Is Facial Recognition Technology Racist?
Wrongfully Arrested Because Face Recognition Can’t Tell Black People Apart This headline. posted on facebook, led to a discussion of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). The headline pushed a lot of my buttons. People are aroused, to the breaking point, about racism. The person who posted the story disagrees. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
The reply posted by person #1 featured some other links. One was for a video, Wrongfully Arrested Because of Flawed Face Recognition Technology. To me, this is more reasonable, and less inflammatory, than “… Can’t Tell Black People Apart.” It is also easier to believe. I can accept that FRT has more problems with POC, than with PWOC. To make a blanket claim like “… Can’t Tell Black People Apart” seems like an dangerous exaggeration.
The conversation sat still for the rest of the day. Person #1 is an attorney, who used to live in Atlanta. This is where I met him. Person #1 is an intelligent, thoughtful person, someone you should listen to. I might disagree with person #1 on this issue, while still having respect for him.
Then person #2 entered the conversation. I have never met person #2. All he knows is what he sees on her facebook page. It shows pictures of a vacation in Havana. Person #2 is clearly white. The fact that she took a vacation in Havana indicates that person #2 enjoys a certain amount of privilege. Here is what person #2 added to the conversation:
“”…flawed face recognition technology” sounds like there was a glitch, not like the entire technology was designed in a way that supports white, male normativity (aka white supremacy). Your suggestion that this is the same message is false and suggests we should avoid being more upset by avoiding the actual issue here—because we should frame matters in ways that obfuscate the real problem. We can’t begin to solve these problems if we are afraid to actually say what they are. Yeah, people are going to be upset. THEY SHOULD BE.” … “If you are following the protests and the recent changes that have happened, you know exactly what the anger has led to. If Black anger makes you uncomfortable, address your white fragility. Try to let go of your tone policing and actually engage with the issues. That’s work you have to do on your own.”
University Avenue cleared of barricades near property where Rayshard Brooks was killed. This was the story I posted in response to “you know exactly what the anger has led to.” In the aftermath of the Rayshard Brooks killing, an armed gang took over the burned out Wendy’s on University Avenue, where the incident occurred. “Residents of the south Atlanta neighborhood in the area had grown frustrated by the blockade that formed – guarded by what they described as armed citizens who they said were not protesting but using the space for their own gain. Residents said that the people would block the street and sometimes not allow them to get in or out of their neighborhood.”
This is one of many examples of where the anger caused by current events has spilled over to harm people. Often, the “collateral damage” did nothing to deserve the abuse they are getting. In many cases, it is POC who are suffering the brunt of the damage. When a privileged white person, like #2, rabble rouses people into action, this is what can happen. University Avenue is the first exit on i75/i85 south of downtown, and is an important access point for many neighborhoods. Many of the people affected by the turmoil on University Avenue are white.
After hearing talk about “white fragility” and “tone policing,” I am inclined to dismiss person #2 as a cliche spouting idiot. Unfortunately, that seems to be the approach many people have to complex issues. The idea that FRT is designed to reinforce white supremacy would be very amusing to the Chinese government. They are major players in FRT, using it to enable Asian hegenomy.
Lets examine the notion that FRT is racist by design. If this were the case, the developers would go the extra mile to make fewer mistakes with POC. If the goal of FRT is to keep the lawless POC masses under control, then it would help if the system actually worked on POC.
One of the articles cited by person #1 mentioned announcements by some major tech industry players that they were not going to sell FRT services to police. The article linked above mentions concerns about race/gender bias. However, the greater focus here is the overall privacy concerns about FRT.
Is it really a good idea to focus on the racial problems with FRT? There have long been overall privacy concerns about Big Brother. Unfortunately, many people will see an headline about racism and either tune it out, or think that it does not affect them. (“If you are tired of talking about racism, how would you like to live with it”) The human rights concerns about FRT affect everyone. To dismiss these concerns as “white fragility” is counterproductive, insulting, and insane.
This feature is approaching the attention limit of many readers. The facebook thread, and the identity of persons #1 and #2, were hidden out of respect for the privacy of the people involved. Even a cliche-spouting SJW deserves privacy.
