[fash]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Let's imagine you have a co-worker who always wears red shirts and always gives you a (too strong) friendly punch in the arm when he sees you. Eventually, after seeing him enough times, your brain learns "red shirt = punch". If he hits you hard enough your blood pressure will probably start raising the moment you see him and his red shirt ... before he even punches you, before you even have a conscious thought about him. In fact, your blood pressure will go up when you see anyone in a red shirt, because your body/brain has learned "red shirt = punch incoming".

Let's also imagine a certain demographic is 5x more likely to commit violent crimes. Eventually, after experiencing this firsthand and seeing evidence of this in your life, your body/brain has learned "this demographic = a violent crime is more likely to occur".

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

But none of this is about what you think of the guy: you could love him and think he's a great person and you would still react. It's all way way lower-level than "hearts and minds" and such. But there absolutely is a real biological mechanism in play there: every human being on the planet, if they have that happen to them enough, will start having a physiological reaction to the sight of red shirts. And yes, your blood pressure (and the many other things that can be affected) do affect your thinking.

What does any of this have to do with racism? I can't remember if it was this thread or another one (and now I can't find a link), but in a study they found that when any race/gender (including black men) sees a black man their blood pressure rises. This is not "well my grand pappy taught me to hate black people and now I'm acting on that" kind of stuff, this is low-level behaviorist B. F. Skinner stuff. Think Pavlovian dogs' mouths watering to the sound of a bell (for those of you familiar with that famous experiment).

When any race/gender (whether or not a member of the violent demographic) sees a member of that demographic, their blood pressure rises. This is true since the victims of the demographic's violence are members of the demographic as well as non-members.

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

At the end of the day, it's just patterns. If the only Asian-looking people you see your whole life are villains in a TV show, it's perfectly natural that your brain will learn "Asian-looking person = danger". On a conscious level you might have no racism whatsoever towards Asian people, but your body is still reacting when it sees them. The only way to change that low-level "thinking" is to change the pattern: you need to see Asian-looking people not looking like villains (or anything else threatening) before your blood pressure will stop rising the moment you see an Asian person.

The only way to change that low-level "thinking" is to change the pattern: you need to see members of that demographic not looking like villains (or anything else threatening) before your blood pressure will stop rising the moment you see one of those people.

Of course, now you've conditioned the pavlovian dog to behave in a manner that is more likely to get the dog harmed or killed when released into the real world.