Are Americans secretly racist?, page 1

Yahoo recently ran an article suggesting that based on polls, numbers and analysis, Americans may secretly be racist. Most of the study focused on data from our most recent presidential election to current and bashed it against data prior to 2008.

In order to figure out whether racial bias affected Barack Obama's results in the 2008 presidential election, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a doctoral candidate in economics at Harvard University, passed over easy-to-manipulate surveys and looked at data from another source: online searches.

Are Americans secretly racist?

The guy leading the study, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Economic doctoral candidate at Harvard University, suggested the racial disparity in voting gave Obama's opponents clear advantages in many cases.

Though many people believe that our first African-American president won the election thanks in part to increased turnout by African-American voters, Stephens-Davidowitz's research shows that those votes only added about 1 percentage point to Obama's totals. "In the general election, this effect was comparatively minor," he concludes. But in areas with high racial search rates, the fact that Obama is African American worked against him, sometimes significantly.

And he ends with some ominous notes for the upcoming presidential election:

What does this mean for this year's contest? "Losing even two percentage points lowers the probability of a candidate's winning the popular vote by a third," Stephens-Davidowitz explains. "Prejudice could cost Mr. Obama crucial states like Ohio, Florida and even Pennsylvania."

Obama will be in for a rough ride come November 2012.

reply to post by disgustingfatbody

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Basically, we are a product of our environment. And depending on which environment we are in, dictates the severity of it.

reply to post by Jaellma

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In my experience,Americans seem to be passive aggressive racist. They will claim otherwise, but if you ask them, they will tell you they have a "black" president.

reply to post by Jaellma

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I hate these threads.

OF COURSE we are racist! We have to be. There are exceptions, but in general we are more comfortable around things we understand. Kids from the projects don't understand people in the Hamptons, and kids from the suburbs don't understand the gang culture, and so on and so on. SO, when we encounter something we don't fully understand, we put our guard up. It is perfectly natural. We are genetically and socially engineered to be racist as part of our survival instincts.

NOW, we are also intelligent, and we can overlook our first impressions and we can judge people as individuals, and I might have 2 dozen very close friends from another race, but if I get lost on Murder Row in New Orleans, I'm still going to be scared of the gang culture of the other race, and if some kid from the projects goes into a Bank of America downtown, he will still be intimidated by the white men in suits.

Black Families, and White Families, and Latino Families, and Asian Families are all raised up differently from one another. The cultures are different. It is just part of life.

As for the "secret" part. I hate it. People I know will tap their hands and make a sour face to indicate someone of another color, and nobody considers them racist? Whereas I will speak openly about the facts of the issues, and people will accuse me of being racist. The PC crowd is all backwards. They have no idea who is actually racist and who is not racist.

reply to post by disgustingfatbody

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I don't agree with that. I'm not a racist and me not liking someone different than me does not make me a racist.

However, I don't believe that I'm fully sold on stereotype as being bad, sometimes I think its just a negative spin that MSM has put on experience. I honestly believe they are trying to keep us fighting amongst ourselves hence always the news stories about hate and race crimes. I don't recall the last time that any news story broke about mixed race working together.

If you are a cop and 20,000 of your colleagues in the US have been shot down by white kids wearing a pink polo shirts last year during traffic violations? You would be rather dumb to overlook those numbers on your next routine stop especially when its a white kid wearing a pink polo shirt.

I'm not saying its right or wrong but I can also see where experience can lead one to do things differently or take extra precautions without being a racist. If anything the MSM and the entertainment industry are the ones that are truly stereo typing groups of people in a form of racism. Unlike the cop who has valid concerns to take the extra precaution Hollywood and the MSM feed you the stereo types without the actually experiencing it.

reply to post by interupt42

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I'm not a racist and me not liking someone different than me does not make me a racist.

Yes you are. WE all are, stop playing into their PC bullcrap.

