I didn’t appreciate how important stories were until I started writing seriously. The more I thought about how to communicate well, the more I realised that all communication, literally all communication, is storytelling. News stories, religious stories, love stories, scary stories, stories about who we are and who we can become, we're constantly being sold a story about the world. And it’s never quite the whole truth.
Timely. I recently read Malcolm Gladwell's must read, "Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking."
He pointed out that "When the students were asked to identify their race on a pretest questionnaire, that simple act was sufficient to prime them with all the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans and academic achievement—and the number of items they got right was cut in half."
There was a track and field guy who took the race IAT test frequently and his score remained the same until one day when he had watched the Olympics (black excellence) before taking it and it changed for the better.
He wrote quite a bit on police shootings. "Three of the major race riots in this country over the past quarter century have been caused by what cops did at the end of a chase.” There are too many lessons in that section for me to quote. I will repeat the words must read book.
"hat simple act was sufficient to prime them with all the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans and academic achievement"
Yep, I heard about that study. There have been a few on the same theme. Similarly, when black students read a passage from a book by Ta Nehisi Coates their confidence in their ability to control their destiny decreased.
I'd be really interested to see studies like this on other groups. I'd love to see if the effect is pervasive, or if there needs to be a wider cultural effect before something so apparently minor can make a difference..
Two notes on the police shootings. There are more complaints when there are two officers in a car as they act more quickly where with one they wait for backup. Many agencies are reducing the number of partner cars as a result.
With apologies to Chris Rock, don't make them chase you if you don't want to get shot. Arousal of the chase alters thinking. This is not necessarily about race though I've read (don't know how true) that black people are more prone to run. Imagine you have just rushed your life, and the lives of others, in a high speed car chase.
One of my takeaways is that race can be an influence when the people involved are not people we would think of as racists or that their actions were the result of "bad intentions" racism. I think that is a big deal.
Since Regan never shared a single fact from her experience, pretty hard to say anything meaningful about her or about her perspective. Maybe she has a point. Maybe she doesn’t. Who knows?
There is so much of this meaningless “vibe” talk. As the inimitable Les McAnn sang, “Trying to make it real, compared to what?”
Yeah, As I said to Regan, I don't doubt any black person who says they've experienced racism. If you've made it to adulthood as a black person, it's pretty much a given. And depending on their temperament and the nature of the treatment, it will impact them to greater or lesser degree.
But I strongly doubt people who act as if their lives are a daily grind of racial oppression. Too many black people today have been taught to do this. And depending on *their* temperament, they'll use this as justification for all kinds of dishonesty and special pleading that ends up discrediting other black people.
Worse, they end up believing their exaggerations. Which only hurts them and especially any young black people around them.
You write “I don’t doubt any black person who says they have experienced racism. If you’ve made it to adulthood as a black person, it’s pretty much a given.”
Yes, I think that it is still probably correct in America in 2024 to simply take racism on faith, or as “a given” as you say. Los Angeles, where both Regan and I are from, is a racially complex place where Caucasians are a minority, so it’s not necessarily a “black and white” issue there, pun intended. The 1992 riots were compelling evidence of that complexity due to the Korean component.
However, given the rapidly evolving definition of what amounts to “racism” (cue Ibram X Kendi here), and the rapidly evolving demographics of places like Los Angeles, it is at least worth posing the question whether, and for how long, we consider “racism” unmoored to any empirical grounding before we hit a point of diminishing returns. Indeed, I think that question (assuming racism where it may or may not exist) is the thrust of your article. It’s the point I made earlier about confusing the all-to-real racism that surrounds us with racism’s “shadow.” Put another way, how do individuals--and society as a whole--meaningfully come to grips with an article of faith?
" given the rapidly evolving definition of what amounts to “racism”"
No, I think this is very largely an internet vs real life thing. Maybe, just maybe, if you're talking about a college campus somewhere.
It's really disheartening that we've reached a point where people believe that the idiots online talking about microaggressions represent a meaningful slice of black people. Most black people haven't even heard of the more esoteric concepts of what constitutes racism.
The easiest tell is somebody who acts as if, for example, black people "aren't allowed to make mistakes or be vulnerable or be human." Hyperbole like this, coming from *anybody* of *any* identity group, is a dead giveaway that they're being disingenuous. I hear it about five times a day from the predominantly white trans community, for example.