Walt Whitman And The War
Every night for a thousand years is a story about Walt Whitman’s time as a caregiver during the War Between the States. It appears this month on The New Yorker fiction podcast. ENFATY was written in the voice of Mr. Whitman by Chris Adrian, and read for the podcast by @NathanEnglander.
After looking for his wounded brother, Mr. Whitman was struck by the plight of wounded soldiers. He started to visit the soldiers, giving them candy and food, writing letters for them, and giving what comfort he could. ENFATY focuses on one soldier, Hank Smith. Doctors wanted to amputate his leg. Hank had a pistol, and would not let them. By the time Hank was tricked into allowing an amputation, it was too late.
Not everyone approved of Mr. Whitman. “One disapproving commissioner, Harriet Hawley, complained to her husband: “Here comes that odious Walt Whitman to talk evil and unbelief to my boys. I think I would rather see the evil one himself—at least if he had horns and hooves.”
Others saw things differently. “Union Colonel Richard Hinton met Whitman at Armory Square Hospital while recovering from a bullet wound suffered at Antietam … “When this old heathen came and gave me a pipe and tobacco, it was about the most joyous moment of my life. Walt Whitman’s funny stories, and his pipes and tobacco were worth more than all the preachers and tracts in Christendom. A wounded soldier don’t like to be reminded of his God more than twenty times a day. Walt Whitman didn’t bring any tracts or bibles; he didn’t ask if you loved the Lord, and didn’t seem to care whether you did nor not.”
Conditions conditions in the hospitals were beyond horrible. This was an era when many people said “I do not need to wash my hands every day!” One nurse asked Mr. Whitman if he had a Bible. She wanted to cheer up, by reading the Book of Job.
“These hospitals, ranging in size from converted private mansions to filthy, mud-encrusted tents in contraband camps, were places to be feared by any thinking person. The great European medical advances in bacteriology and antisepsis were still tragically a few years in the future … the overworked and understaffed physicians continued to ascribe the soldiers’ ills to such fantastical causes as “malarial miasms, mephitic effluvia, … sewer emanations, and poisonous fungi in the atmosphere.” …
The predictable result of such hurried and horrific operations was postoperative infection. Pyemia, septicemia, erysipelas, osteomyelitis, tetanus, and gangrene were grouped together as “surgical fevers.” Pyemia, literally “pus in the blood,” was the most dreaded of all, with a mortality rate of 97.4 percent, but the other surgical fevers also claimed their deadly share of victims. Not without reason did Civil War soldiers fear doctors much more intensely than they feared the enemy. They had a greater chance of dying in the hospital than in the field.
“That whole damned war business is about 999 parts diarrhea to one part glory.” The quote is on page 187 of Intimate with Walt – Selections from Whitman’s Conversations with Horace Traubel, 1882-1892. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress
July 3, 1981
July 3, 1981, was another day before a holiday. The new President, Ronald Reagan, was recovering from gunshot wounds. There was talk of an era of conservatism, with possibly severe repression.
There was an article in the New York Times. RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS. “Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis…”
This was the media debut of AIDS. It would not have that name for a while. Almost nobody thought, on that summer day, just how bad AIDS would be. In five years it was obvious how serious AIDS was.
I was on another trip to the west coast. It was becoming obvious that this would be a vacation, rather than a relocation. He was riding a bicycle, with a milk carton overloaded with camping gear. Some kids told him to get saddle bags, and carry the weight lower. If you have the weight on top, you would lose control coming down a big hill. I did not listen to the kids.
On July 4, I left Patrick’s Point state park, about 300 miles north of San Francisco. Coming down the first hill on highway 101, the bike shook, shook harder, and flipped on its side. I was thrown off. The front wheel was bent beyond repair. I gathered my gear, left the bike behind, and got a ride into the nearest town.
I got a bus ticket to Seattle. That city was in an economic downturn, with less than half a page of help wanted ads. I found a auto delivery service, and got a VW bug going to Oak Ridge, TN. In a few days he was in Atlanta. A few days later, a temp agency came up with a job as a driver for a blueprint company. I worked for that company, in one form or another, for the next 24 years.
