Ramblings and thoughts on racism & stereotypes
Hey, how’s it going buddy?
Can you do me a favor? Lemme ask you:
What’s the first 5 qualities that come to mind when think of an Asian male?
Cool, thanks a lot. No, this is not a trap. Go ahead.
I’d imagine it might be some of the usual stuff… i dunno… good at math, bad at writing, likes boba, not particularly social, great at school, close with family, etc.
Your mileage may vary, but it’s perfectly normal.
Your brain recalls associative memory you’ve acquired throughout your life from either direct experience, stories from friends, TV, books, etc, and you have a perception of how Asian males are like.
Are you asian?
If you are, you can skip this next step. Otherwise, recall your perception of Asian males again. Think of those qualities and hold it on your mind.
And….
Say it aloud.
“Asian men are…”
Wow. Holy shit, dude. Why are you being racist?! I’m offended!
Relax. I’m just kidding.
But it’s interesting though, how when we talk about generalizations we have with a “race” (that your brain naturally forms), it can easily be seen as “racist.”
But to our brain, race is just the same as any other category.
We categorize everything. Here’s a few examples:
- Hondas are generally…
- Apple pies are generally…
- The suburbs are generally…
You get the picture.
We form categorizes and patterns for everything. When it involves people, it is called a ‘stereotype.’
Here’s a few examples:
- Starbucks employees are generally…
- Men who use dating sites are generally…
- Computer engineers are generally…
I bet you made some associations pretty quickly. Within a split second of reading, probably.
Did you just pre-judge?! How dare you!
No, I’m just kidding again. That’s perfectly normal. That’s just how your brain works. It fills in gaps whether you have ‘adequate’ information or not.
Things get dicey when it’s applied to race though, huh.
Here’s a few examples:
- Blacks are generally…
- Asians are generally…
- Hispanics are generally…
I don’t know about you, but man, I felt a little dirty when my brain ran through those stereotypes (fuckin’ brain).
And if I happen to have a ‘negative’ association (but not necessarily)… and I say that aloud, I might get called ‘racist’.
Funny how that works.
Here’s what even funnier. It feels OK when it’s applied to the majority or the “privileged group”. Think about it:
- White people generally…
Play lacrosse? Enjoy the Oscars? Eat brunch? Attend music festivals?
I didn’t feel so bad thinking that. Hell, I wrote it on the internet. I would NEVER do that for any other racial group. (very curious if this applies to all ‘privilleged’ groups, say… Han-chinese in China, or whatever the power caste is in India, etc.)
So, we form generalizations on everything.
We just deny that we do when it comes to race (at least publicly).
Anyway, I’m actually very curious at the underlying mental mechanics behind this.
Say, when you joke with a friend, and you poke fun at various aspects of him/her. Many things are open season, but their race is probably something that comes last, if at all.
Is there a way talk about race and mitigate the sensitivity?
I wonder how.
Say, for instance, if you perceive “Asian” men to be good at math, and you wanted to express that in a “non-offensive” way. How would you do that?
“I perceive men who’s ancestral origin is ‘East-Asia’ to be good at math.
I categorize them as ‘Asian’ primarily from visual cues, although I understand this to be imperfect because other racial groups may share visual similarities. My belief is based on my friendship with several men of East-Asian decent who appear to be good at math. It is also based on my what I know of the occupations of ‘Asian’ men from my wider social circle, and from various media reports, although I do not specifically remember which ones.
I consciously understand this generalization may not be true at all, but it is the information I have been exposed to thus far, and because my brain naturally extrapolates limited information and forms a heuristic, this is the short-hand I will likely use in a pinch, or if I have limited brain resources.
For instance, if someone pointed a gun to my head and asked, ‘Which racial group scored the highest in standardized math tests?!” I would probably answer East-Asian, even though I do not know the actual statistics. This is an extreme case, but this will also likely be my answer in other lower stress situations as well, for instance, if I haven’t had lunch yet.
So, with all the stipulations I just mentioned: Asians are good at math.
Again, I understand this may not be true, and if I am not under time or resource constraints, I will attempt to be conscious of this generalization, especially if I am in a situation where this may be a factor, I will attempt to think critically and/or gather sufficient information before I make any decisions.”
Well, I’m Asian… and I’m not offended at all!
Awesome — you solved it, buddy!
Well, on the other hand, that IS pretty long-winded that reads like a fuckin’ legal contract…
If you were to break that down into parts, it’d read like:
- This is the generalization i have
- This is why I think I have it
- I understand that is not necessarily true
- however, under stress this is the default answer I will likely adopt
- if resources are available, i will do my best to be conscious of this and self-correct as needed
I actually wish we’d be more open about racial generalizations. Everyone has them, whether we like it or not. And I think it’s valuable to know your stereotypes, and understand how people perceive you. Because it absolutely affects their attitudes and actions. We like to think we are completely race-blind, but that’s very naive and just not how the brain works.
People WILL be offended though, huh. Shit. Maybe i should just keep it to myself. With the all the aforementioned stipulations, of course.
Anyway, one day… we’ll all be racially ambiguous.
Then we’ll stereotype based on appearance, or language, or occupation.
And it’ll still be impossible to be culturally ambiguous…
So we’re still stereotyping.
Then maybe one day, we’ll be able to make modifications to our brain that’ll give us the processing power to validate or invalidate our sub-conscious generalizations in real-time.
That’d be cool. And this problem would be solved!
Yay!
