Hi Everyone,
Thanks for a great class today, at least for me. I enjoyed our conversations about ideology and critical discourse analysis. One issue that we talked about reminded me of this really interesting website that tests unconscious preferences through language/image association.
This website, called Project Implicit, out of Harvard, uses language and images to see if people have a preference for certain images more than others. It does this by associating "good" and "bad" vocabulary with different images and monitors how quickly you respond to the images.
They have a bunch of different tests: race, disability, sexuality and even Presidents! Each test demo takes about ten minutes and at the end, you receive a report of whether you are unbiased, or whether you have a slight, moderate or strong preference for certain images.
I took two tests. First, I took the Race test which scans through images of black people and white people. It showed that I had a moderate preference for images of white people. I've taken this test before and it was the same outcome. The first time I took it, I was really bothered by the outcome, but then I realized that I have always lived in a predominantly white society (Arizona, then Utah, with only two years of L.A. in between) and the majority of images of black people that I receive are often "problematic" (for lack of a better term). They're either through fictional media or the news, and those images are not that great most of the time. And, I also came to terms with the fact that I am racist, due to the fact that I have always lived in a racist society. (I'm not sure if there is a society that is not racist, so it would be pretty hard not to live in one.) And, for me, I think being conscious of it is a better approach than to deny it exists. This test just brings it to light.
The other test I took surprised me. I took the Sexuality test which scans through gay and straight images and words, and then associates them with good and bad vocabulary. I actually had a preference for gay images. I started thinking about why this would be, and of course, there's my brother who is gay, and my friends. But, why else? And, I thought of the images of gay people on the media and they're so often comic. They tend to have the best lines on sitcoms. Just tonight, on Ugly Betty, Mark, the gay assistant used the term "fashionutard" to describe someone. That's funny (at least to me).
So, what I thought would be a good blog for this week would be to have you each take the test and then report on your findings. Click here for the website and when you get there, you'll see "Select a Test" and a bunch of tests down the left-hand side of the screen. I'd like everyone to take the Race test so that we all have a shared point of reference in the discussion. But, then, feel free to take as many of the other tests as you would like.
After you've done the test, share your results, and what you think about them.
Thanks,
Tiffany
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3 comments:
I could be completely off base here, but...if by acknowledging to yourself that you are "racist" and consciously trying to not allow that to sway you, aren't you giving people that are outside of your social sphere an advantage. How do we reach a point where we don't have to even out the playing field, if you will? How do we reach a point where our perceived 'racism' doesn't alter our opinions and impressions of other people? What steps are necessary to keep this from interfering with social situations? AND how do our perceived ideas of people (based on our altered views of them) affect how we treat them in speech acts?
I think just by understanding your racism you are better able to deal with it and not let it interfere with situations. If you ignore it, then you wont pay attention to yourself if you are acting overtly racist. But maybe by paying attentino and aknowledging our faults about race, we can try to improve ourselves, yet we know that it is something that was raised inside of us growing up and it might not ever be able to go away.
I agree with Carlene! Even though I don't want to acknowledge "racism," I do understand what everyone is talking about. It is important to recognize our preferences, comforts, and prejudice to assure that as well rounded people we understand why we might feel a certain way about certain people. In this case, acknowledgement of a fault is an asset because we can prevent ourselves from making bad choices.
(Did that make sense?)
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