here's an idea: the narrative from this angle

[autodidactic]

Okay, think of a family, born in a neighborhood where they've come up for a few generations. Supposing, like, your name is O'Malley, and you're from Boston. You identify with being Bostonian, and you're very prideful of where you're from, because of that drive we have inside of us to identify with where we're from

Comments

[chipnic]

How do you scientifically prove this hypothesis, particularly now what with white attitudes being that you cannot even describe the race of a suspected burglar to the cops without fear of being labeled a racist? Racist is almost the worst thing a white person can be labeled as in the US today.

Some superiority may be based in the empirical evidence stationed in how we measure success. If by success you mean perceived great works of art, architecture, exploration, medical advances, technology, etc, whites can claim a superior position to sub-Saharan African blacks.

Just like how blacks from Western Africa feel superior in their, say, sprinting ability. There is some empirical evidence to back the superior feeling. I don't believe one white or Asian has broken the 10 second barrier in the 100 meter dash. A pile of blacks of W African ancestry have: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-second_barrier

At a certain point we must admit perceptions of superiority come from perceived evidence. But that will not happen. It's too loaded an issue. Almost every white respondent will lie as to his true feelings on the matter.

[autodidactic]

I can't remember who said it, but someone said that people are NOT created equal, but we must act as if they are. I'm pretty much behind that idea. I think we're assigning deep and personal emotional value to certain concepts of success.

Like, check it. My kid's gonna graduate high school, which is more than what I did at his age. Generationally, he is a success compared to me (by broader society, I guess), just as I am a "success" compared to my Dad, who dropped out in 8th grade. I dropped out in senior year and I got my GED a week later. (It's what you do when you're out of psych pokey and the world is crazier on the Outside. But I digress.)

But, I don't think anything bad of Europeans for not coming up with the concept of zero first, same as I don't expect people to feel bad for Aboriginal or African people choosing to live closer to the earth. It's a choice as much as it's a tool thing, know what I'm saying?

[chipnic]

@ "people are NOT created equal, but we must act as if they are." With that, I don't think a scientific study can be conducted relying on testimony from people, particularly whites. Being labeled a racist is The Scarlett "R." It's too loaded.

Post racial, my ass.

[autodidactic]

Can I ask what may sound like a very stupid question? Why are white people afraid to admit they're racist? I'll admit in a heartbeat that I've got a bigoted soul, and that I fight against my own lazy assumptions about people every single DAY. It doesn't make me any less of a good or bad person. I imagine I'm somewhere in between, like a lot of folks.

Why are white people so fucked up about it, though?

[chipnic]

First, I don't have all the answers so I give my answer in all humility. It's a discussion, right?

I think the history of racism from white people is so abhorrent that whites feel guilty about the whole thing SOOO much that we (on the collective level) feel the need to make a point that we're not racist. In studying the history of slavery, particularly that boat ride and the triangular trade route, it is difficult to feel good about being white given that portion of history. It's almost the white American version of the Jewish Holocaust.

And like the German who wants everyone to know he's not an anti-Semite, many white Americans want everyone to know how he's not a racist.

Follow the slave-trade history up with the govt. sponsored racism, lynchings, peaceful demonstrations broken up with mob and police violence and you have a recipe for some major back peddling by whites. Maybe too much back peddling in that some whites have willfully chosen to ignore certain truths and facts.

There is a lot of guilt out there and some people would rather choose to lie or put the blinders on in response to the guilt or perception of guilt. It's easier to say, "everyone is the same" than give an honest answer.

For example, I cannot publicly admit I'm a racist in the sense that I truly believe certain races (there are nearly always exceptions) have greater natural talent in some areas and greater natural weakness in other areas just as I'm a sexist in believing men are naturally (there are exceptions) physically stronger than women and women are naturally (there are exceptions) better caretakers than men.

I believe the above but do not SOLELY judge others on those sets of prejudices. There are non-fleet-of-foot black men and there are men who make fine nurses and women who are completely physically qualified to be firefighters. I do consider them exceptions to something that is not a rule but rather a generalization that is true more times than untrue. But to even articulate it that way one runs the risk of being branded with the Scarlett "R" or "S."

You can't really say it in "polite" company without being branded as a bigot, particularly if you are a white man. That Scarlett "R" is something powerful. It will lose you a job.

Think of this: If that cop in Cambridge didn't have the backing of a black cop who was there during the Gates arrest, would the white cop still have a job? I don't know for sure, but I suspect his job became a little more secure because of the black cop.

Again, I don't have all the answers and I'm wrong all the time. But that's the short version of how I see white guilt and the lies that follow.