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I hate to interrupt this little rohrshack test vindication thread with actual considerations but here goes.
1. Geography students using judgment to determine what is offensive and what is not would bring with themselves thier own biases and of course regional dialogue. They were California college students so they might not be able to correctly identify due to the terminology being used more on the eastern half of the country. Also not knowing the ethnicity of the speaker would IMO make identifying commentary like using the N-word as racist....a dicey proposition.
2. Per #1, anyone with a grain of analytical experience has to look at the map and see major red flags in that CA and other states are literally pristine in comparison. I call BS.
3. They only used geocoded tweets. This may not be used uniformly across the US and even specific states might have laws against such coding.
4. 150,000 tweets total. Lets say 2% are racist....thats only 3,000 tweets. That means just a handful of people could be generating 100+ racist tweets and thus responsible for a big red splotch on the map. In short, just how many racist tweets make up this map?
4b) The study should normalize and count each racist tweeter a ONE, not as 5, 20, 100 or more based upon their proclivity to tweet.
Excellent points. Seems this map was crafted to garner specific results. Its really inaccurate based on what you've illustrated. For example "G**k" in Kansas seems to be coming from a single point -- so (most likely) one racist jerk in the middle of Kansas shows up like a beacon the way this map is designed.
It also only examines certain groups. What about slurs aimed at other ethnicities and groups, like Jews, Italians, Irish, Indian, Christian, Muslim, Southerners, etc?
Here is a problem with those conclusions. They never identified the people that posted. The N word could have been tweeted by young black males to each other. Certainly, it could have also been racist white people or anyone else. What this really is is a tally of the use of politically incorrect terms with no context or way to determine if it actually represents hate. It may also represent something meaningful, but it's not a particularly robust way to measure hate.
I cna't vouch for other states, but that is not the case for PA. I know this state better than almost every poster on here, as I grew up here. ALL of the bigger splotches you see in PA are from areas that are demographically homogenous, and many of these areas are also economically depressed. Perry County, that splotch near Harrisburg, is famous for being the most backwards county in south-central PA, along with Mifflin County and Juniata County. Everybody that lives along the I-81, I-83, and I/PA 287 triangle know those 3 counties rival rural Alabama in terms of backwardness. So, that being said, this map is pretty accurate, especially in the states with lower numbers of blacks compared to the Deep South where more than 1/3 are black. Still doesn't disprove the map. Look at the subtle racist dog whistle posts posted by most of the neo-Confederates on here. Similar **** I heard from the poor rural whites I grew up with
Here is a problem with those conclusions. They never identified the people that posted. The N word could have been tweeted by young black males to each other. Certainly, it could have also been racist white people or anyone else. What this really is is a tally of the use of politically incorrect terms with no context or way to determine if it actually represents hate. It may also represent something meaningful, but it's not a particularly robust way to measure hate.
"The N word could have been tweeted by young black males to each other"
Or people quoting their favorite Rap sound. I was at a bar last year and every song was N word this or some crap about killing a womans genitals. Both of these could come up as Hate tweets.
I find it curious that CA is relatively hate free, other than east of the SF area. Nice to see AZ (my future home) UT and MT relatively hate free as well. What's up with Seattle and Oregon?
For those of you claiming it's mostly in the south; the hottest spots are in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois.
I find it curious that CA is relatively hate free, other than east of the SF area. Nice to see AZ (my future home) UT and MT relatively hate free as well. What's up with Seattle and Oregon?
For those of you claiming it's mostly in the south; the hottest spots are in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LS Jaun
Amazing for a Conservative state.
That's a very telling comment. It's just as bigoted to hate people for the color of their skin, religion, orientation, as it is to define them based on their political leanings.
It's a liberal talking point to make such assertions. Just like anyone that questions Obama is a racist. It's absurd.
We've lived in the Phoenix metro area for many years now and I've never met so many nice, live and let live types. By far the friendliest area I've ever lived. And one of the most beautiful states. Good luck on your future move to AZ!
Thanks! I'm actually moving to the Prescott/Valley area, where it's 10-15 degrees cooler in Summer. I'm still a SoCal surfer, so melting isn't attractive to me. I'm eager to be in a state that offers much more freedom, lower cost of living, wide open spaces, than the over taxing crumbling urban sprawl socialist state we have here in Cali.
My family, on my maternal side, are 6-7 generation Arazonians going back to the mid 1800s, so it's more like moving back to my roots.
Thanks! I'm actually moving to the Prescott/Valley area, where it's 10-15 degrees cooler in Summer. I'm still a SoCal surfer, so melting isn't attractive to me. I'm eager to be in a state that offers much more freedom than the socialists here in Cali.
My family, on my maternal side, are 6-7 generation Arazonians going back to the mid 1800s, so it's more like moving back to my roots.
Excellent points. Seems this map was crafted to garner specific results. Its really inaccurate based on what you've illustrated. For example "G**k" in Kansas seems to be coming from a single point -- so (most likely) one racist jerk in the middle of Kansas shows up like a beacon the way this map is designed.
It also only examines certain groups. What about slurs aimed at other ethnicities and groups, like Jews, Italians, Irish, Indian, Christian, Muslim, Southerners, etc?
Ok,
Good news: I found after digging that they actually used 150k tweets with those words in it and THEN filtered out ones that they "felt" weren't meant in a bad way.
Bad news: I cannot find their methodology, because there are clearly flaws in the study when I see big gaping non-racist areas and Huff-po is bleating about racist non-diverse areas and Utah and Wyoming etc are looking better than the rest of the entire country.
Worst news: They didn't look for words like "R--arded"? Really? That words banned in our house. Leaving out ethnicity like jews or slang about muslims gives certain types of racists a complete pass.
Basically, it looks like a psuedo-intellectual piece of garbage that will float around the internet like the blue state vs. red state studies.
What I find interesting more than anything is that those who live in the supposed enlightened/tolerant regions of the country, ie blue states, aren't so tolerant after all as is often portrayed according to this data. And the opposite applies to many red states. I think a good example is AZ in how "clean" it came out.
Click on the interactive map, ie "EXPLORE THE MAP", within the article for more details and for the ability to zoom in and out within various regions of the country.
In order for this data to be relevant, it is necessary to know the # of tweeters , # hateful tweets by tweeter and overall tweets in a given geographical area. It may also make sense to then overlay it with area demographics, by age.
The majority of tweeters claim to be age 18-21 years old and more likely to believe anyone gives a carp about what they have to say. Areas with substantial mature populations are less likely to tweet about anything.
Thanks! I'm actually moving to the Prescott/Valley area, where it's 10-15 degrees cooler in Summer. I'm still a SoCal surfer, so melting isn't attractive to me. I'm eager to be in a state that offers much more freedom, lower cost of living, wide open spaces, than the over taxing crumbling urban sprawl socialist state we have here in Cali.
My family, on my maternal side, are 6-7 generation Arazonians going back to the mid 1800s, so it's more like moving back to my roots.
That is a long time. What area of Arizona does your family the Hail from? I have family from Southern Arizona going back to the early 1900s.
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And the opposite applies to many red states. I think a good example is AZ in how "clean" it came out. 