1/ Reflecting on my impulse to LOL rather than be concerned at spelling bee Twitter racism bit.ly/1lW3vze I reached some conclusions
Conversation
Replying to
2/ Racism arouses strong sentiments, but is fundamentally better understood as a cognitive technology rather than a moral issue
1
3
4
Replying to
3/ One clear phenomenon is that racism is effectively disrupted by personal relationships across race. Racism needs isolation to function.
2
8
11
Replying to
4/ Cities are less racist than the countryside imo. Even if neighborhoods are segregated, there is humanizing contact.
3
1
2
Replying to
5/ Social media is curious: it partly disrupts racism by hiding irrelevant context, partly amplifies via filter bubbles.
2
2
5
Replying to
6/ So in terms of capacity to disrupt racism as cognitive technology, online = between town and country. BUT a lot more room, so net plus.
1
1
Replying to
7/ The reason spelling-bee racists seem so funny is that their very choice of target marks them as living in uncool part of online world
2
1
3
Replying to
8/ So prediction: social media will eventually eliminate racism via ephemeralization, because on the social graph isolation is atrophy
2
4
Replying to
9/ Which isn't to say humans will turn into saints overnight. We'll still be star-bellied sneetches.
2
4
Replying to
10/ But race as central part of social identity has been disrupted. Racists today seem *technologically* odd like people who use land-lines
2
2
7
Replying to
12/ Which means ultimately, it's rather cruel to laugh at spelling bee racists: they are digitally isolated, technologically obsolete.
3
1
2
Replying to
13/ Where racism is threatened, such as urban areas, it might react violently, but this is more like taxicab drivers rioting against Uber
1
1
Show replies
Replying to
1
Replying to
that's tokenism at individual level, not friendship
1
1
Show replies
Replying to
classic psych study there is Sherif robber's cave experiment -- but there's an impt power dynamic at play too: bit.ly/1ru0aji
Replying to
a lot of social justice folks will disagree with you on that one!
Replying to
for racists there are always, “the god ones” for whom they make exceptions



