From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Wed Aug 08 2001 - 11:07:51 MDT
"Olga Bourlin" <fauxever@sprynet.com> wrote:
> Those who think that someone needs to meet a lower standard just because of
> their skin color
I've been preparing a spreadsheet with one column showing various black
people, such as those I know personally, actors, public figures, etc,
and other columns with skin tone (dark/light), facial structure, age,
manner of speech, dress, etc, then the amount of 'suspicion' I feel
toward the specific person. This is an attempt to understand any
racist/sexist feelings I have. It's an interesting exercise, and I'm
sure some people would think it racist to even attempt such a thing.
While I don't have any conclusions yet, skin tone seems to me to *not*
be a major factor in this (highly personal) assessment. If anything,
facial structure (especially combined with an age range of 15-30) beats
out skin tone easily, and both figure much less than manner of speech,
age, or dress. I imagine we've all heard about discrimination being
about skin color but I have doubts if skin color alone is the primary
reason for discrimination against blacks. Perhaps it's just the most
obvious.
It wasn't until I got my first computer job that I met people on a
regular basis who I regarded as intelligent as I was. I'm no
super-genius, but have seen high school test scores that (somehow) gave
me an IQ of a little over 140. I think most smart people agree that they
don't regard themselves as smart so much as they regard most other
people as stupid. I can imagine a black person thinking I'm
discriminating because of his or her skin color but unless they
challenge me intellectually I may ignore or dismiss them, just as I
might dismiss most other stupid people, regardless of race.
-Mike
-- ====================================================================== Michael Wiik Principal Messagenet Communications Research Washington DC Area Internet and WWW Consultants http://messagenet.com mwiik@messagenet.com ======================================================================
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