Random Thoughts on
Love and Fear
(and anything in between)

March 27, 2010

Human Touch

Yes, I know, we've been "off the air" for a little while. But, I commented on a post at the "Lawyers, Guns and Money" blog, and figured I'd repeat it here.

In that post, entitled "I'm With Edward Olmos", one of that site's contributors endorses a proposal for everyone to write down "Human" as their race, on the 2010 Census. There followed a bunch of comments criticizing this suggestion. I added my two cents:

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this is a terrible idea. If too many people do this, there would be no way to track any patterns of segregation (or, optimistically, integration) in cities, suburbs or small towns. The Census isn’t a form of political expression, it’s necessary in order to get a handle on what the country is really like in 2010. I’m just surprised that a “liberal” or “progressive” would endorse something that would mess up any way to see if our country is living up to our ideal of full equality.

What I didn't write in the comment was another thought, that this suggestion would probably sound just great to David Brooks, because it would help perpetuate his ideal of little enclaves, where everybody is exactly the same as their neighbors.

No comments: