Black People

[George Rice]

1. America is not color blind, but better than it was 40 years ago.

2. Some prejudice is perfectly normal. People tend to distrust something they are unfamiliar with or don't understand.

3. Blacks get more exposure than they used to. Sports, television shows, politicians, etc. It's easier to see that they are basically the same as everyone else. The main difference is culture. Years ago many had limited exposure. There's also more exposure to mixed races (Woods, Jeter, Obama).

4. World Trade and the Iraq War had little to do with any increase in acceptance. Same for them fighting in the Civil War and the World Wars.

5. Hispanics died in World Trade too, as well as Middle-Easterners (not counting the terrorists). Ditto for the wars.

6. Bigots will dislike any who aren't the same as them. Just get them in the right company and listen to them.

7. The illegal-alien issue, as well as the anti-Muslim issue, is largely, but by all means not completely, something for bigots to rally against. The more sophisticated arguments used these days fool no thinking man. But it gives mild bigots something to grab at during election time.

8. The human race probably originated in Africa and migrated from there. So in a way, we're all Africans. More people realize this now.

9. You are from an older generation. The younger generations are more accepting of different ethnic groups. So by default, as well as other reasons, America is more color-blind than it used to be.

[Brocktoon]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Chump, Brock, D:

I believe he's referring to customers at the poker room in the Bellagio.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think he's referring to casino customers in general. The number of black people in the Bellagio poker room was definitely nowhere near 40%.

[/ QUOTE ]

So the assumption is that the majority of black people in the Bellagio during All-Star weekend must be millionaires?

I must still be missing something because that doesn't sound right to me. Its not that hard to fly out to Vegas for the All-Star game and go shoot off some cash at Bellagio while you're there.

[Buccaneer]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi David,

While I do not doubt what you observed, I doubt your explanation for why. Psychologists have identified at least two new phenomon that can explain what you witnessed.

1. Covert Racism. As being outwardly racist has become more and more stigmatized, cover racism has developed. In covert racism, as the name suggests, people do not overtly express their racism. There they do so more covertly, often in simple ways which cannot be considered criminal (e.g. not holding the door for a person of another race).

2. Reverse racism. I know this isn't the exact term for it (I can't remember the psychological name for it) but it is representative of the phenomenon. In reverse racism, a person is so afraid of being labeled a racist, that he or she goes above and beyond being helpful in the way he or she would to a person of his or her own race. For example, a white female shop owner might be extra-considerate to an african american customer to "prove" that she isn't racist.

While both of these phenomenon seem to be reducing the number of racially motivated crimes (acts of discrimination) in the United States, they are not reducing racial stereotyping (negative thoughts about a particular race) or racial prejudice (negative feelings about a particular race).

R. Sherman
Ph. D. Student Personality/Social Psychology

[/ QUOTE ]

Mr. Sherman,

Sklansky seems to be unaware that LV used to be called the "Mississippi or the West".

You on the otherhand, seem to bought into the thought processes of your peers. Your peers have created two new forms of racism to replace other forms of racism. Now why do you think that is? Because there would be alot of psychology "professionials" out of work if racism was declared insignificant.

In the US most of us have worked throught the guilt and error of our ways. The ones that have not progressed are idiots and will never change. Thier children will and that is what we see today. There will always be some type of discrimination, that is human behavior. I for one am tired of having to pay racial reperations for other peoples racism. Wouldn't it better to let it go?

[Sherman]

[ QUOTE ]
Your peers have created two new forms of racism to replace other forms of racism. Now why do you think that is? Because there would be alot of psychology "professionials" out of work if racism was declared insignificant.

[/ QUOTE ]

I noticed that you made no effort to indicate the credibility of your statements. While I am not an expert on racism (nor do I find it an interesting field of study) I find it hard to believe that my "peers created" two new forms of racism. I am quite confident that they are honestly reporting what the gathered data indicate.

And no, there are plenty of social problems to go around in America alone to keep psychologists in profession for a long time, so my peers are certainly not motivated to keep racism around in an effort to keep their jobs. As a matter of fact, I have found that most racism researchers are motivated to solve racial problems because of negative life experiences of their own.

I can understand your sentiments though. It certainly is easier to remain ignorant to real social problems than think critically about them.

Regards,

R. Sherman
Ph. D. Student Personality/Social Psychology

[Mickey Brausch]

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I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] black people.

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I [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] idiots.

[devilsshadow]

While reading (unfortunately) ALL the posts, I felt awe-struck by some of the responses. As I began typing this, I remembered I really shouldn't feel anything. A point that stands out as most pertinent:

- Humans TEND to be PREJUDICE by nature. To elaborate, YES, to some degree, survival requires us to correctly utilize all previously acquired information in order to act in accordance with our innate motivation to survive. The idea that racism is taught, methinks, is not too far off, in that, an individual has no natural motivation nor receives any benefit, nor increases chances of survival through the avoidance of people with a distinctly different outward appearance; in fact, if we did this naturally, it would most definitely be -EV on the survival scale. A person "gains" the "knowledge" of blacks being -EV through 1.) rote memorization of faulty rationalizations created by respected authority figures or 2.) negative experiences with blacks which are irrationally tied to ALL blacks...EITHER WAY, this whole problem starts with negative experiences that are irrationally applied as explanation for a traumatic experience, IOW = the racist needs Dr. Sherman to help sort through their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (and maybe some valium?)

