Profiling In Los Angeles (Of All Places!)

The Los Angeles Police Department is planning to profile Muslim communities that may become isolated and 'susceptible to violent, ideologically based extremism'.

Naturally, the ACLU and Muslim advocacy groups are outraged.

I'm as surprised as you are that this is happening in Los Angeles, but I guess that means they feel they have a very real problem. Personally, I think that a little profiling would go a long way. Did you realize that profiling happens constantly? Let's look at it in general terms. What is profiling? Dictionary.com has a couple of applicable definitions, but I think this one fits the common understanding the best:

a set of characteristics or qualities that identify a type or category of person or thing

With that definition, let's do some application with real world scenarios.

Scenario 1. Why is it that smokers pay about double the health insurance premiums of a non-smoker? It's because smoking is a behavior that general harms that person's health, thus costing the company more money. The insurance companies have loads of evidence to justify this categorization, and the public generally agrees.

Scenario 2. When you see someone drive by in a Ferrari, do you assume they're rich or poor? Most likely you assume that they are rich. Why? Because there is a load of evidence to support the fact that Ferraris cost a boatload of money, and the general understanding is that one does not buy/own a Ferrari unless one is rich. You've categorized that person without even realizing it.

Scenario 3. Why do people with bad credit pay higher interest rates on loans than people with good credit? Because there is a load of evidence that people with bad credit present the loan-holder with a higher risk of failure to pay. Thus, to compensate for the increased risk of failures, they demand a higher interest rate.

Make sense? Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, so I'm not making a blanket pronouncement. But, 'profiling' is this politically-charged word that simply means applying common sense based on evidence and experience to make categorizations about people or things. It's effective because it works most of the time.

So, in light of that, why would we NOT profile people who have a proven track record of attacking and killing innocent civilians, women, and children?? It's insanity not to do so, and an invitation to disaster!

So, there may be genuinely good Muslims out there wondering why they have to pay for people they don't know just because they share the same faith. True, that sucks. But, I would again point to the fact that if there was truly such a groundswell of 'moderate' Muslims who don't approve of the jihadist activities of the radical ones, why don't they do more? Why don't they report radical jihadist imams in mosques around America? Why don't they loudly and repeatedly condemn terrorists attacks that kill innocent civilians and children? Why don't they stand up and volunteer to be examined closely by profiling, knowing that they have nothing to hide?

There are some, I know, and I applaud them. But, their numbers are so few that the 'moderate' Muslim argument simply doesn't hold water. As such, profiling would be a very simple way to reduce the threat of terrorism -- especially home-grown terrorism -- and protect Americans. It's not politically correct, I know, but it is common sense.

There's my two cents.