Wed
Dec 6 2006
12:15 pm
By: Number9

Rikki has a good post on racism on KnoxViews. Gene Patterson just posted a different look at racism on his blog. Between reading the two different posts I found myself asking a question.

Is there an industry that uses racism as a product? Are there race merchants? I am not talking about anything as obvious as Jesse Jackson, is there a hidden industry of race merchants disguised under the cloak of academia or human resources management?

In Gene Patterson’s post he quotes a column in the Knoxville News Sentinel by Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, who points to a Harvard test as proof that we all have latent racist attitudes. Gene took one of the tests and he writes, “I took the test and it showed that I - on a scale of slight, moderate and strong - have a slight preference for European Americans. That, according to the test, makes me a racist.”

more after the jump...

Welcome to the club. Me too. According to the test I took I am a racist. I took a different test on race and weapons and my results were, “Your data suggest a moderate association of European American with Harmless Objects and African American with Weapons compared to African American with Harmless Objects and European American with Weapons.”

I wondered if anyone could take this test and not be a racist. So where does the test come from? You guest it, Harvard University. In fact in the FAQ section the authors go to great lengths to explain why the test is fair and accurate.

But is it?

I got to wondering if this test used objects like a tea cup and a dinner plate if the same results would occur. Could the results have anything to do with “handedness”? The biological preference of using one hand versus the other. In these tests there is a picture on the left and right hand side of the screen. To respond the picture on the left you press the “e” key on your keyboard. To respond to a picture on the right hand side of the screen you press the “i” key on your keyboard. Ask a right handed person to do almost anything with their left hand. The results will be comical. Few people are ambidextrous.

The resumes of the scientists that developed this test are beyond reproach. The author Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine. Yet none of these people considered if the condition of handedness for the test could affect the results. Is it because there is a subconscious desire for a certain outcome? If almost everyone that takes the test has a result that they are a racist then you have a product.

Project Implicit has recently partnered with Mentametrix, “a multicultural research and marketing solutions company that combines the insights of the New Mainstream with the predictive power of the Implicit Association Test”.

Project Implicit recently received a grant from the Level Playing Field Institute.

So will perspective employees be taking the Project Implicit test as a condition of employment in the near future? If so, will that actually help race relations?

Decide for yourself, you can take the test here. Are you a racist? Welcome to the club.

Topics:
WhitesCreek's picture

Thanks for pointing me to

Thanks for pointing me to Michael Shermer's article. I'm a big fan. he does a good job of pre-answering your questions. I can't get to your supposition that by having a test result, there is a product.

There are degrees of racial chauvinism and degrees of personal growth to thwart it, but there is no way to say that since a test result always says we have it to some degree then the result is suspect because it is not possible to take the test and have zero racial association.

Shermer is simply pointing out that there is this human condition that is much like the sense of touch...We all have it to some degree. (This analogy is not exact of course, so please don't go there)

If there is a product, it is in the manipulation of public opinion to produce a specific fear based on perceived racial chauvinism. I am one who thinks that there is a racism as a human condition in all humans and of all races.

I respect those who are aware of it, for awareness is the key to combatting fear.

Steve

Number9's picture

It is not biological. It is

It is not biological. It is a cultural construct. This study is behaviorialist.

The only way to sell seminars, books, and diversity training/consulting products is for racism to be behavioral.

But is it? Do we know for sure?

Some current theory states that homosexuality is biological. Some theory states it is not, that it is behavioral. Is it? Do we know to a scientific certainty?

We are a child race and on certain subjects we have no idea if the "earth is flat".

If we do not know with a scientific certainty that racism is biological, does it make sense for an industry to sell it's wares on the premise of a theory? Isn't that just Scientology in "shrink wrap" for sale on Amazon.com?

Number9's picture

Of course, this is all

Of course, this is all theory. What would the biological need for racism be? We could theorize that it is a social exclusion technique used to gain access to resources (both scarce and not scarce) that might be controlled by others.

Not unlike pack behavior in canines? Herd behavior in horses which is controlled by an Alpha leader?

You pose the question as a case of need. Could it be a case of evolution? Our pack/herd has always had control of this terrian and anyone not of our pack/herd will be run off or killed?

Number9's picture

You don't know what

You don't know what scientific certainty is. It is quite different from merely looking at one's hands and saying "I have hands."

I would be interested to hear from you on my hypothesis that the Harvard test is flawed because it does not account for "handedness" in the timing of the responses.

Do you feel the Harvard test is sound?

SayUncle's picture

For someone so nitpicky,

For someone so nitpicky, it's funny to watch you use resume instead of résumé.

---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?

Andy Axel's picture

ør thå† †héÿ know

ør thå† †héÿ know h˙ow tø üs∑ the ≈exteñded charset in µac.

____________________________

Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.

Eleanor A's picture

Problem is, digit, that your

Problem is, digit, that your ilk is using every argument pulled out of the kitchen sink to assert that, functionally, there is no such thing as racism. You seem to delight in trying to make we believers define it, so you can claim everything not specifically detailed is somehow Other.

I wonder what you'd say when we asked you to define attractiveness in a sunset or the member of the opposite sex. Something tells me you'd get extremely defensive incredibly quickly when your loyal opposition tried to tell you you had to come up with a logical structure. And yet, that's exactly the trope you're trying to force us into. No wonder folks are resisting your arguments.

____________________________

A girl with fingernails that shine like justice

watcher's picture

Who can be racist?

I'm probably setting myself up (again!) by sharing this, but here goes...

A Knoxville organization "in the business" of encouraging and facilitating interracial cooperation and acceptance (noble mission, no doubt) frequently espouses the theory that "only whites can be racist, because whites have the power."

In my mind, that statement - in and of itself - is a racist one. Thoughts?

watcher's picture

Citation

Race Relations Center...or at least certain members of the staff and/or board.

watcher's picture

Not an idiot

Not going to go there...based on too much personal experience and too many people who could get hurt. I'm afraid you're going to have to take it or leave it, and since you have nothing else to base it on other than an anonymous posting, I fully anticipate that you will leave it.

For those who choose to think about the statement and the subsequent question without putting the poster on trial, however, I'm still interested about thoughts on the matter. I think it ties in very directly to the whole topic of the "business" of racism.

Andy Axel's picture

The notion that racism is

The notion that racism is "kept alive" in order to float a business proposition is patent absurdity.

But, considering where we started on all of this, pointing that out is redundant.

____________________________

Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.

Bbeanster's picture

I've got Watcher's back on

I've got Watcher's back on this one. There is an outfit out of New Orleans -- (link...) -- that travels the USA conducting "undoing racism" workshops that espouse the view of racism that Watcher mentioned. This institute is the industry standard -- I attended one in 1993 (I think) that was sponsored by the city of Knoxville and Levi's "Project Change." The gist of it is they define "racism" as something that is practiced by those in power against the powerless -- ergo, minorities by definition cannot be racist. I still get mail from them.

watcher's picture

Thanks Bb. Project Change

Thanks Bb. Project Change was actually reinvented into the Race Relations Center, primarily as a result of the Nine Counties One Vision process, so that makes sense. There's also a publication by Peggy McIntosh called, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" that speaks to it (to some extent): (link...). She is a frequent guest of the organization's symposiums and workshops.

SayUncle's picture

My keyboard doesn't have the

My keyboard doesn't have the French diacritics and last I checked, we're not speaking French. PS, that's the first way you can tell that someone is cutting and pasting from Google Language Tools.

No, it's called the winders character map. I use it enough enough to know that alt+0233 yields that character. nice try, though. Résumé is an English word. So is resume. But they're not the same word. Say, didn't you try to tell me that once about some other word? Or is it more calvinball?

---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?

edens's picture

Or Slovene, for that matter.

Or Slovene, for that matter.

Eleanor A's picture

Let's see. I'm not entitled

Let's see. I'm not entitled to my opinion about y'all's racism denials, which is based on months of reading this blog, because I won't spend time I frankly don't have right now taking some test that others here (whose judgment I trust) are roundly criticizing? Um, OK. Whatever.

____________________________

A girl with fingernails that shine like justice

Number9's picture

I'm not entitled to my

I'm not entitled to my opinion about y'all's racism denials, which is based on months of reading this blog, because I won't spend time I frankly don't have right now taking some test that others here (whose judgment I trust) are roundly criticizing?

Are there any denials of racism here? No, so you create the illusion there were in the past. Poor form. Cite them or recant. Only the weakest people use that form of debate.

Who in this post has defended the IAT test from Harvard? There is some denial. Just not where you allege.

Below is an example of serious denial about racism which proves how silly the idea is that only those in "power" can be racist. Which in and of itself is racism.

edens's picture

When did Zimbabwe move to

When did Zimbabwe move to NoLa?

edens's picture

Not Zimbabwe the country.

Not Zimbabwe the country.

watcher's picture

Good one...

When did Zimbabwe move to NoLa?

Okay...now THAT was funny!

SayUncle's picture

Pretension / literacy.

Pretension / literacy. Tomato, tomato.

It's a peeve. I hire people regularly. I don't hire anyone who sends me a resume. I only hire the folks who send me résumés.

---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?

