Diversity and a Culture of Violence

By Tom Rhodes, 2/21/2012

Piers Morgan of CNN is screaming and yelling and raving but not thinking, and definitely not looking at any data in his emotional but irrational gun rants this week. Comparing England's murder rate to the US's while ignoring the overall violent crime in England being far worse than the USA's is a start. England has 1/5 the population of the USA, so you would expect at least 5 times the number of violent crimes. England by comparison is not very a very diverse population. Canada the other country he used to compare to the USA is similarly a tiny homogenous population. The key component ignored is the USA's diversity, our population's origins and racial makeup. Normalizing for race and origins, the data looks a lot different.

In England whites make up 90.1% of its population. Blacks make up only 3.4% of it's population, and Latino's are so few they are grouped with "other."

In Canada whites make up 80% of its population. Blacks make up only 2.5% of its population, and a mere 1.0% are Latino."

In the USA whites make up 72.4% of the population. Blacks comprise 12.6%, and Latinos 16.4%.

Considering the fact that regardless of gun ownership countries with primarily black African and Latino populations have far greater rates of murder, specifically gun murders, the USA having a greater murder rate than England or Canada should be expected. Our crime and murder rates as a nation reflect an amalgamation of the cultures that make up our population. We have accepted and allowed massive numbers of people to bring their cultures into the USA, this melting doesn't result in them changing their culture, but our acceptance of "diversity" results in our culture becoming more like those we accept.

According to the FBI, there were about 3100 white murderers in the USA in 2011. If you exclude murders committed by blacks our murder rate is 1.3 per 100,000 people. Canada's is 1.6 and the United Kingdom's murder rate is 1.4. The numbers are clear, normalized for race and ethnic origin the murder rate is consistent for those of similar Heritage.

Chicago, has vastly more restrictive gun laws than the rest of the USA. Over 400 school age children where shot there this year. Almost as many as total children murdered in Chicago as all murders in England. But because the virtually all these innocent children are black, and the murders occurred in the city with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, the press ignores it. The murder culture of third world immigrants is the problem, not the tool used to murder. Third world cultures that take justice into their own hands, and use murder to solve problems, rather than the courts and rule of law, and those cultural values brought to the USA contribute to our higher murder rate. Since 1965 our immigrants have not been European, but from third world, and our change in culture and violence reflect the influx of people from more violent cultures.

If you want homicide rates in the USA to be similar to England's or Canada's the solution is not acceptable to the Melting Pot of America. What it would take to morph our population to similar demographics as England's and Canada's is contrary to the very idea of America. How long a melting pot can remain a viable civilized country has yet to be determined, but since Babel, the history of man has not been kind to diverse mixed populations. The artificial acceptance of those who are not like us, is a unique unproven idea that runs contrary to history. It is difficult for people to trust others who are not like themselves. Hell, the British even classify Irish separately from other whites and the peace with Northern Ireland is tenuous at best. Because of human nature, America, and our election of Obama, may be as good as diversity ever gets, or can get. But comparing the USA's murder and any other attributes to far smaller more homogenous societies is at best an ignorant comparison, and at worst purposefully disingenuous. Some say our diversity accounts for our greatness, but that diversity is accompanied by a whole slew of problems and differences that cannot be ignored or discounted.

This paragraph, is so politically incorrect, even if you do the research yourself you won't believe it.
If you look at US homicide rates by state and compare that to racial diversity the numbers are scary. Although not a perfect correlation, the relationship is quite clear. Less white population as a percent of population and the greater the murder rate. More white population and less murders. Compare race by state to Gun Violence by State.

If you accept diversity as a desirable goal and outcome, then you must accept the fact that diverse populations will bring merge the evil parts of their culture not just the good. Are we better off as a nation being diverse and accepting the poor tired masses of the world and giving them a chance at the American dream? If so we must accept that increased percentages of our population with origins from more murderous violent cultures will cause our culture to become more murderous and violent. Do the advantages of that diversity outweigh the negative effects that accompany such diversity? I believe as a society we have decided that the benefits of a diverse population outweigh the costs, but that doesn't mean there are not costs, including our society looking a bit more like the societies our immigrant's origins and less like England.