December 14, 2014

"Across America, whites are biased and they don’t even know it."

Writes Chris Mooney in the #3 "most-read" article in The Washington Post.
[I]mplicit biases... are measured by... the computerized Implicit Association Test, which has been taken by over two million people online at the website Project Implicit...  people who, for some reason, chose to take an online test measuring their implicit biases....

Overall, looking at a map like this one tells us something pretty crucial to our understanding of racial bias: It is everywhere....

We have a huge amount of work to do.
The #1 most-liked comment at WaPo is:
Are you serious? An online test of "people who, for some reason, chose to take an online test measuring their implicit biases"? Do you even know if they entire sample set was white? If not, then you can just throw this nonsense out. And why just test white bias? As noted below, everyone has some bias.

Garbage. This test, this article, and this newspaper. Thanks Bezos.
To that comment, somebody says: "Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

55 comments:

FleetUSA said...

Also, those who want to show more bias in the US will answer accordingly. Junk survey.

tim maguire said...

What a beautiful circle of logic at the end--if you say it's wrong, well, that's just evidence it's right. Never mind that the reasoning of the first commenter is solid and devastating, it's anti and so it's more evidence for.

fivewheels said...

Actually, you know who gets defensive? People who are being attacked.

Ann Althouse said...

I think the commenter who says "defensive" is being sarcastic and agrees with the other commenter.

fivewheels said...

Poe's Law. That would be a very typical comment for someone with that actual opinion.

Beldar said...

If one promotes all discussion of race to the same level of intensity with which a religious zealot proselytizes for his faith, then everyone who's neutral is a heathen and everyone who disagrees is a heretic.

The discussion stops being about anything but "I'm better than you."

Add a layer of "You're too dumb and limited to even realize that" — a/k/a "Check your ___ privilege!" — and you've got today's climate for discussions of race.

I generally refuse to play.

TWM said...

Actually, when confronted with accusations of wrongdoing - and in this case bias (which we all know means racism here) innocent people get highly defensive. Usually very angry. Anyone who has done interviews of suspects will tell you that. Guilty people more often than not try to fake their way out.

Dan in Philly said...

There seems to be a very embedded cultural bias meme lately which implies only whites can end racism. Another white man's burden?

virgil xenophon said...

AA@8:34am

Sister, are you ever naive..

Quaestor said...

"Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

At the height of the Terror Robespierre said something similar in justification of capital trials lasting all of thirty seconds-- Seulement le coupable tremblent.

rhhardin said...

Blacks seem dedicated lately to proving they're stupider than everybody thinks.

Get some better leaders appointed for you. The MSM chooses them for you.

You never hear about white leaders. Why is that?

Fernandinande said...

Across America, MSM scribblers are emitting propaganda about what we already know: white people are bad. Everyone else is a victim.

That's why non-white people from all over the world are (sometimes literally) dying to get into this country, and Europe too - so they can be victimized by all the bad white people.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Compare the map at Project Implicit with one of the African American population by state

Hagar said...

Why is it that in this country, we start a discussion about races and minorities, and within 30 seconds it is Black vs. White, and all other ethnicities are quite forgotten about?

sinz52 said...

I took the test.

It's not so much about racial attitudes as it is about personal preference: Whom do you like or dislike personally?

You don't need a test to find out that can be race-based.

Just check the personal ads on Craigslist or (in the past) in your local newspaper. The vast majority of those looking for a lifetime partner have a racial preference:

"SWF seeks SWM..."
"SBF seeks SBM..."

Only a tiny percentage of those seeking a spouse don't care what race that spouse is. That's why, even today, interracial marriages are still relatively uncommon.

I'm white, and I have never dated a black woman in my life. I'm not attracted to black women. Does that make me a racist?

It may horrify liberals, but most people prefer the company of those who have a lot in common with themselves.

Danno said...

Blogger virgil xenophon said...
AA@8:34am

Sister, are you ever naive..

12/14/14, 7:08 AM

Virgil, what time zone are you dialing-in from? Or have you recreated Peabody's Wayback Machine to put us in a time warp?

Mark Caplan said...

In his May column "Rebutting Mark Cuban on Bigotry," NY Times op-ed writer Charles M. Blow provided data showing that roughly 4 out of 5 blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians in America are racially bigoted. Only 1 out of 5 Americans regard people of other races neutrally.