R. Neal's picture

You should think about

You should think about lightning up on that standard. You might be missing some good people.

My dictionary has three acceptable spellings for resume:

ré-su-mé or [re-su-me] or [re-su-mé]

1. SUMMARY.
2. a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience, as that prepared by a job applicant.

SayUncle's picture

Yeah, I do look at people

Yeah, I do look at people with resumés too. But, for some reason, resume drives me batty.

---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?

watcher's picture

McIntosh's Assertions of

McIntosh's Assertions of White Privilege

Oh my...we've cited the same source, met! Should you be scared, or should I? :)

watcher's picture

Man...get a hug or something!

Was just trying to make a friendly little joke...forgot about the apparent absence of any humor genes in your makeup. My bad.

watcher's picture

Friends

don't assume that I am friendly, want more friends, or have any friends in the first place.

Believe me...I don't.

There's also such a thing as taking yourself too seriously. You're obviously very intellectual, intelligent and well-read (as much as it pains me to admit). Just imagine the change agent you could be if you displayed the communication skills to match.

Have a most lovely day.

Number9's picture

Problem is, digit, that your

Problem is, digit, that your ilk is using every argument pulled out of the kitchen sink to assert that, functionally, there is no such thing as racism. You seem to delight in trying to make we believers define it, so you can claim everything not specifically detailed is somehow Other.

My ilk? I don't know many people of my "ilk".

I would think you would be relieved. It appears from these test everyone is a racist, just the opposite of what you suggest. If so, maybe there is even a biological construct. It seems like there is for everything else. How would we know either way?

Have you taken the test yet? The point was that the test may be flawed. You might have missed that point. Some people who have taken the test question the order of the questions. I also question the method of the keyboard input.

I think racism does exist. I also think that the last thing needed is pop science feel good seminars and books that in the end may make a real social issue worse.

I also reject that a minority individual cannot be a racist because they do not have "power". That seems to me to be a result of pseudoscience and denial gone amok. Is there a better example of bad science making a problem worse?

I am also surprised at some of the denial here. These tests are suspect. But you will never know unless you take them.

Eleanor A's picture

I wonder if it occurs to you

I wonder if it occurs to you that we are having a conversation about racism in which 98% or so of the participants are likely white. Reminds me of a conversation I once observed in which nine or ten (older, white) men sat at a table and assured themselves they weren't sexist, and decided no women were applying to their firm because none were qualified. Hope none of these guys ever had daughters they'd like to have utilized their expensive educations.

Who watches the watchers, and all that. Of course, regular participants in these conversations often post materials suggesting those of us who think there are actual disenfranchised people in this country are somehow deluded. So forgive me if I don't expect a whole lot of forward-looking strategies out of this conversation.

____________________________

A girl with fingernails that shine like justice

Number9's picture

Who watches the watchers,

Who watches the watchers, and all that. Of course, regular participants in these conversations often post materials suggesting those of us who think there are actual disenfranchised people in this country are somehow deluded. So forgive me if I don't expect a whole lot of forward-looking strategies out of this conversation.

Your mastery of Calvinball is impressive grasshopper.

The theme of the post is watching the watchers.

So rather than take the test you bury your head in the sand and accuse others of not being forward thinking.

Here is a post that may help you distinguish culturism from racism. I doubt you would ever read Thomas Sowell but he has written several books on the subject. He doesn't qualify does he? Why is that? Could it be culturism?

Andy Axel's picture

If so, will that actually

If so, will that actually help race relations?

If not, does it spoil this entire fever dream?

____________________________

Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.

Number9's picture

Two black men I admire take

Two black men I admire take on the subject of race and racism.

Thomas Sowell discusses black rednecks.

Chris Rock, well see for yourself. Not even Dick Gregory or Richard Pryor nailed it this hard.

bizgrrl's picture

Geez, watcher, give it a

Geez, watcher, give it a break. It's a serious thread.

Eleanor A's picture

For the record, digit, I owe

For the record, digit, I owe you no explanations. I can provide some goodies I've copied & saved over the past few months, but you're dug in like a tick on a coon dog, so I hardly think it'd be worth the effort to post 'em.

____________________________

A girl with fingernails that shine like justice

Number9's picture

For the record, digit, I owe

For the record, digit, I owe you no explanations. I can provide some goodies I've copied & saved over the past few months, but you're dug in like a tick on a coon dog, so I hardly think it'd be worth the effort to post 'em.

Sharon Cobb, is that you? So you are keeping a file on me? You're a great American. You are smart to not take the IAT test. If you did, you would then have to question if it is biased.

I like the coon dog jab, well done. Was it a double entendre or a triple? Clevah.

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