Is this what people mean when they say they don't see skin color?

[alexandraerin]

karnythia recently linked to a news article about people studying the effects of television on racial biases. There was an old bit on SNL's Weekend Update when I was growing up, where Norm Macdonald would read a headline about a recent medical study and then announce that it and other news could be read in the pages of the medical journal "DUH!As others

Comments

[stormcaller3801]

Talk is a big thing in a much more broad fashion. For instance, let's take Left 4 Dead 2, and look at the two white characters in that: Nick and Ellis. Nick, per his character description and behavior, is the gangster type character- as in Miami Vice, Mafioso style gangster, with a white suit, slick hair, and constantly annoyed expression. He speaks without a recognizable accent. And he's generally considered very competent- if not the sort of guy you'd want to cross. Ellis, by comparison, is the group idiot. He's constantly saying things and ends up in situations in the opening trailer where he's naive, incompetent, absentminded, or just flat out stupid. And he's got a thick Southern drawl.

It's fairly rare to find someone in films who sounds like a 'hick' yet is entirely competent. When they show up, there's usually either some immediate display of competency to disprove the accent, or their displays of competency will be the surprise twist in a scene. And the same thing happens with other accents- think about the California surfer dude, or the valley girl, or someone from Boston or New York. The accent is so associated with a certain conglomeration of traits that it's a twist when someone doesn't match those characteristics. The only consistent displays of competency and respect you'll find in movies are with regards to characters who have no accent.

[alexandraerin]

no accent

See also: "mainstream people".

Having "no accent" is like having "normal hair" or listening to "normal music". There are accents associated with groups of white people (or with regions that are populated by large numbers of white people), but what you're calling "no accent" is how white people talk in the middle of the country. Yes, someone from the south might have to work to lose their accent (or at least make it more "telegenic") to get a broadcast career whether they're white or not, but you're still talking about a case where the standard is white.

[caret_mox]

Don't we have standardized English grammar and pronunciation? Wouldn't that be the "normal" American English? I admit I judge others on their grammar, and I can't find anything racist in that.

As someone from the "Deep" South I have to agree with the poster before you. I've met aerospace engineers with "hick" accents who have to learn to speak normal when dealing with people outside the South to prove their competency.

[alexandraerin]

Don't we have standardized English grammar and pronunciation?

In point of fact, we do not. The French have a governing body for their language. We don't and never have. We have several "recognized authorities", who conflict with each other in varying ways that only really matter to pedants.

But we'll let that go because that's a side point. You're arguing a point that's not in dispute. I'm not talking about grammar, I'm talking about accent. If you from the Deep South, myself as a white person from the suburban middle part of the country, and an African-American from here all read the same sentence written out verbatim, I would be the one that people thought had "no accent".

Now, I do have an accent. I have what they call a vanilla accent, because it's "plain". The hypothetical person of color in the experiment could have the exact same accent, minus the "whiteness"... but if his voice "sounds black", it will register as "more of an accent" than mine does, "sounding white".

That's my point. White is the default. White is the norm that everything's measured against.

[stormcaller3801]

I didn't mean to imply that the standard isn't white- only that a 'completely white manner' can still get you labeled as ignorant, arrogant, vapid, or otherwise less than equal. Same with names- it's a phenomenon that extends past race. The only time that it all works out is if you're perfectly mundane.

And I honestly even wonder if normal or mainstream works. I remember something about 70% of the audience for rap and 'gangsta' music is young white males. Similarly, I'd guess the population of the US that has a noticeable accent is much larger than the portion that doesn't. And so on. It's not so much normal or average or typical, as it is bland, mundane, or utterly inoffensive. Idealization of the greatest common denominator, as it were.