Hacker News Reader

Comment by PommeDeTerre | Hacker News Reader

That's not really "preferential treatment" in any sense. That's exactly how the store would ideally want to treat all of its customers.

Retailers don't want to expend money and other resources on security personnel and equipment. Unfortunately, they have to do so because certain individuals do partake in behavior that harms the store in one way or another.

If a given store repeatedly has trouble (or a lack of trouble) with individuals who have certain traits in common, perhaps even including skin color, then it's understandable that people exhibiting such traits may be treated with a certain degree of suspicion.

The store is merely trying to manage risk in an efficient manner, rather than intentionally giving people with one trait an advantage over others without that trait.

View on HN

"Retailers don't want to expend money and other resources on security personnel and equipment. Unfortunately, they have to do so because certain individuals do partake in behavior that harms the store in one way or another."

Ideally you're right (If the metrics backed this up). The problem is when stereotypes become the metric, which is common, especially with minorities.

> The problem is when stereotypes become the metric, which is common, especially with minorities.

If 90% of your store's theft was caused by 5% of your customers - that can be identified of having the same race/color, are you really going to blame the owner or employee that gives more attention to those 5% than the other 95%? If so, what is your solution to this issue? Should it be ignored?

No, not at all. If you can identify the group doing the stealing it is fine to take appropriate countermeasures. If not, to chastise people based on an uninformed bias or negative feeling toward a certain group is wrong.

Yes, let's make up numbers to reinforce our prejudices.

Stereotypes, both positive and negative, don't just arise out of nowhere. They may not be numeric, but they are a measure built up over aggregated experiences and encounters in the past.

While they may not apply to each and every individual, many times they do hold true to some extent, even if it may not be particularly pleasant to acknowledge.

Stereotypes don't come out of nowhere - you are correct. But they can oftentimes be the fruit of outdated, biased, or incorrect opinions with no connection to the truth. To clarify what I said above, if young Asian girls are stealing from your store more than any other group, the metrics back this up, and actions to prevent this are justified. If you don't have such data then that is where it becomes an issue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com