Freekanomics

I knew this book would be for me.  Two things- playing with statistics, and coming at things from opposite directions.  It's brilliant.

First is the dilemma that what might have caused the sudden and decline in violent crime and drug addiction in New York city might be the knock-on effects of changes in the abortion laws across the USA twenty years earlier.  the moral status of abortion moves from the personal to the macro.
The idea is that babies born into love starved and unsafe households were being exterminated before birth, avoiding the propensity for children to grow into criminals.  Ironically the right wing position which focuses on individual morality is caught in a paradox.  'To be, or not to be.'  A left wing position would focus on changing a society that allows children to grow up to be violent criminals in the first place.  "Tough on crime and the causes of crime" as was Blair's catchphrase.

What about the story of Stetson Kennedy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stetson_Kennedy

This is an amazing 'All American' story of how an organisation with over 3 million signed up members was brought low by a simple, but brave man, Stetson Kennedy.  The organisation was the Ku Klux Klan, that has been legitimised by the State of Georgia.  Kennedy joined and infiltrated the organisation.  He must have been a good actor, because he succeeded in convincing his chapter that he was genuine.  He noted that most of the members were sad lonely pathetic men.  The level of violence had greatly decreased over the years, because the aims of the KKK could be achieved though the threat of violence, rather than the risk inherent 'real thing'.  This is a similar process used by the subjugation of most victimised groups, and still a staple with all bullies.

Kennedy's trick was to team up with the writers of the superman comic, and to encourage them to move on from the battle against the Nazi's (post WWII) to the KKK.  He revealed all the hidden secrets about the group so that they could be reproduced in graphic detail.  Soon young boys were racing around living rooms dressed in bed sheets, uttering ridiculous oaths.  The membership of the KKK dropped like a stone.  What a wonderful story- worth of a Hollywood film?  Yes-  Stetson Kennedy died in 2011.  The film about his life was released this year called 'Klandestine Man'.  Is it any good?  What about 'How Superman defeated the KKK' (2015)?  I can't find any reviews.  I bet the actual comics are now collectors items.

The daily game show called 'The weakest Link' traveled smoothly from the UK to the USA.  After thousands of competitions, statisticians and sociologists could ask the question, "Are competitors racist and sexist in the chooses when eliminating players.  The game involves voting out the weakest player to start with, but soon becomes tactical, when competitors are able to eliminate players they might consider a threat.  The analysis of thousands of result did not show any bias against black players, or female players.  However it did show clear bais against older players and Hispanic players.  The book notes that even in societies that prise equality greatly, there are discriminatory attitudes that are not noticed, or challenged.

The book ends with an analysis of American names looking at wealth, education and race.  That got me thinking.  Is there a class/cast difference between Asian names in the UK?