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[Joe]

It's a long read but very interesting and chock-full of stats, studies, and references.

https://aeon.co/essays/unconscious-racism-is-pervasive-starts-early-and-can-be-deadly

The study found that people who showed more implicit preferences for faces of their own race also showed less reactivity to pain in someone from another race

The most damaging part of the racial empathy gap is that we bury it in the subconscious in layers of denial to protect our social reputation

Stereotypes such as the ‘strong black woman’ seem complimentary but also imbue the subject with a super-human burden

When white test subjects were primed with photos of five-year-old black boys, they were far more likely to mistake objects such as toys for guns – or even to see guns when there were none

 

[Maxey]

We only just opened the door to a more tolerant society but walking through it is still going to take years.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Good news guys, according to the implicit tests I'm not an unconscious racist!

Most of the info in there was old news, but it's a good primer for people who aren't up on it. Also the detail where abstracting people's skin color "solves" the issue of disparate racial responses is really interesting.

Totally fizzles out at offering concrete steps to mitigate these issues, though.

 

[Infinite]

Mostly old news but still very important to read through.

 

[News Bot]

When white test subjects were primed with photos of five-year-old black boys, they were far more likely to mistake objects such as toys for guns – or even to see guns when there were none

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

 

[Sectorseven]

Hulk Hogan thinks so.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

We all have prejudices, though I generally reserve the title of racist for those who deny or refuse to combat them within themselves.

 

[Alcotholic]

I think there is a song out there about this...
"Everyones a little bit racist"

 

[Captin Quacker]

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

You ain't kidding

 

[Abstruse Moose]

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

Future police officers.

 

[thefro]

I think there is a song out there about this...
"Everyones a little bit racist"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovF1zsDoeM

Co-written by EGOT winner Robert Lopez (who also co-wrote Frozen's songs)

 

[Infinite]

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

The black people being perceived as "super heroes" is just as alarming for me.

 

[LucidMomentum]

The black people being perceived as "super heroes" is just as alarming for me.

Much like the stereotypes of Asians being good at math or Jews being good at business, while most people think these statements aren't "bad" because they're a compliment they really don't help to minimize racism or improve race relations because they place a burden of expectation upon people of a certain race.

 

[HStallion]

We only just opened the door to a more tolerant society but walking through it is still going to take years.

Considering some of our worst traits probably have some background in how we evolved it will probably take hundreds of years if not longer, much much longer most likely. This is all considering that humanity actively breeds towards are positives and doesn't have another dark age where we lose a lot of what we gained socially.

 

[WrenchNinja]

or even to see guns when there were none

Wooooow

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

This is a great article.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

When white test subjects were primed with photos of five-year-old black boys, they were far more likely to mistake objects such as toys for guns – or even to see guns when there were none

smh

 

[Ray Wonder]

I realllly want to read this study.

Does Seeing Faces of Young Black Boys Facilitate the Identification of Threatening Stimuli?

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

I realllly want to read this study.

Does Seeing Faces of Young Black Boys Facilitate the Identification of Threatening Stimuli?

Me too. Open access should be the norm.

 

[Two Words]

We all have gut feelings that can be pretty shitty. That's why it is important to try to rationally decide to ignore those gut feelings that are based on unfair biases.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

lol. Nope. That's just another day in America..

 

[Ivan 3414]

Future police officers.

Pretty sure these were white people of all ages.

 

[Alcotholic]

Wooooow

This isnt really related, but it reminded me of that quote:
https://youtu.be/hY5zuerWj_E

 

[mclem]

My philosophy on the broad subject:

I think many people have strong gut reactions on encountering certain people who are different to them - a pure animalistic response; an Other who My People should be protected from; I think there's a stage where it's a pure emotional response without any justifiable foundation.

The problems - racism, sexism, homophobia, anything like that - come from people who seek to justify that emotional response in itself, rather than recognising it for what it is and permitting your brain to overrule it.

(I think this stretches further when you couch it in terms of 'challenging a belief', too; the same principle applies; many people will place more faith in a belief - because if they genuinely wholeheartedly believe it they can't countenance that belief being incorrect - than in the rational explanation of what they're encountering)

 

[cpp_is_king]

I realllly want to read this study.

Does Seeing Faces of Young Black Boys Facilitate the Identification of Threatening Stimuli?

You can buy it for $35. Get 6 other gaffers to pitch in and its $5 each

 

[Orbis Tabula]

Man, this sure makes me feel shitty. But I guess that just want it's another piece of information I'm going to keep an eye on. Like the article says, denying it is a big part of the problem.

 

[xenist]

Of course everyone is racist, deep down in their animal brain. You will instinctively side with your tribe. And I believe anyone saying otherwise is lying. But it doesn't matter in the end. It's what you say and do that defines you.

 

[Infinite]

Much like the stereotypes of Asians being good at math or Jews being good at business, while most people think these statements aren't "bad" because they're a compliment they really don't help to minimize racism or improve race relations because they place a burden of expectation upon people of a certain race.

