123 "2014-11-30T02:01:53Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Which fact in Mr Kirkpatrick’s article was most egregiously wrong? > > And assuming the facts are wrong, does it make one racist to erroneously believe such a fact? There aren’t any such facts in the article. They are opinions that are only backed by racist sentiment. If you believe those opinions are facts, you do so because you believe the racist sentiments are fact. Racist opinions include thinking that the fact that you lived in a black neighborhood once means you know what all black people are like, comments about this “used to be our country,” speaking of “blacks” as if they were animals rather than people, the repeated use of “black” as a noun, the complete dismissal of microaggressions, comments about political correctness that I’ve already covered in a previous post, comments about an “anti-white” narrative in the “Main Stream media” (it’s an anti-racist narrative, not anti-white), reference to a racist blog as truth, calling petty crime a cultural ritual, dismissing the other black people who tried to stop a thief, dismissal of rap as an artform, equivocating the difference between black and white people and the music the listen to, a ton of anti-black anecdotes being promoted to data, acting like parents wanting the death penalty for their son’s killer is unusual and discounting all the anti-violent things they said later, claims that black people are less often arrested for crime, and claims that the militarization of police is just a reaction to how violent black people are. You might be able to pick out an individual part of what I put up above as not necessarily racist. But, in total, it is racist. If you see that racist tirade as not racist, then it’s a pretty good bet you have these racist beliefs and so just accept them without question. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/124 "2014-12-01T21:12:48Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Which fact in Mr Kirkpatrick’s article was most egregiously wrong? > > And assuming the facts are wrong, does it make one racist to erroneously believe such a fact? Yeah, it does - especially since I don’t see any facts there, just prejudicial projecting. But if you want to point out what you consider the “facts” in the article, I have no problem arguing against them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/125 "2014-12-04T17:34:08Z")
[#CrimingWhileWhite.](http://www.salon.com/2014/12/04/crimingwhilewhite_reveals_the_truth_about_racial_bias_and_policing/) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/126 "2014-12-04T20:45:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [#CrimingWhileWhite.](http://www.salonsuxs.com/2014/12/04/crimingwhilewhite_reveals_the_truth_about_racial_bias_and_policing/) Has anyone vetted the autenticity of these “crimingwhilewhite” posters? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Dracula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@Count\_Dracula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Dracula)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/127 "2014-12-04T20:53:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > . . . and were the exact same size, and had done the exact same things, he probably would be alive today; and if he were not alive, Darren Wilson certainly would be facing an indictment today. Does anyone here seriously doubt either part of that? I think the above statement is quite foolish and because of it’s “racist” overtone, it clearly defines a big problem in this country today. All people, white or black, need to be accountable for their actions. A grand jury found Darren Wilson not guilty of a crime. Anyone who cannot accept this from the grand jury further stirs the pot instead of accepting reality. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603/128 "2014-12-04T21:03:43Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Has anyone vetted the autenticity of these “crimingwhilewhite” posters? Apparently Salon believes Twitter is a valid “cite”, and **BG** falls for it every time. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-we-all-know-that-if-michael-brown-had-been-white/705603.md?page=6)