Trigger Warning: You May Learn Something

My parents raised me and my sister's us in a fairly conservative household (Fox News Forever). So my little sister and I have and will likely always be conservative. My older sister was once conservative, but as I like to say college has "brainwashed" her. She is now a hard-core liberal - everything we think or say is either stupid or "[insert]-ist."

I have to figure out a way to help her come back to the light-side. My weapon of choice is the good ol' brow-beatin'. So I have to come up with a way to debate the crap out of her. From watching countless SJW verbal takedowns, I think I know how it works.

I've gleaned that liberal ideology survives on the idea that one or more groups of people is oppressed. And many liberals believe the only way to solve this oppression is by government intervention. Sure government intervention can often solve problems of institutional "blank-ism", as in the civil rights movement. But government intervention cannot solve many of the more minute and often-times cultural issues of a particular group. So I think I can defeat my sister by proving that some of these groups are not oppressed, I will look at African Americans and women.

I seek the prove that African Americans are not as oppressed by whites as the left makes them seem. I will focus on the criminal justice system. One murder is one too many. According to US News and World Report, in 2015, 229 blacks were murdered by whites. Compared to 573 whites who were killed by blacks. According to Politifact, the percentage of blacks killed by other blacks in 2013 was 92%. Compared to 88.5% for whites. Make of these statistics as you wish.

Now. Let's look at prison population, this is where a disparity between blacks and whites becomes more apparent. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 37.9% of the prison inmate population is black. 58.6% of the inmate population is white. However African Americans make up only 13.3% of the population and whites make up 77.1% of the population.  Just by looking at the numbers one can see that there is a much higher proportion of blacks in prison in the US, than their white counterparts.

The reason for this divide is that proportionally blacks are more involved in murder and other violent crimes than whites. The reason violent is bolded is that the statistics on violent crimes are harder to skew with the possibilities of over-policing. It's the same reason why there are more men in prison than women. Prison systems aren't sexist, men are just more involved in crime than women.

But what about all of those police shootings? Whites are more likely to be shot by police than blacks. Although the previous statement is true, these statistics are very dubious. They don't adjust for population! If you do adjust for population, you'll see blacks are 2.5x more likely than whites
per-capita to be shot by police. I'm not exactly sure where this discrepancy comes from, but I'd imagine its not all due to race.

Was I able to prove that blacks are not as oppressed by whites as the left makes them seem? You decide.

I seek to prove women, the largest "minority" are not "oppressed" in the western world.

1. Gender pay gap is almost nonexistent
We've all heard it: "women make 79 cents for every dollar a man makes doing the same work" Many have bought into this very misleading statistic. Why this is misleading:

• Women and men of different ages have different amounts of experience 
• Men have on average 2+ years of experience. When this is taken into account the pay-gap falls from 79.4 cents/dollar to 88.6 cents/dollar.
• Women often leave the workforce for extended periods compared to men
• "Because child rearing and other family responsibilities fall disproportionately upon women, they are significantly more likely to leave the workforce for an extended period. Furthermore, women are more likely to seek employment at nonprofits or in government agencies — employment which is associated with lower pay. These positions are usually more flexible and amenable to the needs of working mothers."
• Gap falls from 88.6 cents to 90.9 cents
• Women choose different careers
• "Women tend to work in fields dominated by women, in large part because these fields best satisfy women’s’ dual careers as workers and household managers. This can include less stressful work environments (noise, strenuous activity, etc.), more flexible policies regarding time off, and a number of other factors."
• Gap falls from 90.9 cents to 96.7 cents

According to June O'Neill, of the National Center for Political Analysis, a single, childless woman between ages 35-43 makes on average MORE than the male counter-part.

2. Women often have greater educational opportunity than men
These opportunities are only limited by choice. Women have equal opportunity in education compared to men. Women between the ages of 25 and 34 are 21% more likely than men to have bachelor's degrees and 48% more likely to receive graduate degrees than men.

Again. You decide. I think I made a pretty solid argument though.

This blog is turning more political in nature. But now I know some statistics that'll help me bring back my sister. All kidding aside, I hope the next blog will be less serious, we will see next week.

I hope people read this blog and have some meaningful discussion. I attempted to be as thorough in my analysis as possible. If I'm wrong tell me. I believe in free speech for all.