I filled out the Census! Did you?

slingblade said:
It's doubtful anyone but yourself will really care. But congratulations on finding such a brave and meaningful way to protest...well, whatever it is you're protesting. :p

http://2010.census.gov/partners/pdf/ConstituentFAQ.pdf
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QFT

It really gets to me the huuuge number of people who come out with the argument from ignorance of "What good reason could they possibly have to ask for this information?" When the answer to that question is very clear.

Hmm, it seems like a large percentage of the traffic stops in city X are for black people, could it be a profiling problem, a crime problem, or an acurate reflection of the demographics of the city? It sure would be nice to know what percentage of the city is black...
 
And another damned thing!

I hate all this BS dissection of "Native American" and "African American" and what they really should mean.

Guess what geniuses, a white pine isn't really white, french fries aren't really French.

If you applied the same bizarre etymological literalism you're using in this thread to any other area of language, you would never be able to freaking complete a freaking conversation. I don't hear you bitching that the sperm whale is a stupid name because all whales have sperm or the killer whale is a misnomer since all whales kill at least krill.

All words are just wind squirted out of our meatholes, they have meaning because we collectively agree on it.
 
Mr.D said:
It's illegal to ask about race so that employers (and landlords etc) "cant'" discriminate based on your answer.

On the other hand one of the duties of a democracy is to protect the rights of its minorities; in order for it to do so effectively it "needs" to know the demographics of its citizenry.
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What a coo-coo view of government.

It's gov't responsibility to protect the rights of ALL citizens and to treat ALL citizens equally, not to play favorites. The race question has no legitimate purpose on the census. It's just as bad as if they asked for religion or sexual persuasion.
 
EeneyMinnieMoe said:
Yep, I sat down with it, I filled it out as best as I could, gave the best answers I was able to, to the best of my knowledge and mailed it in. It seemed like a pain in the neck but it only took 15 minutes ....
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15 minutes?!

You must have a lot of kids. I think it took me about 1 minute, maybe 2.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
15 minutes?!

You must have a lot of kids. I think it took me about 1 minute, maybe 2.
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The TV was on and I was doing it with one eye on the screen. :D And I wasn't sure of some of the answers and so I paused over them.

Good point. It doesn't even take as long as that.
 
Cavemonster said:
And another damned thing!

I hate all this BS dissection of "Native American" and "African American" and what they really should mean.

Guess what geniuses, a white pine isn't really white, french fries aren't really French.

If you applied the same bizarre etymological literalism you're using in this thread to any other area of language, you would never be able to freaking complete a freaking conversation. I don't hear you bitching that the sperm whale is a stupid name because all whales have sperm or the killer whale is a misnomer since all whales kill at least krill.

All words are just wind squirted out of our meatholes, they have meaning because we collectively agree on it.
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QFT.
 
Cavemonster said:
QFT

It really gets to me the huuuge number of people who come out with the argument from ignorance of "What good reason could they possibly have to ask for this information?" When the answer to that question is very clear.

Hmm, it seems like a large percentage of the traffic stops in city X are for black people, could it be a profiling problem, a crime problem, or an acurate reflection of the demographics of the city? It sure would be nice to know what percentage of the city is black...
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Knowing what percentage of the city self identifies as "black" tells you nothing meaningful. What percentage of the "black" city drives? How many of the total racial miles driven are driven by the "black" city? How many total traffic violations are committed by the "black" city? Where do accidents occur? The census doesn't ask how many miles person 1 drove last year, or how many accidents person 2 had, or how many "rolling stops" person 3 made. If more teenagers than forty-somethings are stopped, is it a civil rights violation? How would you know? Should the Justice Department go after the NBA or the PGA, or both?

The only relevant question in a traffic stop is "Was the traffic law violated?" If people are being stopped when no law was violated, the police are wasting their time and my money, and the practice should stop. The idea that people should be treated differently (either protected or persecuted) because of some spurious racial category is racist, and having this question on a census form in 2010 is also racist.

I too check "other" and write in "HUMAN". I've done it on every census I've filled out.
 
