How Culture Poisons Brain with Racism

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on October 4, 2011 at 8:49pm

For some reason, people get worked up over the expression "politically correct".  To me the phrase indicates an attempt to reformulate language in such a way as to achieve certain goals and change the way that we think.  Which can be laudable, depending on whether or not I agree with those goals.   I'm not an academic when it comes to social psychology.  Is there a politically correct term for "politically correct"?

 

It seems to me the term can be used for this concept, pairing various words to see what impressions people have of various categories of people.  Again, I would enjoy learning the current word or expression for this concept.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on October 6, 2011 at 9:45am

Being PC was mostly a punchline for comedians during the 80s, and something for Rush to get in a tyrade over.

 

I imagine the term PC probably originated in the conservative community as a pejorative term used to describe other people who actually cared about the welfare and feelings of their fellow humans.

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on October 6, 2011 at 12:00pm

As memory serves, that sounds right to me as well.  Although my memory doesnt always serve.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on October 4, 2011 at 9:53am

I don’t know SB. This seems to fall under the “no shit” category for me. I’ve posted some of these implicit tests before, and I’ve even taken some of them, but I’m not quite prepared to put a lot of faith in them. In my case, I’m pretty slow when I read something – as though I have to double check my understanding or impressions. So when I take those tests I think I naturally have a slower response time, which may have nothing to do with psychological makeup.

 

However, the study of how much our unconscious or intuitive selves influence our attitudes, beliefs, and morals is certainly an interesting one – and one that is finally getting some attention it seems. Lots of books and studies on that very subject.

 

Nonetheless, I don’t associated “black” with “poor” because of language or literature. I associate the two because I grew up in a culture in which black people were poor – because they were disenfranchised, jilted on their education and employment opportunities, and generally treated as less deserving, less civilized, and less trustworthy. Of course they remained poor.

 

Sure by the 70s and 80s this wasn’t universally true – but it was true enough. A truth based in fact, not in memetic contagion.

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on October 4, 2011 at 9:31pm

Dallas, I agree our experience gives us mental pairings, just as culture does.  I don't know the answer.  My own (white) family was a mixture of poor and working class.  My mother's birthplace was a house with a dirt floor, she went to school in a one-room schoolhouse, her town had one church and a general store with a gas tank in front.  Much of her side of the family didn't get much beyond that.  So I grew up thinking of "poor" as basically "normal" and "country", whether white or black.  Then I went into the army, and no recruits came from moneyed backgrounds, and "poor" still seemed "normal" and I didn't associate race with other categories.  Life after that is much, much different for me, so who knows?   I haven't taken the tests, so I don't know what my subconscious mind would do now.   It would be interesting to see who is dwelling in my brain but I'm a little afraid to find out.