But no, in general, when you hear a black person in real life talk about racism, I don't think they mean that somebody used the word "grandfather" or asked them to show up on time. And as I point out in the conclusion, a lot of the discrimination that people face is difficult to moor it to empirical grounding.
Where does the time when somebody spat on you and called you a ni**er go in a poll? How do you empirically ground the time the lecturer in your physics degree took one look at you as you (and only you) entered and told you you were in the wrong class? How do you quantify the impact that it has when woman threatens you by saying she's going to tell the police an African American is threatening her life?
I understand that there's a lot of stupidity out there. Especially if you get most of your racism discourse online. And I understand, very well, that some people exaggerate racism's pervasiveness. I am at least as opposed as anybody else to the recent rise in anti-white racism. But I'm not going to let those idiots push us to a place where, when black people take bout their experiences with racism, the default response is "prove it."
This is something I've actually started to struggle with. I have a mix of political views that have resulted in insulting names from left and right. But thanks to places like Medium and far left politicians I am finding myself increasingly inclined to assume that people on the left are idiots even though my left tilting friends in real life are not part of the idiotic Internet "community."
"Where does the time when somebody spat on you and called you a ni**er go in a poll? How do you empirically ground the time the lecturer in your physics degree took one look at you as you (and only you) entered and told you you were in the wrong class? How do you quantify the impact that it has when woman threatens you by saying she's going to tell the police an African American is threatening her life?"
All these examples have a very solid empirical grounding; that's why you can describe them. I think that is very important.
How can one fight in the real world what one cannot operationally define in the real world? It's the main problem I have with catchphrases like "systemic racism." Without some real world "system" that is defined, how do you fight it?
Yes, as we have discussed previously, racism can be a "mindset" which is difficult to define empirically without manifesting itself in some sort of action. But to the extent that it is such, the response to it has to lie in some kind of cognitive behavioral therapy. It just seems beyond the reach of public policy.
You're right; maybe the internet and woke academia have drowned out the authentic voices. That's a shame.
On another topic: Will you write about reparations, or maybe you have already?
I am no historian, but a perfunctory look back gives the impression that people have abused , controlled and enslaved people from the beginning of mankind. Power, wealth and whole economies were built (and are still being built) on injustice. Everywhere in the world you can walk on streets with oppressed people's blood, sweat and tears on them - how far would the domino of reparations have to go to effect a reparation?
Timely. I recently read Malcolm Gladwell's must read, "Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking."
He pointed out that "When the students were asked to identify their race on a pretest questionnaire, that simple act was sufficient to prime them with all the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans and academic achievement—and the number of items they got right was cut in half."
There was a track and field guy who took the race IAT test frequently and his score remained the same until one day when he had watched the Olympics (black excellence) before taking it and it changed for the better.
He wrote quite a bit on police shootings. "Three of the major race riots in this country over the past quarter century have been caused by what cops did at the end of a chase.” There are too many lessons in that section for me to quote. I will repeat the words must read book.
"hat simple act was sufficient to prime them with all the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans and academic achievement"
Yep, I heard about that study. There have been a few on the same theme. Similarly, when black students read a passage from a book by Ta Nehisi Coates their confidence in their ability to control their destiny decreased.
I'd be really interested to see studies like this on other groups. I'd love to see if the effect is pervasive, or if there needs to be a wider cultural effect before something so apparently minor can make a difference..
Two notes on the police shootings. There are more complaints when there are two officers in a car as they act more quickly where with one they wait for backup. Many agencies are reducing the number of partner cars as a result.
With apologies to Chris Rock, don't make them chase you if you don't want to get shot. Arousal of the chase alters thinking. This is not necessarily about race though I've read (don't know how true) that black people are more prone to run. Imagine you have just rushed your life, and the lives of others, in a high speed car chase.
One of my takeaways is that race can be an influence when the people involved are not people we would think of as racists or that their actions were the result of "bad intentions" racism. I think that is a big deal.
Since Regan never shared a single fact from her experience, pretty hard to say anything meaningful about her or about her perspective. Maybe she has a point. Maybe she doesn’t. Who knows?
There is so much of this meaningless “vibe” talk. As the inimitable Les McAnn sang, “Trying to make it real, compared to what?”
Yeah, As I said to Regan, I don't doubt any black person who says they've experienced racism. If you've made it to adulthood as a black person, it's pretty much a given. And depending on their temperament and the nature of the treatment, it will impact them to greater or lesser degree.