Unknown said...

One might have all kinds of biases regarding one's in-group and various out-groups, but that would not answer the question of whether one would take actions based on those biases.

Imagine a [black person/woman] who actually believed the trope (tripe?) that, "In order to make it in this country a [black person/woman] has to be twice as good and work twice as hard". Wouldn't such a person always want to hire [black people/women]?

tim in vermont said...

It's like diagnosing somebody with bipolar and then noting that denial is a prime symptom. It is great fun.

pm317 said...

Bias is the new word for racist, don't you know? It is not that you are a racist but now you are biased. Obama said that in one of the many interviews he gave about Ferguson. It is the WH talking point because they know crying racist is out of style now. Disgusting.

Jason said...

ONLY THE TRUE MESSIAH DENIES HIS DIVINITY!

kcom said...

You know who gets defensive? Assistant principals who are accused of crimes and who lose their home and job and reputation because of what they did. Oh, you mean she wasn't guilty? It was all made up? Never mind.

chickelit said...

To that comment, somebody says: 'Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this.

Think about that in the context of Bill Cosby. He's not defending himself, and yet we heard loud denials from others regarding his message(s) on social behaviors.

Paul said...

If you say you are guilty... you are GUILTY!

If you say you are innocent, you are GUILTY!

If you object to what I write.. you are GUILTY!

If you don't object to what I write, you are GUILTY!

Heads I win, tails you lose.

Shades of the Salem witchcraft trials.

Anonymous said...

You're white, you're racist. Nothing you can do about it.

Spray enough of that around and very shortly the only reasonable response is - Ok. Don't care. Fuck you.

This sequence is so plain that it must be the intentional effect of the message. So who benefits when whites just stop listening?

iowan2 said...

I'm going to keep repeating this.

If examples like this survey, officer White acting within the constraints of his job description, Eric Gardners succumbing to a hear attack while refusing to follow lawful orders from police officers. Treyvon Martin dying while beating a person on the sidewalk.

If these incidents are the face of supposed racism in America, if these are the chosen examples that demand response from,(who?). If this is the best race baiters like The Most Reverend Al Sharpton, Charlie Rangle, President Obama, AG Eric Holder, can present....Then there is no race problem.

dreams said...

We have a racist president who has hurt race relations and a liberal media constantly fueling black resentment so we can expect something really bad to happen eventually. New York will be a mess in a few years thanks to to the recently elected communist mayor.

Original Mike said...

"The following map, courtesy of Project Implicit, shows the states with the highest level of implicit bias (high number, red) and lowest level of implicit bias (low number, blue)."

How high is "highest"? Stupid.

Anonymous said...

Ignorance is Bliss: Compare the map at Project Implicit with one of the African American population by state.

Thanks for taking the trouble to find the comparative map, instead of just bursting out laughing like I did when the WaPo's map scrolled into view.

chickelit said...

The map looks somewhat like the one painted by a liberal pundit on a Sunday AM talk show after the 2012 election. He even called it "The New Confederacy" IIRC. George Will shot it down pretty quickly.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Here's a simple rule of life- don't talk about race, don't talk about rape.

There's no point, and it will never help you. It can only hurt.

phantommut said...

Being labeled "racist" by my moral and intellectual betters makes me a sad panda.

Anonymous said...

The really annoyingly stupid thing here is the way just about everyone assumes that "bias", or even "unconscious bias", is the same thing as "irrational bias", and that this "irrational bias" is both bad by definition and remediable.

Big Mike said...

To that comment, somebody says: "Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

One does get tired of the crap. As for me, I'm absolutely biased against people who run around looking for bias in others. Let me write that again. In. Others.

After all, no one ever had a new manager take an instant dislike to you. Only members of some ethnic group because of bias. Never happens to white males. Nope.

Bull. Shit.

D.D. Driver said...

"Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

Whoever smelt it, dealt it.

Bob Boyd said...

