There is a particular school of thought that places virtue on remaining silent regarding topics associated with the “culture war.” For reference, culture war, as defined by Wikipedia, is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices.
Unless a person exists without values, beliefs, or practices, the only way to remain uninfluenced by the culture of others is to exist without contact with culture. While a Republic form of government might provide some protections, little security is enjoyed in a state where activist judges achieve cinematic glory and helpful politicians are always eager to satisfy a public whim with future public credit.
Let’s analyze a recent news item, as well as its possible societal implication and its place in a larger series of similar memes of information.
Contrary to the popular notion that America is sinking into a pit of white supremacy, a widely circulated study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) showed that the United States dropped 7 percent in hate crimes between 2019 and 2020. What does a center do when the demand for racism, which justifies their taxpayer-funded sustainment and growth, exceeds the existing supply? You dig into the numbers and try to find some trend your boss can show around.
As a challenge to the academics out there, please review the study and tell me if the following interpretations logically follow the presented data.
CNN: White supremacy and hate are haunting Asian Americans
University of Washington: How white supremacy, racist myths fuel anti-Asian violence
USA Today: Stop Asian hate, Stop Black hate, stop all hate: Many Americans call for unity against racism
Workers: Calling out white supremacy: Labor responds to Atlanta massacre
While much of the media has taken CSHE’s study as evidence for white supremacy, the FBI crime figures bring upon disparate interpretations.
Based on 2019 FBI statistics — the most recently available data — when black and white perpetrators of hate crimes were computed as a percentage of men 18 to 44 years old in their populations, evidence for white supremacy wasn’t exactly found. The black rate was 40 percent, 76 percent, and 303 percent higher than the white rate for hate crimes against the Asian/Pacific Island, Latino, and LGBTQ communities respectively. It should also be noted that the FBI data includes white Hispanics into their white classification, further mitigating claims of white supremacy.
Department of Justice statistics show similar findings. While victims of violence tend to be targeted by perpetrators within their ethnicities far more than any other, Asian victims are targeted more by other races at the following rates: 27.5 percent black, 24.1 percent white, 21.4 percent Hispanic (compared to 24.1 percent Asian).
Conclusion
When we recall the 7 percent drop in hate crimes between 2019 and 2020, a horrifying truth becomes apparent: Progress and KPI improvement have no connection to the continuation of racial identity politics. If a marathon runner is hit with a stick for each completed mile, they might have good reason to believe their attacker doesn’t want them to complete the race.
As in life, some critics wish you success and others wish failure upon you. When thinking back, which of the critics in your life who used deception had your best interests at heart?
Political opinion is an offshoot of culture. If you can eliminate the voice of the culture that continually advocates for individual rights, you eliminate that group’s ability to influence opinion or fairly represent itself. Those who stay silent aren’t refusing to take part in the “culture war” – they’ve already surrendered.
