ABC Primetime: What Would You Do? / Are You Proud to be an American?

reply to post by KarlG


Equating it back to the OP and the mock setup they presented in the video:

In my opinion it is a highly unfair dissection into the relations of one human being to another. We do not know the history nor background of the persons that are presented with such a scenario. This is a comman practice amongst media and even people you try to debate with.

We as viewers are unsure that if someone goes into the place of business and sees a 'Muslim looking' woman and their demeanor suddenly changes, the assumption is bigotry or even worse, racism. Yet we cannot defer such a strong accusation without first understanding the person. Maybe the person spent 5 years in the sandbox getting fired at from the very people he is being presented with? Maybe something in his past has led him to have a general distrust for all people? We just do not simply know and is why a video 'study' of this sort is bunk and would be laughed out of any sociological classroom.

My scenario was to show that given situation, perceived threat, environment, etc., humans will make a determination. Change the hooded character with baggy pants now to someone dressed in casual business attire....where would you put the treat level at? You still may be more cautious, because of where you are, but that person becomes less and less of a threat, regardless of pigmentation of skin when they present themselves as such.