CRT logic, in action at Walmart!

The Sun reports on the “outrageous” fact that “African-American hair products” are locked up on Walmart supermarket shelves, while those “for white customers” aren’t:

TWO photos of a supermarket’s shelves have gone viral as outraged viewers claim it sums up the state of racism in Americs.

The images of hair care products at Walmart are said to show items targeted at African American shoppers locked up behind a glass cabinet, while those more commonly advertised as being for white people’s hair are left untouched.

When a loss prevention worker explained that the store locks up items that are frequently stolen, and that therefore “it’s not about race,” a critical race theory practitioner on the scene explained how that’s still racist:

But one user - who identified themselves as a former loss prevention officer - said: “This is victimhood gone too far.

“They keep track of high theft items so if something is behind glass it means it got stolen a lot in the past.”

Another added: “Stores lock up products that are most stolen. Its not a race thing.”

However, one user pointed out: “They are frequently stolen because people can’t afford them, right? Why can’t people afford them? They live in disadvantaged communities."

Right. Because as we know, there are no poor whites, hispanics, or … oh no, wait. There are MORE poor white people than black people. Nevermind.

Now, don’t let those statistics fool you. Yes, blacks are poor at a higher rate. But since there are 3x as many whites, there are more poor white people in raw numbers. That means that, if being poor is solely what motivates or explains theft, then there should be more white hair products than black hair products being stolen. The store’s loss prevention policies obviously care about raw numbers, not per-capita rates.

But, remember: facts don’t matter. (We are unclear, at this early stage in our research, whether “statistics” are “facts.” However, either way, statistics don’t matter, either.)

Despite all of this, I give credit to the CRT practitioner on-scene, who didn’t drop a beat. He is clearly a True Believer. Remember, it goes like this:

1. Society is racist (“systemic racism”)

2. Racism is measured by racial disparity in outcomes

3. When an alternative, non-racist explanation for a disparity is offered, merely point out that the mechanism described in the explanation itself is caused by “racism.” Continue this until the stars fall.

We can easily extend the Walmart conversation, ad infinitum, using this technique:

Rational person: “But there are more poor white people than black people!”

Critical race theorist: “Black people are more poor. They have lower-paying jobs.”

Rational person: (whipping out a handy chart) “That’s because they do poorly at school. They aren’t qualified for the better jobs.”

Critical race theorist: “They do poorly at school because of racism. They don’t have the resources to do well, because they’re poor, also because of racism.”

Rational person: “But… again… there are more poor white people… and they do a lot better in school, on average.”

Critical race theorist: “Education is itself racist! Teachers are racist… mathematics is racist, reason is racist…” to be followed up with “questioning critical race theory is racist.”

Etc. A real CRT practitioner would doubtless be better at this, because of his experience and natural feeling for the technique. I confess it is alien to me.

But seriously: I cannot explain the inability or refusal on the part of anyone (but especially, white people who are the target) to see through this kind of circular argument, by any appeal to poor education, dullness, laziness, emotion, self-loathing or politics or anything else. If anyone can explain to me how “critical race theory” is not circular and unfalsifiable, or alternatively, how circular reasoning is not highly offensive to a rational mind, I would be grateful.