"Is everybody a racist?" - An excellent article on subconscious racism

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this trump supporter told me this the other day. saying that "we are all a little bit racist".

my reaction
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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.

it's hard being an underachieving asian like me

it's like i'm double the failure than normal, you know?
 
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 seems very US-centric.
Why would anyone in europe for example mistake anything for a gun?
 
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)

This is generally true and I'm sure you'll find plenty of philosophical writing about it.
 
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