Yeah but I'm not talking about burdens of expectations in that sense. Seeing black people as super humans explains why the police are likely to use excessive force against us or why hospitals are likely to give black patients lower dosages of anesthesia.

 

[Dabanton]

Just about to dip into the story but this thing

Stereotypes such as the ‘strong black woman’ seem complimentary but also imbue the subject with a super-human burden

I've had to discuss this particular subject with some of my mostly white gay male friends who call themselves 'strong black women'. Now I know they mean it from a place of adoration but it still feels a bit silly.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Of course everyone is racist, deep down in their animal brain. You will instinctively side with your tribe. And I believe anyone saying otherwise is lying. But it doesn't matter in the end. It's what you say and do that defines.

I wonder if specifically working against the notion that another skin color means they are outside your "tribe" would make any difference.

At least on paper, I suspect most white people in the US would consider "other Americans" their tribe moreso than say, another white person in any other country.

We just need to come around to the reality: we're all part of the same tribe. We've slowly been working towards that since the dawn of civilization anyway.

 

[Weiss]

The problem with this is that white people have a tremendous knee jerk reaction because we want to pretend racism ended in the 60s.

I know I'm prejudiced. I know I benefit from being white in society. It doesn't make me a bad person, it doesn't make me unworthy of my life, but the more I know the more effort I can take to combat it.

 

[Nowise10]

I realllly want to read this study.

Does Seeing Faces of Young Black Boys Facilitate the Identification of Threatening Stimuli?

Am I missing something obvious, because it says its free for me.

 

[Infinite]

Just about to dip into the story but this thing



I've had to discuss this particular subject with some of my mostly white gay male friends who call themselves 'strong black women'. Now I know they mean it from a place of adoration but it still feels a bit silly.

I hate when white people say that shit with a passion. I'm not even a black woman and it feels dehumanizing even to me.

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

Am I missing something obvious, because it says its free for me.

Thank abrasct is. We want to know the methodology and results.

Do you have access?

 

[besada]

Man, this sure makes me feel shitty. But I guess that just want it's another piece of information I'm going to keep an eye on. Like the article says, denying it is a big part of the problem.

I think it's important for us to know that our brains work by a series of non-rational processes, which we then rationalize using executive function. Being aware of these things is a big part of the battle. Knowing that your first reactions can't be trusted in many situations is a good thing.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I wonder if specifically working against the notion that another skin color means they are outside your "tribe" would make any difference.

At least on paper, I suspect most white people in the US would consider "other Americans" their tribe moreso than say, another white person in any other country.

We just need to come around to the reality: we're all part of the same tribe. We've slowly been working towards that since the dawn of civilization anyway.

I'd say the assimilation of the Irish as white and the increasing trend towards the same with various Asian nationalities is hopeful in that as we expand the tent (hopefully leading to its dissolution in the long run) those sorts of "race = tribe" signifiers the articles see as stronger than nationalism will slowly erode more.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Not surprised at all, it makes perfect sense really. Our ancestors would have been afraid of the unknown and be conditioned to stick to things that felt safe. As enlightened as we may be there are things that are out of our control sometimes.

 

[Abstrusity]

My philosophy on the broad subject:

I think many people have strong gut reactions on encountering certain people who are different to them - a pure animalistic response; an Other who My People should be protected from; I think there's a stage where it's a pure emotional response without any justifiable foundation.

The problems - racism, sexism, homophobia, anything like that - come from people who seek to justify that emotional response in itself, rather than recognising it for what it is and permitting your brain to overrule it.

(I think this stretches further when you couch it in terms of 'challenging a belief', too; the same principle applies; many people will place more faith in a belief - because if they genuinely wholeheartedly believe it they can't countenance that belief being incorrect - than in the rational explanation of what they're encountering)

To be fair, experiencing stereotypes can very easily foment any other biases, be they conscious or unconscious. Those justifications are hardest to break. I grew up in a poor neighborhood were drugs and crime ere rampant. At school, the children of the neighborhood were disruptive and violent. So I grew up steeped in the very streotypes that would make me racist to express. For the longest time, being around African Americans filled me with dead. "Is he going to attack someone?" It was all I ever knew. Then as I grew up, and I started learning why, it transitioned first into blaming them for their own problems -- not all African Americans were like that -- and then into an understanding that the problems were systemic, had causes well beyond single families, well beyond even the ghetto of a community I was raised in. I would not have come to that conclusion if I did not leave that area, or see it happen in the same way witg other ethnicities, including my own.

Most racists don't get that opportunity. Their streotypes are justified and built upon daily by news, be it Fox or anything else. Their opinions fester amongst themselves, hardly ever challenged, and never by authorities they trust.

This is not to defend them. I feel that if we are ever going to cure racism, or at least lessen its effects, we need to stymie that culture of interdependence that all too often turns into an echo chamber. Otherwise, we are simply hiding it. The systemic issues that exist are rarely open racism, but all too commonly those borne of stereotypes and statistics that feed them. The cycle must be broken.

 

[John Kowalski]

Hmm, hadn't heard that testosterone bit before. Is that a common thing?

