eRacism
New paper discussing implicit racial bias and strategies useful for training your mind not to think like a jobberknowle.
Hat tip: Greg Laden
Paper: Sophie Lebrecht, Lara J. Pierce, Michael J. Tarr, James W. Tanaka (2009). Perceptual Other-Race Training Reduces Implicit Racial Bias PLoS ONE, 4 (1) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004215
Recognizing sets of physical characteristics that sometimes correlate with each other (race is culturally but not biologically useful as a concept) is a trainable skill, as is discrimination between individuals who share some physical characteristics. Choosing to exercise your reason to focus on the latter is the more moral choice (#2: suffering). Skill at differentiating faces (viewing them as blank-slate individuals before members of a particular "race") reduces implicit racial bias.
I am reminded of an article I heard on NPR some years back discussing music appreciation. Volunteers were presented with samples of a non-preferred musical genre, and either left alone or guided through an analysis of how the songs differ from each other. The nuance group was significantly more likely to emerge with an appreciation for at least some songs in the genre.
Hat tip: Greg Laden
Paper: Sophie Lebrecht, Lara J. Pierce, Michael J. Tarr, James W. Tanaka (2009). Perceptual Other-Race Training Reduces Implicit Racial Bias PLoS ONE, 4 (1) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004215
Recognizing sets of physical characteristics that sometimes correlate with each other (race is culturally but not biologically useful as a concept) is a trainable skill, as is discrimination between individuals who share some physical characteristics. Choosing to exercise your reason to focus on the latter is the more moral choice (#2: suffering). Skill at differentiating faces (viewing them as blank-slate individuals before members of a particular "race") reduces implicit racial bias.
I am reminded of an article I heard on NPR some years back discussing music appreciation. Volunteers were presented with samples of a non-preferred musical genre, and either left alone or guided through an analysis of how the songs differ from each other. The nuance group was significantly more likely to emerge with an appreciation for at least some songs in the genre.