Posted on 05/01/2008 1:51:50 PM PDT by neverdem
Deep within our subconscious, all of us harbor biases that we consciously abhor. And the worst part is: we act on them
"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life,” Jesse Jackson once told an audience, “than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
Jackson’s remark illustrates a basic fact of our social existence, one that even a committed black civil-rights leader cannot escape: ideas that we may not endorse—for example, that a black stranger might harm us but a white one probably would not—can nonetheless lodge themselves in our minds and, without our permission or awareness, color our perceptions, expectations and judgments.
Using a variety of sophisticated methods, psychologists have established that people unwittingly hold an astounding assortment of stereotypical beliefs and attitudes about social groups: black and white, female and male, elderly and young, gay and straight, fat and thin. Although these implicit biases inhabit us all, we vary in the particulars, depending on our own group membership, our conscious desire to avoid bias and the contours of our everyday environments. For instance, about two thirds of whites have an implicit preference for whites over blacks, whereas blacks show no average preference for one race over the other.
Such bias is far more prevalent than the more overt, or explicit, prejudice that we associate with, say, the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis. That is emphatically not to say that explicit prejudice and discrimination have evaporated nor that they are of lesser importance than implicit bias. According to a 2005 federal report, almost 200,000 hate...
--snip--
And the greater a physician’s racial bias, the less likely he or she was to give a black patient clot-busting thrombolytic drugs.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciam.com ...
That sounds like pure BS! Here's a link to the study:
Then, later, the Communist Piel (his wife was head of the Communist Emergency Civil Librties Union) took over Scientific [Un]American in the 40s I believe.
Sorry, I'm not buying the claims in this article.
What a pant load!
Is this the reason for all the black on black crime in the USA or the reason they still sell each other as slaves in Africa?
Uh....bias is the way the animal brain works.
I'm rejecting all this race crapola and doing it very forcefully. I am trying to teach my kids and grandkids to do the same. I say "Look for values. Don't worry about a person's race. And don't you EVER fall for this baloney about one set of values not being better than another one. Don't cut slack to a slacker just because your little teacher seems to think that is the way to go."
The columnist complains about “stereotypes” without acknowledging that stereotypes
ARE BASED ON SOMETHING.
“For instance, about two thirds of whites have an implicit preference for whites over blacks, whereas blacks show no average preference for one race over the other.’
huh
This is crazy. People feel guilty for possessing common sense and looking at percentages and statistics.
You know what? In certain areas of town, I feel uncomfortable. I generally don’t go there.
You know what else? If people don’t look right to me, I treat them more cautiously than those that appear less threatening or uncertain. And color makes no damn difference. White skinheads that look meaner than hell, hispanics than look meaner than hell, blacks looking around like they’re pissed off at the world, acting nervous, all of these things are red flags ANYONE, no matter what color, ought to clue in on. It isn’t about racism. It’s about picking up signals that OTHERS are broadcasting by their look, their dress, their mannerisms, and their language and attitude. Doesn’t matter what color they are.
Geez. You’d think Jesse would be smarter about this kind of thing having lived a pretty long life.
Yeah, that’s why I so many blacks I don’t know keep coming up to me and wanting to be my friend. /sarc
Humans are imperfect?!! Well knock me over.
“...the black customers in front of me in the line, are always greeted by the black cashier with smiles and conversation, but as soon as the white person steps up, most of the time the smile disappears and a militance takes over, displaying the checker’s obvious contempt for a person of the caucasion race.”...
I have also noticed this happening to me all the time at the grocery store I go to. Black customers are treated like a close friend. White customers are the strangest stranger and a borderline inconvenience. There are exceptions, and in my experience they are older black ladies that tend to be pleasant, but anyone else, just as you have described.
What are the chances that the writer is a Republican?
I would say the chances approach zero.
The DNC is the party of the race-obsessed. They imagine that the whole world shares their obsession, that anyone who claims not to share their obsession is either lying or kidding themselves.
But for those souls who believe everything is a function of race, and response to race, and bias about race, and phobias about race, I would invite them to just let it go.
Let it go.
Life is about so much more than that. Build, create, love, and learn to see people as people, learn to see character as the primary determinant in a person’s life.
Until they are ready to do that, the DNC is where they belong.
Reverend Wright sure has some racial prejudice buried in his mind.
Or you could tell 'em: "It's not the color, it's the class."
>>the black customers...are always greeted by the black cashier with smiles and conversation, but as soon as the white person steps up,...the smile disappears...and a militance [sic] takes over, displaying...obvious contempt for a person of the caucasion [sic] race. No amount of trying to be friendly will crack the mold...
Let me suggest what may be happening: Blacks are so used to being ignored by whites that they wait for you to make the first move. As an airline pilot (30+ years), I always tried to say goodbye to my passengers. I could count on one hand the times I was ignored or stared at contemptuously by blacks.
If that sort of thing does happen to me when I’m the customer, I confront it directly by asking to speak to the manager, keeping race out of it, and telling both the manager and the cashier that I expect to be treated politely in any place I spent my $$. You initiate the conversation - start out with a smile on your face and being chatty; if you don’t get the same, raise hell. Stealing, and rudeness to the customers is an easy way to get fired in any business.
BTW, Cubans in Miami (no, I didn’t say “Latins”) are notorious for their rudeness to Gringos. I have no problem confronting them, either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.