The Conservatives back in England are taking the approach, surprisingly since they’re conservatives and all, of standing up for the hoodie youth culture. They believe, strangely enough, that just because a teenager wears a hoodie does not mean they will rob/murder/disagree with you, well – maybe just the last one. It is amazing to me that hoodies have been banned in shopping centers all over Britain now on the basis of this dress profiling – although I have to say that when I go back wearing my hoodie I’ve yet to be thrown out of anywhere.
Malcolm Gladwell, the famed author of the Tipping Point, wrote about this in a great article in the New Yorker on the subject of pitbull profiling. After a few vicious attacks by a couple of pitbulls many states in the US banned pitbulls and ‘pitbull like’ animals. Blatent profiling based on appearence. It turns out that many other dogs are responsible for more attacks than pitbulls, but when pitbulls do attack it’s a lot more devastating so people react in a more extreme manner. In New York with our current spate of terrorism related fear the New York police are hard pressed not to take the profiling route – but luckily at least some people realise that tans and long scaggly bears do not a terrorist make. Or at least that shaving is an easy option for your less stupid terrorist. The other day I was stopped rushing to the subway and my bag scanned for explosives, which given the size of my rugsac was a pretty sensible move. Of course I had recently been sunning myself and hadn’t shaved that morning…