Atheists, George Zimmerman and the burden of proof

[FlyingNarwhal]

That's an interesting interpretation of what I actually said:

Now, you can incorrectly ascertain from what I just said that I'm implying that you're a racist. Given your other positions, I can't believe that's true, but you open yourself up to misunderstanding when you use a term racists frequently use to attack those who expose them as racists.

I'm pretty sure I got my interpretation pretty spot on, I'm afraid you may have misunderstood what I was saying here.

He used the term "race-baiting" and you first made the generalization that the only people that use the term "race-baiting" are racist.

You did in fact make the generalization that the term "race-baiting" is used almost exclusively by racists in the latter portion of your statement:

Given your other positions, I can't believe that's true, but you open yourself up to misunderstanding when you use a term racists frequently use to attack those who expose them as racists.

and

And then made the inference using bad evidence that La Ban might be racist for using the term.

I choose my words carefully, and I chose "might be" because I understood that at that time you were not full out accusing him, but I could see you putting that option on the table.

It's not an assumption. It's a culmination of viewpoints he previously stated, among which:

it is true that young black men are the most criminally minded combination of sex,skin colour and age in the USA

In all this talk about blanket generalizations, this one stands out because of the obvious implication that black males are 'criminally-minded'. It ignores the reality of social and economic factors which are the catalyst for criminal behavior. It's a page right out of the white racist handbook. Lock your doors, there are criminally-minded young black males around.

Again, view points that you have twisted on your own to conform to your racial hypersensitivity. You attributed the term "race-baiter" almost exclusively to racists, false. That people that use the word thug secretly mean black people, false. And what La Ban said about young black males being more criminally minded seems more like a poorly worded choice of words, especially considering he further expounded upon what he meant later on when he said:

Wheras the reality is that it is a combination of poverty, a culture amongst teenagers that devalues education, absence of father figures as disciplinary agents and role models, a sense of alienation from majority society, cultural imagery that glorifies criminal lifestyles and genetically higher than average levels of testosterone. Because I am a liberal and beleive in the scientific process and am essentially a determinist I fully understand that people subject to all the above are going to be vastly more likley to commit crime. I have no interest in punishment or retribution but to seek effective methods of dealing with the situation, something that sets me directly apart from conservatives .

Sounds to me like he isn't ignoring the social and economic factors you speak of, he in fact addressed quite a few of them here. He even talks about his desire to address those issues as well. The fact of the matter is that it is these social and economic factors that drive a large portion of young black men to crime. So yes, young black males are in fact more likely to commit crime but that is mainly due to these outside influences. Something which I'm pretty sure both you and La Ban probably agree on, but again due to your hypersensitivity you have called him out to be a racist.

You should actually read the thread before you respond to it.

I did, I suggest you do the same and not jump to conclusions so rapidly.