Comment by runarberg

Seriously, what is going on here?

Nobody needs to cite any statistics to proof that Muslims are in fact not more likely to commit terrorism. Claiming the need for such sources is hiding racism behind statistics, which is also a racist behavior. And on the flip-site citing any statistic to “proof” that Muslims to be more likely of terrorism is a fundamentally racist thing to do, and nobody should actually do that. The report you cited makes no such claim actually, it merely lists a number of terror organizations (with a western bias) and makes no conclusion about whether any group of peoples are more likely to commit terrorism. That was your leap of logic.

Terrorism is such a rare act that, and such an extreme act that any statistic is going to be dictated by either noise or third factors. If you find any group of peoples to be likelier to commit this act it is either because of random fluctuations or because of unrelated factors (including—and most likely because of—bias).

It is in fact a well known tactic among racists to hide their racism behind biased data. This goes well back to scientific racism of the 19th and 20th century, as well as among police districts justifying racial profiling (a deeply racist policy) in the 1980s and well into the 2000s.

I share your parent’s worry that we are having this debate here on HN, and that you are so willing to double down on an obviously racist idea.