As for the gay men with Kaposi’s Sarcoma … in all probability, the patients mentioned in that article were all dead within a year. AIDS has become a dominating story in our time. At its worst, it was claiming 50,000 lives a year. With the advent of wonder drugs, the death toll has been greatly reduced. The impact of AIDS on American life cannot be adequately described. This is a repost.
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Lawrence K. Altman, M.D. had an NYT byline on Feb. 16, 2023.
Fiction Issue
@NYerFiction “New fiction by Sally Rooney, in The New Yorker’s annual Fiction Issue.” Back in the corner newsstand days, the AFI was a lot of fun. I miss dead tree magazines, and decided to go out and get a copy. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Barnes & Noble is still open on Perimeter Center W. The bookstore aroma that greets you is the same. The price is going to be ridiculous, but it is time for a foolish extravagance.
The periodicals were against the western wall. I looked carefully in every section, but did not see TNY. A second examination of the magazine rack yielded the same result.
A lady said that some magazines were in a rack by the front. In the second rack we perused, TNY was for sale. The cost was $8.99, before tax. It was not the annual Fiction issue.
Last Surviving Witness
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This ain’t Texas, it’s Thursday night at the Heretic DanceOut Atlanta teaches free country …
Meak Pro Media SPECIAL EDITION 15th Anniversary (Episode 22 with Dave …
U.S. readies to evacuate Americans from Lebanon if fighting intensifies
Chase Oliver Brings Fire to Atlanta City Council re: Cop City
Israel HUMILIATED as Iran, Yemen, Lebanese and Gaza Forces Crush IDF
An Israel offensive into Lebanon risks an Iranian military response, military leader says
The Last Surviving Witness to Emmett Till’s Abduction Finally Tells His Story
55 Years On, Charles Bukowski’s ‘Notes of a Dirty Old Man’ Ages Well
@catholiccom What, you thought we weren’t gonna talk about baptizing with Gatorade?
Gatorade: A Sin-Quencher? You can’t baptize with Gatorade! It might not be so simple.
A Catholic organization built an AI priest. Here’s what happened.
“Sarah Netanyahu Reiterated This Multiple Times To Families of Israeli POWs”
Israel’s Supreme Court rules ultra-Orthodox men must serve in military
I Regret to Inform You That We Will All Grow Old, Infirm, and Unattractive they say …
Hollywood Jews Slam Violence Outside L.A. Synagogue as ‘Horrifying,’ Vow to ‘Mobilize’
How to Explain Trans Hermits – women passed themselves off as men to become monks?
The presidential election isn’t a toss-up As our model launches, either Biden or Trump …
Cyprus: From early Zionist colony to military base for Israel’s war on Gaza
Wisdom, Montana. Ranchers and cowhands in Fetty’s Bar april 1942 John Vachon
‘Quon Grills Nathan Wade on Fani Willis Fling and Trump Case Dismissal
Kinky Friedman, provocative satirist and one-time gubernatorial candidate, dies at 79
Kmart wiped out from California as last store in state closes
I Was A Pastor At A Megachurch. Then Someone Asked Me A Question That Turned …
ye ~ tomorrow ~ tim dillon ~ bawarchi ~ texas rangers
cox media ~ vaush ~ @kc_ceo34 ~ scotus ~ debate
data ~ everett dirkson ~ nato ~ foot numbness ~ pride
lebanon ~ @thebishgossip ~ ono matopoeia ~ spiritual abolitionist ~ onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia ~ sf pride ~ cardi b ~ flavorwire ~ lgbtq tour
martin mull ~ harland sanders ~ k-mart ~ aitah ~ glenn & john
hippie hibachi ~ chasing the dragon. ~ stp ~ stp ~ ouroboros
kinky friedman ~ raw dog ~ fatcon ~ fatcon ~ hodge twins ~ donald sutherland
warnock on msnbc ~ judge ~ carolyn bryant ~ jfif jpeg ~ aitah
crab fried rice ~ deuteronomy ~ LA synagogue ~ bobby jr ~ phil walden jr
tomorrow ~ otis redding ~ escapepod ~ drabblecast ~ catholic ai
dual n back ~ dual n back ~ eno gaza ~ emmitt till ~ osterweil
shakespeare pronouns ~ ian hunter ~ carlos santana ~ LA synagogue ~ bobby jr
