Maybe it's just easier to govern racist-ly...

I had read somewhere, although I couldn't remember where, that here in Bahrain if you are in a traffic accident, guilt is automatically decided by the police once they arrive at the scene. If you are Arab (Bahraini), you are automatically innocent. If you are Indian, you are automatically guilty. An ex-pat in an accident with a Bahraini, the ex-pat is guilty. An ex-pat in an accident with an Indian, the Indian is guilty.

I thought this was absurd and wasn't sure of its validity, but my friend, an ex-pat from South Africa, was at a red light when she was rear-ended by a Bahraini. When the police arrived, sure enough, she was declared guilty and given a ticket for 18BD ($48). Even though she was the one that got hit. She said there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. No explaining, much less protesting, was allowed.

Gee, that certainly does simplify the workload.

Can you imagine if this was implemented in the United States? Who would be automatically guilty? Obviously Asians. (We don't get any respect anywhere we are in the world.) We'd have to tier them-- like is Vietnamese higher or lower than Laotian? Black people. Mexicans. There'd be some mad tier-ing going on. Sadly, Indians would still be in the automatically guilty group. It would be one complicated process. Sure glad the American police don't make assumptions based on race.