I find it amazing how thorough the census is this time. A neighbor just referred one census worker to me to try to answer many questions he had about seemingly vacant and/or non-responsive houses (I was able to answer them all). The worker told me that his boss insisted he walk back in the woods/swamp and be sure there were was no one living there. I could have told him that, but he said he enjoyed the hike, and no, he didn't find any hermits in the swamp.

Of course, if he had, I'm not sure there was a "swamp monster" race checkbox on the form.
 
I filled out my Census and mailed it in! I felt pretty happy; this was my first Census where I wasn't counted on the rents' roll.
 
LTC8K6 said:
I had trouble filling out the form they sent to the unoccupied house that I own...
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You don't have to and aren't supposed to. You are supposed to fill out the form for your primary residence, regardless of how many homes you own. Crews are working very hard to determine if any given house is primary or seasonal. But if no one is at the seasonal residence when the worker shows up, how is the worker to know the status? The resident might be at work, or might be in another state, for all they know. So, a census form is left at or mailed to each, just in case what looks like a seasonal or vacation home is actually a primary residence. If you have already filled out a form at your primary residence, and you arrive at your summer home and find another, you can safely ignore it.

By the way, the media reports that it costs an average of $12 to process each mailed-in form. But when an enumerator has to come to a home for whatever reason, that figure jumps up to around 5 times that.

If that's the way folks want to spend their tax dollars, be my guest. No skin off my nose.

And in spite of the colloquial term "human race," human is a species, not a race. But again, if that's how people want their tax dollars spent...don't come crying later about the cost. You had a chance to keep the expenses down. If you didn't want to take it, that's your choice, I suppose.

I can't believe how childish some people are being about this. And I don't care how I'm belittled and screamed at for my opinion. I still find it pretty childish.
 
slingblade said:
And in spite of the colloquial term "human race," human is a species, not a race. But again, if that's how people want their tax dollars spent...don't come crying later about the cost. You had a chance to keep the expenses down. If you didn't want to take it, that's your choice, I suppose.

I can't believe how childish some people are being about this. And I don't care how I'm belittled and screamed at for my opinion. I still find it pretty childish.
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I'm not sure what "if that's how people want their tax dollars spent" is supposed to imply. Does it cost more to count "humans" than it does to count "other Asian - print race, for example, Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian, and so on"?

What's childish to me is trying to draw a distinction between the "Laotian" race and the "Thai" race. I'm surprised that a full decade into the 21st century, almost fifty years after the Civil Rights Act, we haven't outgrown it. I'm confident that we will, but in the meantime, I guess I'll have to tolerate being considered childish. Fortunately, the census form seems willing to let us all self-select. If I get a "Little Big Man" fan, maybe they'll count me as part of the "Cheyenne" race. I guess I could live with that too.
 
It's been said before: that you don't know what the data is used for doesn't make the data meaningless except to you, because you don't choose to find out what the data is used for. If you don't care to find out, then don't. Or educate yourself. Up to you.
 
Or, since my phone number is on the form, and nobody's ever called to say that "HUMAN" is an unacceptable waste of federal dollars, I can just wait until the rest of the country is as enlightened as I am.

But if they call this year, I'll be sure to ask them what they need the information for, and dig this thread out to educate the rest of you.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Do share.

I can't think of a single legitimate reason not to fill out the census.
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I filled out the official census, in case you were implying otherwise.

The Census bureau has other quasi-legal tasks that they busy themselves with, and are damn quick to resort to bullying tactics.

They picked my apartment "at random", and started asking me a bunch of questions. They told me I could stop answering at any time.

I answered more questions than anything in the census. They started getting more and more personal, so I decided it was time to shut them down.

So they started trying to intimidate me for weeks. It was enough to make me seek legal advice and to tell them to talk to my attorney.

So no. They didn't try to grab my guns, but they're no longer welcome in my home.
 
Filled most of it out. Refused to answer the "What race are you?" question. Reminded them that it was inappropriate and not to contact me regarding it.

Twerps.
 
stevea said:
What a coo-coo view of government.

It's gov't responsibility to protect the rights of ALL citizens and to treat ALL citizens equally, not to play favorites. The race question has no legitimate purpose on the census. It's just as bad as if they asked for religion or sexual persuasion.
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I did say "one of the duties of a democracy" for a reason.

But since you brought it up; How does one ensure equal representation in congress for all "races" without demographic information?
 
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