The Diallo shooting is an example of a mind-reading failure. It reveals a grey area of human cognition; the middle ground between deliberate and accidental. Do you think the shooting was more deliberate or accidental?
Reminders for Responses
- Responses should be at least 5-7 sentences
- Do not simply say "I agree with Susie" or "I hadn't thought of it that way"-- include examples from your own experience and/or hyperlink us to other articles or websites that also pertain to these questions
- Respond to this question before midnight on 11/16/12
- All late posts will be deducted 1 point per day late
I think the shooting was more accidental. I don't believe those officers were driving through the neighborhood thinking that they might shoot someone that night. I think they got caught up in the moment and had a mind-reading failure. They couldn't digest the situation as it was happening and in those few seconds they made a big mistake. I think it is a tragedy, but I think it was more accidental than deliberate because they were so overwhelmed they didn't respond to the situation as they should have.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cristin's answer that the shooting was more accidental. The officers involved in the situation most likely did not wake up that morning with the intent of shooting someone. Often times, people get caught up in situations and react on impulse. Unfortunately, that's what these officers did and wound up having a mind-reading failure. Because of this, a huge mistake was made. However, because they acted on impulse, i feel this shooting was accidental.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Diallo shooting was accidental. Like Hope said, I do not think that the four officers had any intent of shooting anyone, they were simply doing their job. I believe that the events that occurred that day all could have been avoided. Like Hope said, the officers react on impulse, and I believe any other officer in this situation probably would have done the same thing. The Diallo shooting is a perfect example of having a mind-reading failure, because in this situation they mistook an incident bystander as a notorious rapist simply because they looked alike. I feel like situations like this happen a lot, therefore something like this cannot be deliberate.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christina, Hope and Gabby that the Diallo shooting was more accidental than deliberate. The officers who show the people in my opinion it did not seem like they thought too much into it and had the intention to kill. In the heat of the moment they thought on their feet and tried to just to their job. I agree with Gabby saying that this is a good example of a mind-reading failure, mistaking the innocent man. Even though this is a sad situation and the officers did kill the man, I think that they are not guilty because it was a mistake.
ReplyDeleteAppearance gives off bad judgments to everyone because they are the first thing a person sees. I think that the Diallo shooting was definitely more accidental. The officers did not have the intent of killing someone. They were part of a Street Crime Unit patrolling hot spots where high crime would be involved. The officers were being cautious because they saw a sketchy man in lower Manhattan. They used thin slicing to judge Diallo on appearance based on impact. The officers read the mind of a man who looked like he was up to no good while standing on a stoop. Diallo looked like he had a gun and when the officers found out he did not obtain such an item, they felt horrible. Their mind-reading led to a man dead and officers with genuine guilt.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Diallo shooting was not intentional. I think it was more accidental because these officers didnt just wake up and say to their selves that they want to shoot someone. It seems to me that it was a more of a random reaction and they didnt really think before their actions. These officers most likely have clean records, its not like they have done something else to harm others, any other officer would do the same if they were in their position. They were just doing their job.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Diallo shooting was more accidental. With any kind of dangerous job such as a police officer, one has to expect the worst at all times, and be prepared in any situation. In an adrenaline-rush kind of circumstance like that, people are prone to making mistakes and having mind-reading failures. The officers entered the scene with high suspicions, which is expected considering Diallo looked sketchy to begin with. While they did stereotype Diallo, they were only doing it for safety purposes. Once they got all worked up and the shooting took place and ended in the blink of an eye, they all felt guilty that Diallo had been killed. Acting on impulse is very important when it comes to careers such as these. The officers acted with impulse, and unfortunately in this case, their gut instinct did not lead them to success. It led them to a terrible mistake.
ReplyDeleteI believe the shooting was more deliberate than accidental. Accidental is more that they were aiming to shoot someone else and maybe by accident they killed someone else. No one ever likes to admit they have a little bit of racism within them, but these police officers would have never stopped their car to check in on a white man in a suit. So many assumptions against an innocent man, who looked a little different, lead to a fatal shooting. The poor man was just getting his wallet out probably to show his ID. The police officers should have kept driving, there is not a law with a time limit on when you can be outside. It was deliberately wrong and unfair.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority of the previous posts that shooting was more accidental than intentional. Although the officers did judge the man too soon and did not give him any time to explain, they were doing their job. If anyone of us were walking down a street in a not so good neighborhood and saw a man suspiciously outside, we would all be scared as well. I don't agree with what they did but I do feel it is human nature to know what your surroundings are and make a judgement by that.
