So Color Blind It Hurts

The NY Times updates an old joke about the farmer who couldn't distinguish between two nearly-identical horses (eventually, careful measurement revealed that the brown horse was an inch taller than the white horse.)  Here we go:

Climbers of Times Building Get Different Jury Treatment

By JOHN ELIGON 

Although they climbed the headquarters of The New York Times on the same day, June 5, Renaldo Clarke and Alain Robert’s stunts were seen differently.

Mr. Robert was something of a professional stuntman, known for climbing buildings around the world to promote the fight against global warming. He seemed to scale the building playfully. Mr. Clarke was unknown until his climb to promote the fight against malaria. He seemed to struggle at times during his ascent.

Another difference: Mr. Clarke, who appeared in State Supreme Court in Manhattan for a hearing on Tuesday, was indicted on criminal charges, while Mr. Robert was not.

In August, a grand jury voted to indict Mr. Clarke on three counts, the most serious of which was a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment, punishable by up to a year in prison. A different grand jury had voted in June to dismiss all criminal charges against Mr. Robert, leaving only a count of disorderly conduct, which is not a crime, but a violation akin to a parking ticket.

The difference in the cases may come down to a simple element: Mr. Robert may have been more convincing before the grand jury than Mr. Clarke. (A third man, David Malone, who scaled several floors on July 9 before climbing down, was also indicted. After his stunt, The Times altered the building’s facade.)

You can read to the end of the story without getting a hint as to another possible explanation - the fellow who was indicted is black and the fellow who got a pass is white.  The Times story does not mention this because of their arcane unwritten rule that race is almost never a part of the story, whether it should be or not.  However, since it is the first explanation that would occur to any proper lib (i.e., the typical Times reader), the editors employ their standard finesse when they want to set aside their own high sense of propriety - they run color photos of the two men in question. 

That works for today but the Times archives do not include links to photos, so someday social historians may be scratching their heads about what went on here.  Today we are left wondering whether the reporter even thought to ask the various attorneys and District Attorney whether they believed that race might have been a factor - did they all deny having that suspicion, or was the suggestion of racism so beyond the pale that the reporter never even asked?

Too bad - if these two defendants were running for President the Times would have no trouble diagnosing the problem.

I WONDER:   If this had happened in a Southern city would the Times have thought to ask and report on race as a possible factor in the indictments?

Comments

[Rick Ballard]

Color is the sole determinant of my vote. I'll never vote for a damned Red as long as I live and Obama is the biggest Red ever to run for President.

I intend to remain rather unapologetic in my opposition to the Red progressive death cult so articles from its propaganda organs are unlikely to affect my decision. That's especially true when they lack foundation regarding assessment of probability of outcomes when examination of performance under objective standards.

That's how we know with relative certainty that Obama has a mediocre (at charitable best) intellect. If his LSAT, SAT or GPA were anything but mediocre or less we surely would have heard by now. He made it to where he is on the basis of his adherence to Red progressive 'ideals'. I just don't believe in affirmative action for progressives. No more than I would believe in it for common thieves in general.

[Rick Ballard]

under objective standards is possible.

I just love Typhuspad to death.

[syn]

I think there are way too many fascist lawyers and judges for there to be Justice in America.

Obama received 77% from the Legal/Lawyer profession....so I think it fair to call it like it is, Fascist Lawyers.

Remember throughout the decades same lawyers and judges helped to keep ACORN organized in voter fraud.

Go vote in California where the judges flush your vote down the toilet.

[kim]

The causes were different, the white man's was a campaign against global warming, and the black man's against malaria. I think the distinction the Grand Jury made, was in the skill of the climber. Nonetheless, the act was the same; the charging differed, displaying a flaw in the justice, but the disparity in the charging is probably not because Lady Justice's blindfold slipped.
====================================

[badjane]

I'm with Rick, color IS an issue and I refuse to vote red.

PS My 15 year old said it is stupid to refer to McCain States as "red states" when it is obvious the states supporting Obama are full of "reds."

[aardvark]

I hope the big lesson Republicans learn after this election is that they lost because they weren't 'Republican' enough. That sort of denial will ensure many future electoral disappointments.

C'mon guys, go have a real purge. You need to root out the moderates in your party, after all, they just stabbed you in the back this cycle.

No more 'fixing' social security, you need to eliminate it altogether. Socialism is for Europe, Americans are made of sterner stuff.

Go for it! You know it's what you believe, you just need to conjure up enough spine to force it onto a weak minded and weak willed public.

Ideological purity is where it's at; just keep that in mind during your well-deserved time in the wilderness.

[Rick Ballard]

You wish, dirtpig. Wasn't it you that was drooling over "western Europe" the other day? How's that EU progressive wet dream doing this morning? Where's the 'union' bit in Germany's rejection of UK credit cards?

The progressive European cockroaches seem to be scurrying around biting each others legs off. The 'whether' about the EU breaking up was never in question and it appears that 'when' has arrived. I wonder when the 'Euromark' will appear.

[clarice I'm NOT Spartacus]

Ah, Rick, my friend, remember last night Obama talked about how we have to coordinate our financial system with that of other countries. Perfect timing to propose greater unification.

[Jim Ryan]

Boring aardy. Just like the debate. Not surprising that you think in terms of "purges" and "conjuring up enough spine to force it onto a weak minded and weak willed public," though. Was your Soviet History prof just as sympathetic or somewhat more restrained?

What happened to the trolls with really sharp pseudo-logic? Trolls are so dull these days with their "Blah, blah. I'm squishing your head."

Send better trolls.

[aardvark]

Gallup Daily: Obama’s Lead Over McCain Expands to 11 NEW

October 8, 2008

Barack Obama holds an 11-point lead over John McCain in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report, 52% to 41%. This is the Obama’s highest level of support to date, and also represents his largest lead of the campaign.

[Jim Ryan]

That's the wrong direction, aardy: snipping newspaper text. "Not boring" lies in the other direction.

You need to develop:

1.) Incisive pseudo-logic.

2.) Withering invective.

3.) A flare for rhetoric.

This is the creed of the troll.

[Robert Speirs]

Maybe there were other differences between the two climbers. Perhaps the black climber had a criminal history, even a long, violent one. In my experience that is the main determinant of differential sentencing for what appears to be the same crime. Perhaps he had been making a nuisance of himself climbing stuff all over the city. Such differentiation has a reasonable basis. On the other hand, doing anything to "promote the fight against global warming" in and of itself should warrant a year in jail, for noxious stupidity.

[PD]

What happened to the trolls with really sharp pseudo-logic? Trolls are so dull these days with their "Blah, blah. I'm squishing your head."

Trolls here seem to be squishing their own heads.

Let's not ask what comes out.

[kim]

I don't know what it is but it smells like BO's Aeromobile.
================================

[Andrew (w'boro)]

A sad symmetry in the fact that the fellow who was charged with the more serious crime represented the more serious cause.

[kim]

True, but the warmistas would have quake in fear of the spread of malaria endemic regions with global warming. It is a hydra headed monster, AGW.
=====================================

[sophy]

We all love game, if you want to play it, please buy 12 sky gold and join us.

[sophy]

We all love game, if you want to play it, please buy 12 sky gold and join us.