If you walk up to a city park, and you see it is 100% black, and there are black things going on, whips on rims, bass blasting through the park, older black women in their big sunday get ups and hats, 50 people with the same purple t-shirt for someone's family reunion, a bunch of lanky muscular teens and men with tattoos playing basketball, you;re little white ass is there with your two daughters wanting to have a picnic, you are going to think it over a time or two, and possibly even leave. BUT, if you go into the same crowd, all white, in cargo shorts, SUV's, no music, or light country or pop music, pasty fat white guys trying to play basketball, then you are not going to be intimidated whatsoever, and you won't give it a second thought.

If the roles were reversed, the black family would do the same thing. They might feel perfectly comfortable in a loud all black environment, but they might feel really uncomfortable in an all-white environment with people curiously staring their way, standing next to their pick up trucks, drinking PBR.

Nobody means any harm buy it, but it is just our nature.

reply to post by Jaellma

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I think, to a small degree, everyone is prejudiced. That, however, does not make everyone racist (even slightly).

In other words, i think this is total rubbish but an interesting topic for discussion.

reply to post by getreadyalready

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What size city do you live in? I ask because from the example, it sounds like lack of exposure to diversity is the problem. I grew up in NYC and there were far more ethnicity in our park at the same time than just the two examples you gave.

Originally posted by micmerci
reply to post by getreadyalready

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What size city do you live in? I ask because from the example, it sounds like lack of exposure to diversity is the problem. I grew up in NYC and there were far more ethnicity in our park at the same time than just the two examples you gave.

Those were the two extremes to prove my point. Of course if someone walks up to a homogenized park, they won't have the same reaction as they would if they were going to stand out as the only anomaly.

I grew up in a very small, all-white town, but now I live in a town where I am the minority. I've been on both ends of that scenario many times. We have a very cool Reggae Club here in my town that is open after the other clubs close, and I have been the only white guy with about 1000 black folks there on many nights. I also have a good friend in an all-black fraternity, and I have DJ'd their parties, and hung out with the frat many, many times. I have also been the asshole that brings his black friend to an all redneck party, and I was the first guy from my school to date a black girl and bring her around my friends and family. Now, don't get me wrong, I prefer white folks by far, and I'm married to a white woman now, but I still have plenty of black friends, and I can take their culture in the right doses when I am prepared for it.

Naive racism is the best racism. I know plenty of racist people that realize they are racist and they are open about it, and I also know plenty that think they are not racist, but in reality they are the worst ones.

We had a beautiful roommate/nanny living with us last year, and she was mixed race. She is modeling now, and she just got her first nationwide magazine spread. Even the racists would admit she was gorgeous. A good friend of mine was talking with her one day at our barbeque, and they got on the subject of sex, and he said he wouldn't want any from her. She asked why, and he said, "because you're black." She laughed (she doesn't get rejected ever), and she asked me if he was joking. I said no. We were drinking, having a good time, but she was totally flabbergasted. She kept trying to push the issue, and we kept having fun with it, and of course he enjoyed all the flirting, but he was absolutely not interested in any way, simply because she was black. Now compare that with the old white-women that I work with who are super nice to everyone's face, and would never say a bad word about them, but as soon as they walk away they frown and whisper to each other.

The secret racism and naive racism is the worst kind. I actually appreciate a straight up open and honest racist.

I agree with those who say that we're all a bit racist, whether we like it or not, or whether we even KNOW it or not. But there is a difference... Some people know it and fight it, and others know it and resign themselves to it or even willingly embrace it. Others still don't know it or aren't even aware of it. But if you're raised in the US, there's a really good chance that there is a racist bone in your body.

I am a person who knows it and fights it. I know I was raised in a racist society by racist parents who were doing their very best to do the right thing... But now that I know the truth, I fight racist thoughts and feelings in myself, knowing that they come from a place of ignorance and fear.

When I'm in the mood to give the human race the benefit of the doubt, I tend to think that we're not "secretly" racist, but more likely "unknowingly" racist.

I heard a statistic recently on the surge in white supremacist groups since Obama's presidency.

US sees surge in white supremacists

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