Christianty & Crime...This Time Not About Meth, Sorry
The dumbest meme floating around the interwebs these days claims that Christianity has made America a less civilized country. Earlier this week, Drudge picked up a Times of London a story which itself originated with an article in Journal of Religion & Society by one Gregory S. Paul of Baltimore. Now bloggers and other denizens of the electronic media are running wild with it.
By now, you’re used to this kind of argument. Find something about America that makes it different from European countries—less soccer, more guns, etc.—and claim that this is what leads to America’s high crime rates. The most important part of this kind of argument is to absolutely ignore demography. Which is to say, ignore the totally obvious fact Europe and the United States have very different populations—that the U.S. is much more racially diverse than Europe, and this is not unrelated to U.S. crime rates.
For a very blunt and clear headed explanation of this, click through to Steve Sailer’s blog.
By now, you’re used to this kind of argument. Find something about America that makes it different from European countries—less soccer, more guns, etc.—and claim that this is what leads to America’s high crime rates. The most important part of this kind of argument is to absolutely ignore demography. Which is to say, ignore the totally obvious fact Europe and the United States have very different populations—that the U.S. is much more racially diverse than Europe, and this is not unrelated to U.S. crime rates.
For a very blunt and clear headed explanation of this, click through to Steve Sailer’s blog.
posted by Manhattan Transfer at 1:27 PM
Comments:
So wait a min. The problem with "this kind of arguement" that will locate "something about America that makes it different from European countries—less soccer, more guns, etc." in order to "claim that this is what leads to America’s high crime rates" is a problematic practice.
Rather, we need to consider the "totally obvious fact" that "Europe and the United States have very different populations" in order to get to the bottom of the issue. I'm sorry, but doesn't this strike you as slightly ironic? Seems like you're telling us "all these other spurious arguements are based on unimportant differences--but not mine! Mine's based on the one difference that counts!"
Post a Comment
Rather, we need to consider the "totally obvious fact" that "Europe and the United States have very different populations" in order to get to the bottom of the issue. I'm sorry, but doesn't this strike you as slightly ironic? Seems like you're telling us "all these other spurious arguements are based on unimportant differences--but not mine! Mine's based on the one difference that counts!"
# posted by 
: 11:46 AM, October 20, 2007
: 11:46 AM, October 20, 2007
