Re: Is white racism nec. all bad?

mellow mike (mbowen@panix.com)
31 Mar 1995 04:45:26 GMT

[..]
: : >Practically everyone has stereotypic information and is farily helpless
: : >to prevent it. It is generally thought of as intrinsic to the way we
: : >process information in general and about people specifically.
:
: : Isn't is cost-effective to utilize stereotypes? If so, maybe you should
: : say our brains are wired so as to keep using stereotypes in spite of
: : disconfirmations. Most of us keep to our old beliefs too long, in other
: : words. Or you could say the cognitive systems we evolved during our
: : hunting days (and going back to the beginnings of life, if you like) is
: : not optimal for post-industrial society. Howard Gardner doesn't put it
: : this way, but see his great book _Unschooled Minds_ anyhow.
:
: Your description of 'cost effective' is legitimate. In cognitive
: psychology circles it is sometimes refered to as being a 'cognitive miser'.
: Sometimes the processes are damaging to the individual and to our
: society, sometimes not.
:

i beleive this is why derrick bell claims that white supremacy is and will
continue to be a permanent feature of american life. white folks will not
likely have any reason not to be lazy in this regard. although the case
against white supremacy has been made abundantly clear in every
generation, each successive generation has replicated it with its
fundamental premises intact.

despite the fact that millions of 'white' americans discover the moral
flaw and disabuse white supremacy and racism in all its forms, they will
continue to be lumped with their self-identified white fellow citizens who
are purposely racist, cognitively incapable, willfully ignorant or just
plain oblivious. this minority of anti-racist white americans will not
overrule the slack majority and will be unable to politically distinguish
themselves as an ally of the racially oppressed. hmmm. i'm beginning to
convince myself. i'll stop this pessimism here...

the longer i talk about this in cyberspace with more and more americans,
the more i tend to agree with derrick bell. i don't like that.

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mbowen@panix.com                                            harambee!

keeper of the cool zone        http://drum.ncsc.org/~bowen/zone0.html

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