ReplyDeleteThis question is really hard to answer because I can see both sides to the situation that took place. Although it could have been deliberate, I am leaning more towards it being accidental. Gladwell said that it seems wrong to call the shooting an accident because it wasn't exemplary police work, but I feel being put in a situation like that you are not exactly worried about what you're doing right and wrong. The situation occurred so fast and it seemed that the police began to put things in their own head. I feel everyone does that at some point. Even if you're just walking alone at night and you see someone you automatically wonder if you're now in danger. We see things that appear sketchy to us and almost immediately we expect the worst. This tends to lead to rash actions and the police with Diallo are a great example of this. As for the race issue, I don't agree with it. Even though this book was written awhile ago, I feel most people do not view racial issues as they used to. Don't get me wrong, people still do but I just do not feel that this case was due to race. Especially in the quotes we see in the book, the police that were apart of this seemed scared, unaware, and were jumping to a false conclusion. An accident seems more plausible in a situation such as this.
ReplyDeleteThe shooting can really go both ways in being accidental or deliberate. In my opinion the police officers were just doing their job and they saw this guy as a threat even though he was not the right guy. They were all caught up in the situation and made split decisions that did turn out bad but there was nothing else they could really do, they though this guy was pulling out a gun. But I do think it was unnecessary for the police officers to shoot this guy 41 times when he could have of been shot once or twice to disable him from reacting back or causing any harm towards the officers.
ReplyDeleteTo tell whether this shooting was accidental or deliberate is very hard because there is a legitimate defense to both sides of the argument. The cops were trying to protect one another and themselves, while Diallo was just minding his own business and ended up being at the wrong place at the wrong time. One thing that just doesn’t sit right with me about the whole situation is that Diallo never made a move towards the cop, and although as part of their profession the cops had to make a split decision whether to shoot or not, there was nothing in Diallo's body language or actions that could have lead the officers to believe he was a threat. When Diallo started moving away from the cops rather than towards them, I think this also should have been another sign for the cops that he was not intended to cause any harm or trouble. In the cops’ defense, they were out patrolling a high crime neighborhood, so the idea in their head was probably that anyone they would come across were most likely criminals.
ReplyDeleteIn order to choose a particular reason for why this happened, whether it be deliberate or accidental is a tough call. However, police officers are trained to act and react in certain situations in certain ways. But, this also means to not let their judgments and racial standpoints get in the way of these reactions. Because I have to choose whether it be deliberate or accidental, i would have to believe this was deliberate. I think the police officer(s) could've shot Diallo once or twice to either impare him or kill him, but shooting someone 41 times, NOT knowing if he is taking out a weapon or not, is too high of a number. I believe they let their judgments impare their reactions, and therefore led them to act out in this manner.
ReplyDeleteI think the Diallo shooting was both deliberate and accidental. I am saying it was deliberate because these police officers were sort of conditioned to think that because they were in this bad area and because they were looking for someone specific. Also shooting someone 40 times is not accident. I do think it also was accidental, I don’t think that the officers meant it intentionally. They weren’t looking for someone to shoot but their first reaction to him reaching in his pocket was that he had a gun but he really just wanted his wallet to show his ID. I think that this was more accidental then deliberate because their first instinct was to protect themselves from them potentiality being shot if he had a gun. But I also think that there could have been other ways to avoid this situation.
ReplyDeleteI think that The Diallo shooting could either have been accidental or deliberate, but it was more accidental. The police officers were wrong to judge the man by his cover, but they did not mean to kill an innocent person that night working on the job. They were very wrong to look at someone and suspect the worst possible thing from them when they had no evidence. I understand they were put on a job in an area filled with crime, but before they jumped to certain conclusions they should have given the man more of a chance. Their wrong judgement led to an accidental killing. I think that this was more of an accident because the overall view of the officers that night was to protect everyone's safety. They didn't have a mindset of killing, but a mindset of keeping everyone safe.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that the officers meant it intentionally. Their first reaction to him reaching for something was that he was taking out a gun even though he just wanted his wallet to show them his ID. I think that this was more accidental then deliberate because their first reaction off impulse to protect themselves from the possibility of being shot if he had a gun. Officers were questioning everything and Diallo stands out with his image. Diallo was stereotyped only for purposes of safety. All police officers are dangerous an have to expect the worst and trained for all these situations. People are prone to making a life threatening decision during an adrenaline rush, and mind reading failures. The officers acted with impulse, and unfortunately in this case, their gut instinct did not lead them to a positive result. It led them to a regretful mistake.
ReplyDelete