Accident Waiting To Happen ~ Here is Liverpool native Malcolm McDowell talking about seeing the Silver Beetles at the Cavern Club one two ~ @AdameMedia “I am personally proud of the ruins of Gaza, and that every baby, even 80 years from now, will tell their grandchildren what the Jews did,” The Minister of Social Equality in Israel, Mai Golan… ~ @ofcrdeonjoseph IT WAS STUPID. BUT I WAS FED UP Note: Please do not do what I did. In all truth, it’s just not worth it. So a few days ago, I went to the store to get stuff for my wife off duty. As I entered I saw this tall, blond. She was tanned with designer sunglasses. You could tell she had a lot work done. She was at the counter asking weird questions to the cashier. It was a strange exchange, that was circular. It was odd. But it felt as if it was a distraction. As I start to walk deeper into the store, I see a well dressed young man with tattoos on his neck and arms. He had a bottle of Hennessy in his hand as he walked from the alcohol section very calmly towards the exit. I heard the cashier yell at the man “I SAW YOU TAKE THAT! YOU GOTTA PAY FOR THAT!” As he walks towards the exit, he laughs stating “I’m sorry ma’am. Don’t worry about it.” She yells for him to put it back again, to which he replied “I’m sorry ma’am. I can’t put it back. Once I’m out the door it’s mine. You know the rules! You can’t do nothing” The blond walked out with him as the alarm went off. They were both laughing. The cashier was demoralized. Seemed like this was a reoccurring theme for her. I just witnessed a theft. Everything in me was trying to resist going after him. “It’s just property. The police won’t even come for this. Why bother? He will just get released in an hour or two. What if you get into an altercation? The DA will file on you before they file on him. The department will burn you. You have a family. It’s just a bottle of booze. Don’t get involved. You’re off. Just be a good witness if the police arrive.” But he was so brazen about it. So cavalier. I kept trying to talk my self down, but I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t about the property. It was the principle. The look of frustration on the cashiers face was affecting me. The customers who were doing it right, who were going to pay for their items with their hard earned money staring angrily at the door as the idiot exited smiling. At this point, it had nothing to do with me being a cop. It had everything to do with me being a fed up, and tired of the lawlessness and hopelessness it causes. I thought of all the stores closing because of folks like this. The jobs lost. My mind, my heart and body were in full agreement. I marched out the door and caught him before he hit the lot. “Bro. Imma need you to put that back. He cursed as he turned to face me, but when he saw my stature, he froze and said. “Come on. You Black. You know how we do!” He was Hispanic. “Walk your ass back into that store and put it back.” I said. He looked as me and said “It’s mine. I walked in with it!” He told so many lies in a span of one minute it was mind numbing. I said “People are sick of this shit bro. You know they have to raise their prices because of the shit you just did. I’m telling you to put it back!” He looked at me and said “Nah. I’m going to my ride and leaving. Do you know who I am? I’m a TikTok star.” He walked over to a red Mercedes, where the blond was sitting in the driver’s seat. I followed him. “Nah, bruh. That ain’t happening.” He stuck his chest out like he was going to do something. But when I stepped toward him he pushed it back in. His lady was nervous. She rolls down the window and says to him. “Mi amore. I’ll hold it.” He gives it to her and smiles stating “I don’t have it no more Sug Knight!” The blond reaches towards me and hand hands me the bottle. She apologized and tells him to get in the car. “Bitch! Why you give him that shit!” He yelled. She said “What if the calls the cops. Let’s get outta here mi amore!” He goes to his trunk. I don’t flinch. I told him he wasn’t going to do shit. And he didn’t. An off duty sheriff deputy came backed me up. I thanked him and walked back into the store. I approached the clerk, and placed it on the counter. The cashier and customers smiled and thanked me. It felt good to give folks hope. The way we should. ~ Samsung – Galaxy A15 5G 128GB (Unlocked) ~ Gatorade Baptism Manley Pointer was looking at X one tuesday morning, trying to stay out of trouble.. He found this item from @catholiccom “What, you thought we weren’t gonna talk about baptizing with Gatorade?” A praying man was about to be hit with an onslaught of brightly colored liquid, coming out of a Gatorade cooler in the sky. To a Catholic, baptize means to sprinkle a few drops of sacred