Two cave men from competing tribes are foraging in the same patch of woods, each not knowing the other is there.
Suddenly they see each other only feet away.
In a micro second Caveman A's subconscious mind assesses the appearance of Caveman B, recognizes that it is different than the appearance of himself and his fellow tribesman. This recognition causes an immediate opening of the floodgates and fight or flight chemicals pour into his system. Fear and aggression spike. Without a thought he leaps toward his enemy and plunges his crude spear into Cave man B's chest, forces him to the ground, stabs him again and again until he stops moving.
When Caveman B saw Caveman A, he started to ponder the wonderful diversity of the human form, but then he lost his train of thought because he had spear in his chest.
Caveman A passed his genes along to future generations. Caveman B did not.
So maybe that's what we're up against in our struggle with "bias".

khesanh0802 said...

The article and the "test" deserve your BS tag.

Gahrie said...

"Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

Really?

So, if you are accused of being a racist, and you don't defend youraelf, you are a racist.

If you do defend yourself, you're still a racist.

How convienent.

Fuck off asshole.

khesanh0802 said...

@Jason: Monty Python nails it again!

Gahrie said...


Spray enough of that around and very shortly the only reasonable response is - Ok. Don't care. Fuck you.


I've been there quite a while.

And to dovetail on an earlier comment, most minorities I know are much more racist than most White people I know.

Leora said...

I remember Lenny Bruce's definition of a racist as a white man who would rather sleep with Kate Smith than Lena Horne. Everyone else is just playing a power game.

cubanbob said...

To that comment, somebody says: "Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

My response would be "you must have me confused with someone who gives a crap". When enough people take that attitude this PC nonsense comes to an end.

Laslo Spatula said...

Diversity enable us to better identify criminal suspects. If we were all white all the Wanted Pictures would look the same. Need more Asians, though.

I am Laslo.

Brando said...

I'm sure this is nothing that can't be fixed with another fifty years of racial hiring quotas.

John Cunningham said...

What about the REAL BIGOTRY IN HATED AMERIKKKA?? I refer, of course, to the cruel discrimination against deaf Lesbian Eskimoes.

jaed said...

states with the highest level of implicit bias (high number, red)

How cute: racist is coded as a "red state", non-racist is coded as a "blue state". Someone tell me that was an accident.

Or is it an example of unconscious bias?

jr565 said...

How do we know that across America blacks aren't biased? Or those asserting that whites have white privilige aren't themselves biased?

Jupiter said...

Ignorance is Bliss said...
"Compare the map at Project Implicit with one of the African American population by state."

Yes, that was my first thought as well. To know them is to wish to avoid them.

Sam L. said...

Online, offline, tests can be and are designed to pull answers the testers want.

jr565 said...

Paul wrote:
f you say you are guilty... you are GUILTY!

If you say you are innocent, you are GUILTY!

If you object to what I write.. you are GUILTY!

If you don't object to what I write, you are GUILTY!

Heads I win, tails you lose.

That's also the template for global warming arguments.

tim maguire said...

Ann Althouse said...I think the commenter who says "defensive" is being sarcastic and agrees with the other commenter.

Other comments by that person suggest you are being too kind.

Forbes said...

Media porn--all titillation, little substance...

Anonymous said...

"Only guilty people get defensive. It's pretty obvious who knows they are racially biased by who gets upset about articles like this."

Someone's practicing their Kafkatrapping.

Kyzer SoSay said...

My Black friends are horribly racist.

When I moved to Chicagoland 6 years ago and expressed my desire to explore the Windy City, they all warned me to avoid areas south of the Loop, except for the museum areas. They especially told me that if I see large numbers of Black people walking around in whatever area I'm driving in, I should turn around and drive back the way I came. They double-especially told me that if I found myself on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, I should say a quick prayer and step on the gas to hightail it anywhere else.

To paraphrase: "If you get pulled over for making a too-speedy escape, and tell the cops that you're new in town (easily provable by the date on my driver's license) and you tell them about the advice you got and who you got it from, regardless of the officer's skin color he/she will understand and you probably won't get a speeding ticket."

I guess I should stop hanging out with such racist people, eh?

Kyzer SoSay said...

As an addendum to the above, when I first moved to Chicago I owned and drove a black 1998 Cadillac Eldorado. Classy car, in great shape, which often gave the impression that I had money (I don't, at least, not what I consider "money"). It apparently is also a reasonable fascimile of a car that a drug dealer might drive, were he possessed of the same automotive tastes. Either way, I was told, this would serve to make me an inviting target.