Generally speaking, I think we ought to leave people's implicit biases alone and care about what they say & do.There is no right of access to somebody else's head, and any attempt to read what is in there will almost certainly reveal more of the reader's bias than the scrutinised
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I see my own biases mostly when I am surprised. I have been surprised by a South Asian woman wanting to stroke my dogs, by a straight man wanting to talk primarily about the social & psychological nuances of interactions & by a young gay man moralistically deploring polyamory.
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Biases are something we get from society. Sometimes they are unjustified prejudices we pick up & sometimes they are patterns we accurately note. Either way, when spotted in yourself, it is good to be aware of them & remind yourself of the importance of treating ppl as individuals
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LOL! As I speak, a 21-year-old male friend has just messaged me to ask me to help him think of anniversary gifts for his parents. There might be some gender & age-related assumptions going on in his head there.
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But, yes, generally, if you assume that someone will have certain biases because they are white or male or heterosexual or cisgendered, consider that it might be you who needs to examine your own biases.
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Yesterday, someone was talking about the entitlement of SocJus types who think everyone has a responsibility to prioritise their key issue & I think that is a sound observation.
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We all have a moral responsibility not to impact society negatively with any prejudices we might have & it's generally good to be reflective about this. But we do not have the right to make others prioritise what is most important to us.
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You can suggest to someone that he may want to put work into dismantling his whiteness but if he chooses to focus his social conscience on raising money for Water Aid & Cancer Research, better recycling services in his area & supporting a lonely, disabled elderly neighbour...
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...you might just have to settle for him not doing or saying anything racist & leave his suspected unconscious racial biases alone.
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I have personally witnessed many time people who will speak of some people as a group in derogatory ways (even racist) and then meet an individual of that group and treat them like an individual. Not to excuse their previous racist statements.
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The goal of this movement isn’t to change behavior but to allow itself access into the mind. Once unexpressed thoughts may be socially condemned, there’s no end to the need for expensive interventions.
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I see that in my rural neighbors. They'll privately voice some negative thoughts about someone to me, & yet never treat that same person with anything but civility. Example: 1/2
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Ex: Old farmer man holds store door for total goth girl, his eyebrows to his hair line. Yet he smiles, & tells her unironically that he likes her boots. They go in talking about where he can buy some for his granddaughter. 2/2
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What if they ASK?
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