All Cops are Racists - Unfalsifiability
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Original Question
All Cops Are Racist...
I don't believe this for many reasons, but I have friends who do. I started to wonder how this claim would fair when tested by the criterion of falsifiability.
Unfalsifiability from Logically Fallacious
Description: Confidently asserting that a theory or hypothesis is true or false even though the theory or hypothesis cannot possibly be contradicted by an observation or the outcome of any physical experiment, usually without strong evidence or good reasons.
"Racist" from google dictionary
noun
noun: racist; plural noun: racists
a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
adjective
adjective: racist
showing or feeling discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or believing that a particular race is superior to another.
Jacob
I feel that by these two definitions all one has to do to falsify the claim is to find at least one cop who is not racist. Maybe cops could vote amongst themselves to nominate the least racist cop in the USA. Then this cop could be put on trial for racism. There could be evidence for and against, arguments from lawyers on both sides, and deliberations from an impartial jury. This trial would undoubtedly find the least racist cop to be objectively not racist. The claim would be falsified. All cops are not racist. Some or many are racist but not all.
Activists have other definitions of "racist" which may be unfalsifiable.
Claim
All cops are racist because they enforce institutional racism. Racism = Prejudice + Power
Jacob
How would I falsify this claim?
How would I falsify the existence of institutional racism?
Wiki Definition of institutional racism
Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded as normal practice within society or an organization.
Comments on Question
Answers
3We'll assume that the policing system is indeed institutionally racist.
If the logic is being used to make claims about individual officers and their biases, this is a classic Non Sequitur. You cannot infer anything about "all" cops simply because on the whole, the system shares property X (also see the Division Fallacy).
To "falsify" institutional racism, ask for examples of X (institutional racism). You can then:
a) Argue that X did not happen
b) Argue that X happened, but is not racist
c) Argue that X happened and is racist, but is rare or no longer happening (and so irrelevant)
Any overgeneralization is defeated by a single counterexample, imo.
In my experience when people say "All cops are racist" they're referring to them participating in and enabling systems and institutions that are racist, in which racism is a form of bias or discrimination that disproportionately affects people based on their ethnicity.
Stuff like perpetuating stereotypes, fetishizing, all those people getting mad about taking a knee, turning a blind eye to other people's racism and refusing to acknowledge or address racial biases when brought to your attention are just as much examples of racism as saying slurs, physical violence or consciously believing in the superiority or inferiority of a particular ethnic group.
Basically when they say all cops are racist they mean that the very nature of their jobs require them to perpetuate racism, whether they're the ones beating people up and saying slurs or staying silent when their peers do it. Occasionally you hear about cops who actually do try to hold their peers accountable or refuse to participate in institutional racism but they get fired or quit and stop being cops.
There can be some problems with trying to be brief about something that needs a more verbose phrasing to accurately reflect the argument being made but it's generally expected for people to get what's actually meant by it. You're not really going to get anywhere using a different definition of racism from the one that was intended and the phrase is meant to be a short, easy way of conveying a more detailed argument you'd need to ask clarification on.
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