 

[Infinite]

Not surprised at all, it makes perfect sense really. Our ancestors would have been afraid of the unknown and be conditioned to stick to things that felt safe. As enlightened as we may be there are things that are out of our control sometimes.

I don't think racism is natural. We've definitely been programmed to have these thoughts. Also this goes back to enslaving people for capital then rationalizing it with these pseudo-sciences so they wouldn't feel guilt.

 

[Xe4]

Yeah its pretty shitty. Subconscious tribal instincts (and that's what racism, sexism, homophobia, etc is when you get down to it), is something everyone had to work every day to minimize. The fear of the other was once a really big issue for human society and it did it's part to keep us alive. But in the 21st century all its doing is dragging us down as a society.

Edit: reading the thread most people have the same sort of idea. I'm not entirely sure racism is engrained in us. Society definetly does play a part. But prejudice definetly is. If it wasn't racism, sexism, etc. It would be something else.

 

[Skellig Gra]

I don't think racism is natural.

I guess it depends how you define racism. Is hardcore racism like Hitler or something natural? No. But humans definitely fear the unknown and are more comfortable with things that are familiar to them.

 

[EdibleKnife]

I realllly want to read this study.

Does Seeing Faces of Young Black Boys Facilitate the Identification of Threatening Stimuli?

Thank abrasct is. We want to know the methodology and results.

Do you have access?

PM me your email. Same for anyone else.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

I wonder if specifically working against the notion that another skin color means they are outside your "tribe" would make any difference.

At least on paper, I suspect most white people in the US would consider "other Americans" their tribe moreso than say, another white person in any other country.

We just need to come around to the reality: we're all part of the same tribe. We've slowly been working towards that since the dawn of civilization anyway.

I imagine it's in segments.

IE Given a generalization-
Americans will defend Americans when under threat from another nationa
Whites will defend Whites when it's a racial matter
Rich will stick with the rich
poor will stick with the poor
People from one neighborhood will stick for that neighborhood

I mean, I figure that's how it would go, If race wasn't an issue, there would be other identifiers that people would use to segment themselves and others.

 

[Suite Pee]

The American public would benefit from a Psych 101 course.

 

[HStallion]

I wonder if specifically working against the notion that another skin color means they are outside your "tribe" would make any difference.

At least on paper, I suspect most white people in the US would consider "other Americans" their tribe moreso than say, another white person in any other country.

We just need to come around to the reality: we're all part of the same tribe. We've slowly been working towards that since the dawn of civilization anyway.

Except my tribe is so much better than your tribe!

I wonder if specifically working against the notion that another skin color means they are outside your "tribe" would make any difference.

At least on paper, I suspect most white people in the US would consider "other Americans" their tribe moreso than say, another white person in any other country.

We just need to come around to the reality: we're all part of the same tribe. We've slowly been working towards that since the dawn of civilization anyway.

I believe there is actually a limit to how many people you can actively "care" about that stops upwards of like a hundred or maybe two hundred people. I believe those higher numbers are stretching that as well. I believe there is a name or term for this but it has to do with the fact we evolved living in smaller hunter gatherer groups based around a couple families or family and they were nowhere near city sized, or even town sized. We just aren't geared to view things on a global scale with empathy by our very nature.

 

[formasymphonic]

Yes we all are. many of the examples of racism have a basis in evolutionary behavioural traits.

However we have evolved enough intellect to not let base traits like that define us, or control us culturally in other areas - so falling back to "it has an evolutionary basis" should never be an acceptable defence IMO

 

[Infinite]

I guess it depends how you define racism. Is hardcore racism like Hitler or something natural? No. But humans definitely fear the unknown and are more comfortable with things that are familiar to them.

Seeing black people as inherently more dangerous, perceiving guns in their possession when there isn't, viewing them as super humans who are less receptive to pain etc aren't natural. It's very important that we not simply shrug our shoulders and blame these type of things on nature when none of that is tied to nature because then that means we're giving up on trying to change things. Racism isn't a natural phenomenon it's a societal one.

es we all are. many of the examples of racism have a basis in evolutionary behavioural traits.

However we have evolved enough intellect to not let base traits like that define us or control us culturally in other areas so falling back to "it has an evolutionary basis" should never be an acceptable defence IMO

Exactly.

 

[esquire]

I don't believe in the "everyone is a little bit racist" rationalizations for racism.

I guess it depends how you define racism. Is hardcore racism like Hitler or something natural? No. But humans definitely fear the unknown and are more comfortable with things that are familiar to them.

That is a nice way of rationalizing racism.

"I'm not racist, I just have a rational fear the things that are unfamiliar to me."

There are black people who are biased against other black people in the same way white people are biased against black people. Is that also natural to you?

 

[injurai]

Seeing black people as inherently more dangerous, perceiving guns in their possession when there isn't, viewing them as super humans who are less receptive to pain etc aren't natural. It's very important that we not simply shrug our shoulders and blame these type of things on nature when none of that is tied to nature because then that means we're giving up on trying to change things. Racism isn't a natural phenomenon it's a societal one.

But how did all that come to be in the first place? Surely tribalism of ethnicity. Tribalism of phenotypes.