Politically Correct Crime Coverage in Madison

From Wagner on the Web:

. . . some comments on the fact that, in the wake of about 16 muggings in downtown Madison, the media in that city have withheld from their viewers and readers the fact that at least some of the suspects are black.

First, skin color is most definitely relevant. In Madison, you may have a roving group of thugs that are violently assaulting innocent citizens. In order to inform the public of what to be aware of in order to minimize risk, you’d think the media would pass on all descriptive information in it’s possession.

The editorial [from a Madison TV station] also suggests that “race is not a critical part of the story.” Well, yes and no. If the suspects were in custody, I would concede that their race would (under most circumstances) probably not be relevant. In this case however, the suspects are still at large. Therefore race IS most definitely critical to this story because it is an identifying characteristic of the particular criminals — and is relevant to helping the public understand what to watch out for.

Think about how truly ridiculous the position of the Madison media is. Imagine that a 220 pound, 45 year old white guy is suspected of raping a woman. Imagine further that the authorities are attempting to warn the general public to be on the lookout for the rapist.

Under these circumstances, does anyone seriously think that the race of the suspect is irrelevant? In the same vein, should the media not disclose the public the suspect’s age so as not to besmirch all 45 year olds? How about not disclosing the suspect’s gender so we don’t give all males a bad name?

Of course, what happens when the public catches onto the politically correct game, and starts assuming that perpetrators whose race isn’t identified must be black?

The simple fact is: blacks are much more likely to commit crimes than are whites. That may be a politically incorrect fact, but it’s true. And further, everybody knows it’s true — even people who don’t want to say it.

Facing this fact honestly, and warning people about the appearance of groups on a crime binge is far and away the best policy.