Do you see the world in black and white?
You might say you're fine with fat people, or you're not in any way racist, or you're open-minded about sexuality, but how do you actually react to different types of person? For example, are you implicitly racist, but consciously (or unconsciously) make an effort to act in a non-racist manner? I stumbled across this site today, which attempts to answer these questions.
Through a series of "either or" tests, it attempts to tease out the implicit attitudes we have towards people from the way we think we think about them.
For example I discovered after taking one of the tests that I appear to have an implicit preference for white faces against black faces. This, I hope you'll understand, doesn't make me racist, I'm probably just programmed in a way I can't really control to prefer faces that look like mine. I'm quite proud that I'm intelligent enough to not let this programming rule my behaviour. It would be far worse, I think, to have no implicit preference but act in a racist manner.
Give the tests a try yourself, you might find it as interesting as I did!
Through a series of "either or" tests, it attempts to tease out the implicit attitudes we have towards people from the way we think we think about them.
For example I discovered after taking one of the tests that I appear to have an implicit preference for white faces against black faces. This, I hope you'll understand, doesn't make me racist, I'm probably just programmed in a way I can't really control to prefer faces that look like mine. I'm quite proud that I'm intelligent enough to not let this programming rule my behaviour. It would be far worse, I think, to have no implicit preference but act in a racist manner.
Give the tests a try yourself, you might find it as interesting as I did!
Well put. It took me a long time to come to accept that I have - through whatever upbringing (parental or peer) I had - some sort of prejudices going on. Gut reactions to things, that you can't just shake off, yet you can choose not to act upon.
The single most important thing I promised myself that I'd do, is never pass those prejudices on to other people
Not sure what that means, maybe it's just because black people love me!
I accept that I've been raised in a mildly racist environment, but I did the test White/Black Americans Weapons/Harmless items. The test claims I associate weapons with black Americans. But I would say nearly everytime I hear about an American with a weapon, its a white NRA member or militiaman.
Post a CommentPermalink Subscribe to comments: this post | all posts
<< T*Blog Home