The reason I shouldn't feel anything RE: others' responses in this forum is because my negative feelings are closely tied to my irrational assumption that people never change. I KNOW this is an irrational assumption bc I've seen people change, bc I've changed, bc change is the (one of the?) only constant(s) in existence. Sure, most people fall in the center of the bell curve. But, that doesn't mean they can't figure it out. They'll just have to come here every day and read all of Braush's posts.

Have we shifted our prejudice? Naw...it's really not prejudice we need to worry about,

it's the all too human trait of self righteousness and it's result: FEELING like a god.

peace out!

[Buccaneer]

Now hold on there Skippy, a.k.a. Mr. Sherman,

[ QUOTE ]
I noticed that you made no effort to indicate the credibility of your statements. While I am not an expert on racism (nor do I find it an interesting field of study) I find it hard to believe that my "peers created" two new forms of racism.

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope you will let me show you how confused your thought process is. You question the credibility of my statements but forget that I was responding to this psudo ejecta of yours [ QUOTE ]
While I do not doubt what you observed, I doubt your explanation for why. Psychologists have identified at least two new phenomon that can explain what you witnessed.

1. Covert Racism. As being outwardly racist has become more and more stigmatized, cover racism has developed. In covert racism, as the name suggests, people do not overtly express their racism. There they do so more covertly, often in simple ways which cannot be considered criminal (e.g. not holding the door for a person of another race).

2. Reverse racism. I know this isn't the exact term for it (I can't remember the psychological name for it) but it is representative of the phenomenon. In reverse racism, a person is so afraid of being labeled a racist, that he or she goes above and beyond being helpful in the way he or she would to a person of his or her own race.

[/ QUOTE ]

I saw no references or anything else to make me believe your statements were credible. You even admit to not knowing the name of one of your new types of racism. Am I susposed to automatically assign some type of credibility factor to any of your statements just because you are "I want to be called Dr. Skippy". And in this case Dr. Skippy is correct, we are discussing your area of study right. I know we are not in the class room and you have not recieved your PHD yet (you are not a medical doctor are you) but I honor you and your years of study even though you don't seem to know what you are talking about.

More of your ejecta [ QUOTE ]
Here are some facts based on, oh I dunno, scientific evidence:

1) Racism is real in America.

2) The number of criminal acts of discrimination (behaving in a way towards a person of another race that is unfair or harmful, simply because of his or her race) has been gradually decreasing.

3)..............................

[/ QUOTE ]

These are subjective statements of oppinion. You are trying to pass them off as objective statements. Your bio says you are involved with statistics, you should know better than to make a subjective statement like your Dr. Skippys Ten Commandments of Racism. There is no "scientific evidence" in any of your statements. I guess I was wrong. It really needs to be Mr. Skippy.

Well Skippy one more thing. Just because someone disagrees with what you have soaked up in your little school does not make them a canidate for this type of treatment: [ QUOTE ]
I can understand your sentiments though. It certainly is easier to remain ignorant to real social problems than think critically about them.

[/ QUOTE ] We have Sklansky here to do that. Remember a PHD only makes you a doctor in the classroom. Being in a doctorial only makes you a student.

Regards,

Buc

[Sherman]

I would be more than happy to produce citations for my statements. I happen to figure that most on this website don't care enough to acquire and read scientific journals. I thought it would be better to summarize years of research than to cite all of it however. For your pleasure, most of the research I cited can be found in the book "Prejudice and Racism" by James M. Jones. I also took the liberty of looking it up on Amazon, it appears to going for from $10.88 used and new if you would like a copy.

Unfortunately, I don't have the book with me right now (it's in my office) so I can't directly quote it for you.

Hope that helps.

[jackaaron]

Racism is baffling at times. In the sense of, why do we care that someone else is a different color?

It just couldn't be ONLY that.

There was a Star Trek episode, where Kirk et crew happened upon a planet that was at war. Each person on the planet had black on one side of their body, and white on the other. Split right down the middle of their face, body, etc.

As you have probably figured out, some of the people had white on the left, and some had white on the right. I vaguely remember Kirk having the two leaders of the respective factions on the bridge, asking them what their problem was, and one of them said something to the effect of, "Well, just look at him, he has black on the left."

[JROK777]

When I was younger, my best friend black. Racism looked really ugly to me then. I'd watch films like Mississippi Burning, and get all pissed off. My views of the world are changing. I see the lack of respect a lot of blacks have for anything. There seems to be arrogant pride that these black men want to flaunt. Absolute disrespect for anything good. They have no respect for their women, God, or their future. I guess in their eyes, they have no future. So, they do nothing to try and create one. Nothing good can grow from this lack of values. Everyone used to start with my acceptance. Currently if you are black, you are going to have to prove yourself. The black race is taking more out of society, than they are contibuting. The U.S standard of living would be better without the majority of them. I'm friends with a few blacks that are really good people. I'd do anything in the world for them. I guess stereotypes are mostly right. We just have to remember to give the individual a chance to prove them wrong.