I am certainly capable of many types of casual bigotry and judgement but I don’t think that is the case here. Freakonomics has covered naming conventions several times in their books and Podcasts. Parents can literally handicap their children with overly creative names in the job market and the legal system. It is hard to show cause and effect because most families that do that are not, how can I put it politely, very astute or affluent. That includes all races and ethnic groups.
I have a very unusual name myself that is an English word that has become politically trendy at times (and not usually in a good way). I know what I am talking about. Some people react positively to my name and others don’t. I know for a fact that I have gotten job interviews and girlfriends because of it but I don’t know how many I have lost out on but I am certain there have been many.
Name bias is a real thing that has been studied academically many times. Read up on it if you aren’t aware of the literature available. The results are striking. I am certainly not the only person to make assumptions about a person based on their name. Even in this case, I have no idea what race or ethnic group De’Carlo Jackson was from. I would just bet good money that he didn’t come from any type of middle-class family.
I’m sure name bias exists. But you seem to embrace it. Such biases are a bad thing, IMO – when we recognize their existence, we should work to dismantle them, at the very least within our own person. If you recognize this phenomenon, you should work to ensure you do not judge people by their names.
Ouch! I have told people before that I am nice to almost everyone in person but I am not a social activist and I am not interested in Progressive narratives. My honest opinion is that I don’t care if some low-life gets what he deserves in a Taco Bell. From what I read, the employees did the right thing to save their coworkers and themselves, the perpetrator’s parents probably did a shitty job and I doubt anyone involved is truly happy that such a thing ever happened.
Given the self-chosen circumstances, that is about the best you can hope for. You better bet your ass that I judge people by their name and you do too just like everyone else does. You would have to be an idiot not to just like I judge people with neck and facial tattoos negatively until I know them. You would have to be a flat-out retard to treat everyone exactly equally until proven otherwise especially when one is about to pull out a pistol and threaten to splatter your brains across the floor of a Taco Bell. That is not the time for personal reflection and political correctness.
I’m sure I have plenty of biases. The ones I recognize, I try to account for – such biases are always bad in the long term, and make society worse.
I don’t have a problem with being wary, or considering that maybe someone who dresses in gang colors and with lots of tattoos might be more likely to try to rob the cashier. I really don’t care what goes on in your mind while you’re standing in line at a Taco Bell – feel free to think “maybe there’s a chance this guy is going to try and rob the place” and be ready for action or to run or whatever.
I just think it’s wrong to treat people differently, and negatively, based on things like name, race, religion, etc. Thoughts in your head don’t necessarily lead to mistreatment, when you recognize that these thoughts may be due to unconscious bias and you take that into account before you interact with them.
I’m not blaming anyone for shooting an armed robber. I’m only challenging and criticizing you for asserting that the robber’s name matters – it doesn’t. Most people named DeCarlo, or Latanya, or La’Roi, or Taneka, etc., are perfectly decent and peaceful people, and if you mistreat them then you are wrong. If you imply to others that folks with names like these are less likely to be decent Americans (or good employees or good neighbors or good customers), then you’re wrong, and you’re making society slightly worse for such folks. These are the kind of stereotypes that hurt America, and hurt Americans, and by perpetuating them, you are (in a tiny way) hurting America and hurting Americans.
This type of thinking is also stereotyping. The chance that I have more minority friends than you do is outstanding. Every morning when I wake up, I write I happy birthday wishes to my black friends spread from Florida to Washington state. Then, I head into work where my job is to help and support people from Cambodia, Mexico, Vietnam, Argentina and India among many other places. We all get along just great.
That is the thing that irritates the shit out of me and people like me. Everyone is doing well and doing the best job we can together, but because we don’t follow the typical Progressive agenda, we labeled as racists or bigots. I am open to almost anyone as long as they are nice and I have tons of minority friends including some from Africa that are the most fun of all. The people that piss me off the most are white American Progressives because they are condescending, don’t know what the fuck they are talking about and promote divisiveness.
Like I was telling my daughter a couple of weeks ago when she was introduced to a new group of people, all you have to do is hang out. It really is that easy.
I’m not calling you a racist or a bigot. I’m just suggesting that maybe you can do a bit better in a few areas, and I’d encourage you to do better. Challenging you and criticizing you isn’t calling you racist, or hateful, or anything like that. But you’re not perfect (nor am I, nor is anyone), and when you admit some imperfections that appear to be very correctable, then you might get called on it and challenged to try and correct it.
I really don’t think “everyone else does.” I mean, seriously. Is “De’Carlo” that weird to you? I mean, maybe I’m just naive, and while it’s not a common name, it’s not a name that would even raise my eyebrows a little bit, any bit more than another kid named “Cheyenne” or “Dakota” or whatnot.
I will say, if I thought about it at all, I would think of Yvonne De Carlo.
I see her Sicilian maternal grandfather spelt it the more traditional de Carlo.
It is just the punctuation that sets off the alarm bells. I am a professional Systems Analyst that works with a whole lot of Portuguese people with names that I couldn’t’ spell on on my best day. It has nothing to do with ethic names, It is the odd convention. Weird punctuation in names causes nothing but problems. It doesn’t cause someone to become a criminal but it is a marker that someone will become one.
Here is the biggest shocker of all - socioeconomic status is very highly correlated with the livelihood that someone will become a criminal. Dopers are incredulous and can’t understand how such a thing can possibly be true even though everything they say goes against that. John Wayne Gacy can probably explain reality much better than I can.
Here we go with the name Wayne again…what about John Wayne…Bruce Wayne…Wayne Gretzky…look on Google. You will see hundreds peeps named Wayne…that are not killing people or causing chaos…that is just plain crazy talk!!
And? If you’re going to carry a pistol, legally or not, you’d better have hollow points in it. Or maybe something like semi wadcutter. Anything else is irresponsible.
Not many “minorities” in Argentina.
He did say middle name. And I don’t know the status of the theory, but it doesn’t say that it correlates higher, not that everyone named Wayne is bad.
Oh…yea…I see…Wayne is only bad if it’s your middle name…that certainly seals the deal…I’ll have to remind all my friends and family not to use Wayne as a middle name…are there any known stereotypes for the middle name Lynn…cause if it is half my family is screwed!!