But I strongly doubt people who act as if their lives are a daily grind of racial oppression. Too many black people today have been taught to do this. And depending on *their* temperament, they'll use this as justification for all kinds of dishonesty and special pleading that ends up discrediting other black people.
Worse, they end up believing their exaggerations. Which only hurts them and especially any young black people around them.
You write “I don’t doubt any black person who says they have experienced racism. If you’ve made it to adulthood as a black person, it’s pretty much a given.”
Yes, I think that it is still probably correct in America in 2024 to simply take racism on faith, or as “a given” as you say. Los Angeles, where both Regan and I are from, is a racially complex place where Caucasians are a minority, so it’s not necessarily a “black and white” issue there, pun intended. The 1992 riots were compelling evidence of that complexity due to the Korean component.
However, given the rapidly evolving definition of what amounts to “racism” (cue Ibram X Kendi here), and the rapidly evolving demographics of places like Los Angeles, it is at least worth posing the question whether, and for how long, we consider “racism” unmoored to any empirical grounding before we hit a point of diminishing returns. Indeed, I think that question (assuming racism where it may or may not exist) is the thrust of your article. It’s the point I made earlier about confusing the all-to-real racism that surrounds us with racism’s “shadow.” Put another way, how do individuals--and society as a whole--meaningfully come to grips with an article of faith?
" given the rapidly evolving definition of what amounts to “racism”"
No, I think this is very largely an internet vs real life thing. Maybe, just maybe, if you're talking about a college campus somewhere.
It's really disheartening that we've reached a point where people believe that the idiots online talking about microaggressions represent a meaningful slice of black people. Most black people haven't even heard of the more esoteric concepts of what constitutes racism.
The easiest tell is somebody who acts as if, for example, black people "aren't allowed to make mistakes or be vulnerable or be human." Hyperbole like this, coming from *anybody* of *any* identity group, is a dead giveaway that they're being disingenuous. I hear it about five times a day from the predominantly white trans community, for example.
But no, in general, when you hear a black person in real life talk about racism, I don't think they mean that somebody used the word "grandfather" or asked them to show up on time. And as I point out in the conclusion, a lot of the discrimination that people face is difficult to moor it to empirical grounding.
Where does the time when somebody spat on you and called you a ni**er go in a poll? How do you empirically ground the time the lecturer in your physics degree took one look at you as you (and only you) entered and told you you were in the wrong class? How do you quantify the impact that it has when woman threatens you by saying she's going to tell the police an African American is threatening her life?
I understand that there's a lot of stupidity out there. Especially if you get most of your racism discourse online. And I understand, very well, that some people exaggerate racism's pervasiveness. I am at least as opposed as anybody else to the recent rise in anti-white racism. But I'm not going to let those idiots push us to a place where, when black people take bout their experiences with racism, the default response is "prove it."
This is something I've actually started to struggle with. I have a mix of political views that have resulted in insulting names from left and right. But thanks to places like Medium and far left politicians I am finding myself increasingly inclined to assume that people on the left are idiots even though my left tilting friends in real life are not part of the idiotic Internet "community."
"Where does the time when somebody spat on you and called you a ni**er go in a poll? How do you empirically ground the time the lecturer in your physics degree took one look at you as you (and only you) entered and told you you were in the wrong class? How do you quantify the impact that it has when woman threatens you by saying she's going to tell the police an African American is threatening her life?"
All these examples have a very solid empirical grounding; that's why you can describe them. I think that is very important.
How can one fight in the real world what one cannot operationally define in the real world? It's the main problem I have with catchphrases like "systemic racism." Without some real world "system" that is defined, how do you fight it?
Yes, as we have discussed previously, racism can be a "mindset" which is difficult to define empirically without manifesting itself in some sort of action. But to the extent that it is such, the response to it has to lie in some kind of cognitive behavioral therapy. It just seems beyond the reach of public policy.
You're right; maybe the internet and woke academia have drowned out the authentic voices. That's a shame.
On another topic: Will you write about reparations, or maybe you have already?
I am no historian, but a perfunctory look back gives the impression that people have abused , controlled and enslaved people from the beginning of mankind. Power, wealth and whole economies were built (and are still being built) on injustice. Everywhere in the world you can walk on streets with oppressed people's blood, sweat and tears on them - how far would the domino of reparations have to go to effect a reparation?