I read the recent back and forth about policing with grim amusement at the narrative role-playing that sees a dominant narrative challenged by counter-narratives, sound and fury, resolving very little.

I’ll try (and fail) to put forth my own.

Nearly every political disagreement comes from the dominant narrative—parroted by (mostly unelected) cultural institutions which are predominantly controlled by like-minded left-leaning people: publishing, amusement, technology, and education. Add in the sundry multitudes of local, state, and federal bureaucrats who put the “education” they received from these institutions to practice and we have a veritable leviathan.

But here are some questions to consider about policing:

Is it female privilege that men are more than 20 times more likely to be shot by a cop as a woman? Why are there are more than 50 men on death-row for every one woman—regardless of their race?

Is it Asian privilege that White people are more than three times as likely to be shot by police as the former—taking into account the shares of each groups population?

Is it Black immigrant privilege that Black immigrants are incarcerated at fraction of the rate which native born Blacks, Whites, Asians, and Hispanics are incarcerated? This also takes into account each group’s share of population.

Is it ageist privilege that people in their 30s are more than 10 times as likely to be shot by police than people under the age of 18, including high school aged youths who are being taught that they should approach the police with all encompassing fear?

Or, like all the others, does the vast, vast majority of this discrepancy come from each groups share of violent crime?

Here’s another question: why are these statistics about each groups share of violent crime almost always forbidden when they are raised by those who adhere to the dominant narrative?

Or, rather, is making sure that we stay disciplined and keep to the accepted narratives which tell us who is an oppressor (Whites, Males, Heterosexuals, Wealthy People, Traditionally Married Couples, etc) and who is a victim (Non-Whites, Women, Homosexuals, Poor People, Cohabitators, etc.) is of the utmost importance because to cleave to this narrative gives us wealth (it gets one hired and promoted) and power (it allows us to cancel anyone who diverges from the narrative)?

Is it, as Noam Chomsky said, about “Manufacturing Consent” by dominant cultural institutions with a vested interest in doing so because to keep the narrative going keeps the sundry ruling class of billionaire plutocrats who collectively seed all of these institutions pushing the above narrative with billions of dollars out of the limelight and free from criticism?

Charles Urlacher

Enumclaw