And now for a totally politically incorrect and socially inappropriate blog…
I was talking with a private investigator who had an unprecedented and remarkably high success rate in recovering stolen goods in the trucking industry. When I asked him how he achieved such incredible results he said, ” Oh, it is easy. If its cigarettes, then it is the ____s in Atlanta. If it is computers, it is the _____s in Miami.”
Shaken by the blunt inappropriateness of his response I asked, “Well, what do you do with that information.” He responded, “Well, if it is cigarettes, you go into the toughest neighborhood in that town, walk into the corner quick shop gas station, buy a pack of cigarettes, compare the serial number to the list of stolen cigarettes, and confront the store owner with a demand to tell where he purchased the stolen goods.”
I offer no opinion on this. I leave that to you. But the story is true. In fact, the private investigator could have written an entire book, jam-packed with such information entitled, “The Ethnicity of Crime”.
My purpose in writing this blog is nothing more than to offer you the opportunity to see for yourself how you deal with and process uncomfortable information. Perhaps this story was challenging for you to hear. Perhaps not. I think the more uncomfortable you are with this, the greater the opportunity to gain from an exploration of how you responded to it.
Again, please hear me when I say I am offering no opinion on the politics of this. I only offer it as an opportunity for you to perhaps learn a bit more about yourself.
If you turn it around to a judgment of the private investigator (or God forbid, of me!) then you miss the purpose of this blog entirely.
I grew up hearing those words (and much worse) so there is not much shock value to me. When you grow up hearing the people you love using these words, maybe there is a different perspective/understanding.
Uncomfortable information is always a challenge for me to process. On a deeper level I feel that all exists in the Transcendent, but for me I have to intellectually take myself there to “accept” it.
It seems to me that there must be some truth hidden in a stereotype, otherwise we would not have the stereotype. This also reminds me of a talk you gave in class once about judgement being inherently part of duality. I say… Keep pushing those buttons! Sometimes I don’t like it, but it does get ‘the juices flowing’!
I think of crime from the streets to the board rooms and the global network it encompasses as well as color and creed. Cigarettes and TVs I can see are an easy commodity to choose for one class, I wonder what are comomodities of choice for others along the path to the top, as well as from nation to nation? And what is the greatest? Human? And is crime worse than it ever was before? Or has it been on the rise this century? The Age of Kali Yuga? Can Mt Soma stem the tide?
I also first think, why there is crime in the first place? Boredom, opportunity? It feels like crime isn’t poverty drive but opportunity. I do feel Mt Soma is the gateway for the change coming.
While reading this blog, I thought “Can’t wait to read the comments on this one.” Hmmm- no comments. I guess Brahmarshi was right-the subject is like a 220 volt third rail- no one wants to touch it.
I had a business in a tough neighborhood. One year I had over a dozen crimes committed against me- everything from car theft to a man attacking me with a straight razor. I could feel myself becoming judgmental as all the crimes were committed by one ethnic group. I went through a lot of angst because I didn’t want to be “prejudiced.” That was a dirty word where I grew up in my nice, all-white, neighborhood. Yet, it seemed wise to do some pre-judging. After being in business there for several years, there’s no question I pre-judged that ethnic group.
After being gone for almost 30 years, I think my prejudice has declined a great deal, although not entirely. Even in my new business, which is in a nice part of town, a high percentage of trouble seems to originate from that same ethnic group.
At this point, all I can hope is that I’m rationally prejudiced rather than irrationally prejudiced. By the way, there are other ethnic groups that have characteristic behavior patterns also. Their behaviors are just more socially accepted, so not a third-rail issue.
I can not say it was challenging to hear this story. However I have spent a significant amount of time thinking about my response. Is it not true that our conditioning that we are white knuckled on to is based on a pre-conceived notion based on how we “think” things are? Isn’t that a form of prejudging? As much as I would like to think otherwise I would probably have the same response.
I often wonder how the experience of poverty, crime violence, fear and long term unemployment would alter my view of the world and my physiology.
I enjoyed all of your comments on this. Again I leave this one to you to sort out for yourselves.