At 11:03 AM 8/2/01 +0200 Baardwijk, J. van DTO/SLBD/BGM/SVM/SGM wrote:
>> Of course, blacks predominantly live in inner-cities. People who
>> live in inner-cities predominantly have older cars. Thus, cars owned
>> by blacks are more likely to be safety hazards and fail inspections.
>
>This statement is only true if either (1) the inner cities are populated
>ENTIRELY by blacks, or (2) only the blacks in inner cities own cars, and the
>rest of the population doesn't.
That is not true. Read through the above again, I am simply talking about
a statistical probablility. I am sure that there are many blacks, many
people in the inner city, and many inner-city blacks who own very safe
cars. Nevertheless, the above logic suggests that a randomly selected
black is more likely to have an unsafe car than a randomly selected
individual.
I am actually quite confident that cars owned by blacks are more likely to
be safety hazards and fail inspections. I am sure that a scientist who
was engaged in the very scientific pursuit of modeling data would
immediately discover this correlation.
>Neither is the case (there are non-blacks living in inner cities, and these
>non-blacks own cars too), so your statement is false (or at least incomplete
>because it leaves out part of the car-owning population of inner cities).
Ah yes, it is incomplete. But so is the statement that "Mexican Trucks"
are unsafe. After all, there are a great many Mexican trucks that *are*
safe, and a great many non-Mexican Trucks that are unsafe.
>The correct statement would be "cars owned by people living in inner cities
>are more likely to be safety hazards and fail inspections".
What I wrote is: "Thus, cars owned by blacks are more likely to be safety
hazards and fail inspections." Given that blacks predominantly live in
inner-cities, and people in inner-cities are (still, but that's changing)
predominantly black, my statement is every bit as true as yours is.
>BTW, your statement is a very dangerous one. Now, your fellow Brinellers
>know you don't mean it that way, but people who don't know you could
>consider it a racist remark.
Ever heard of "reductio ad absurdum?"
JDG
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