fluid on the forehead. To a Baptist, babtize means filling a tub with water, and dunking the recently-saved sinner. To fill that tub with Gatorade would require at least 100 gallons. You can’t drink Baptismal fluid after it has been dunked in. All that lovely Gatorade would have to be poured down the drain. Baptists know that baptizing with Gatorade is a dumb idea, even by Catholic standards. @catholiccom has a link to a story, Gatorade: A Sin-Quencher? You can’t baptize with Gatorade! Right? It might not be so simple. After you click through the request for donations, you get to the story. It seems like the Church built an AI priest, Father Justin. Someone asked FJ if it was ok to Baptize an infant with Gatorade. People have serious discussions about this. You will be forgiven if you do not participate. ~ Lunch today is a tussit special. The collards and potatoes were steamed yesterday. The rice patty covers a partial burrito. The carne asada burrito came from a former Milk Jug store on Buford Hiway, which is now a takeout taco place. The burrito came with a side order of arroz y frijoles. When I had eaten as much as I wanted, I put the remaining burrito on top of the remaining rice, and put the styrofoam container in the refrigerator. The plate dates back to the Truman Administration. When I was growing up, all our meals were served on a plate that looked like that. Fifties era plastic is utterly indestructable. ~ I got a message from Centerwell today. “it’s too soon to refill 1 or more of your prescriptions. Check your order status As soon as the refill is available on 8/21/2024, we’ll start processing the prescription.” the order is for “XXXXX6957 – ROS” Should I just ignore this? ~ Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia by Robert Greenfield ~ I tried to catch some Fog. I mist. ~ When chemists die, they barium. ~ Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. ~ Venison for dinner? Oh deer! ~ A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran. ~ I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time. ~ How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. ~ I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me. ~ This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I’d never met herbivore. ~ @hodgetwins on Ben Shapiro: “He’s a Jew conservative. He’s not America first he’s Israel first.” ~ that.traveling.diva ~ “they can get Hamas like we did Bin Laden” ~ That’s where President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden stopped by following Thursday night’s highly-watched presidential debate with former President Donald Trump. The couple stopped by 2758 Cobb Parkway SE in Cobb County for a late-night meal. ~ President Biden went to the Waffle House at 2758 Cobb Parkway, in front of Life University ~ there are 12 Kmart stores still open. The nearest one to Georgia is Kmart Miami #3074 ~ I saw Martin Eugene Mull in person three times. He opened for Melissa Manchester in 1974 at the Music Hall. I stayed for the headliner. Melissa Manchester was GOOD. Learning about her was a gift MEM gave me. When the Music Hall was in Cherokee Plaza, I drove by one night and saw cars in the parking lot. MEM was doing a solo show, and I caught the last few minutes. He did a song about doing nothing, and said that dead people can do it to. When Atlanta hosted the Super Bowl in 1994, MEM taped a comedy special in Woodruff Park. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders were kicking field goals. After the show, MEM was waiting for somebody, and I stood a few feet away and made eye contact. I couldn’t think of anything to say. ~ This is a repost from 2019. ~ … “David! Sweetie! Where are you watching from? Come hang out with us on Allen’s balcony!” David, a bookish looking middle-aged man, destroyed the festive mood in the little store in an instant. “Absolutely not. Those defectives and freaks?” he spat, indicating the colorful crowd outside the store, “They have nothing to do with MY life, thank you very much. This parade has as much dignity as a carnival freak show. It’s no wonder the whole country hates us.” Luckily for David, the Asshole Killer mind ray I’ve been working on is not yet operational.” … ~ pictures for the first day of the second half of 2024 are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
Chamblee54 
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