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I actually have been thinking about this topic more than usual recently and I think it would be interesting to discuss.

One recent topic I would like to bring up that show how society is almost in a way inwardly racist without knowing would definitely be the media coverage and reactions of Americans to the ebola "crisis". At first, the coverage was normal. They were showing the situation in Africa where thousands of people were dying as would be expected. But then, once a white person got ebola, the coverage immediately shifted to white people getting ebola and totally ignored Africa. The coverage legitimately never ever went back. It could be argued that one of the people the news focused on was a black woman, so it might not be racism, but definitely a subconscious cultural bias in favor of the US. Another thing, the black woman I noticed was seen in a more negative light than the white people who were seen as brave and fighting for their lives and got tons of sympathy while the black woman was seen more as some dangerous bitch who was doing shit wrong and got ebola from her stupidity. I've heard this straight from people I know IRL.

The problem with subconscious racism is that it's not a tangible thing and is much harder to get rid of then visible racism. Someone could be racist in this way and not even know it. They could even hate racist people yet still have inward prejudices. Sometimes I fear almost to the point of paranoia that something I'm doing or saying is prejudiced in some way. One example I'm sure every white person has done and even non-white people have been guilty of, which is identifying non-white people by their race. Like using clothes or hair to describe a white person but then going "that one black dude" or "that asian chick". While I wouldn't say this is bad, it's still a small example of subconscious bias. Some more extreme examples are of course heavily debated which include the housing market and job applications which are huge cans of fuck I'd rather not open up right now. I'd be glad to discuss it in some replies though, just not this post.

Lastly, here's an example of subconscious racism I saw very recently that I find interesting. It's not the best experiment since there are plenty of confounding variables, but it's still strikingly true. (It also covers subconscious sexism which I'd like to talk about, but make a thread about that specifically if you want. I don't want the topic to be too broad. Stick to racism)

Seriously though, I think what's going on right now with Charlie Hebdo is a good example of where our racial priorities lie. You think radical Islam is a problem? Great, I don't disagree. However, it seems many of us have double standards.

When twelve white journalists die in the Western world due to Jihadist attempts at censorship, it triggers millions-strong marches, 24/7 media saturation, and international dialogue on the state of Islam. When 2000 Nigerians die in a single attack due to an attempt to impose sharia law, however, news of it quickly slips off the radar. This very website is an excellent example – the Hebdo attack resulted in the creation of two entries (one of which remained trending for almost a week) and several discussion threads. I haven't heard a single peep about the attack in Nigeria.

In some cases like with the cross-race effect (that thing where you think all people of the same race look alike) you can't really help but be racist because you automatically do it. But in most cases it seems to be more that you can help it and you just over look what you're doing or don't want to deal with it.

There is a time and place for everything, Coolface. But not now.

Regardless, I think this might be why I felt a small sense of happiness when #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter were introduced. Also, the amount of sympathy for Leelah Alcorn is incredibly touching, considering… well, how many times outside the internet have you seen a trans person talked about positively?

I hope these are a sign society is taking its next step forward. But considering Charlie Hebdo vs. Nigeria… maybe not. Let's be honest, both were horrendous acts, but Nigeria was far worse.

One line i hear a lot of racists use is "I'm not racist, I have a black friend"

First of all, absolute bullshit. Being friendly with a black guy wouldn't make you any less racist than someone having a girl-friend somehow making them less sexist.

And an example of this happened to me. Me and my brother knew this kid named Allen. Allen would always hang around us, and he was for the most part open with us, always wanted to do stuff with us. He was a friend, (though my brother didn't see it that way). But I noticed something, every-time we would walk home and he would be with us and black people walked by, he would put his head down like a scared dog, he was legitimately afraid of other black people. But he was cool with us.

A good analogy for this would be like owning a dog. Imagine if you own a german shepherd. You were close with that dog, you loved that dog, it was your best friend. Now imagine your walking down the street and you see a stray german shepherd. You're gonna get scared right? Because that's not your dog, you don't know that dog. That's the same way it works with racists who have black friends.

First of all, I'm going to give the definition of racism according to ol' trustworthy Merriam-Webster. Before anyone says "oh, you can't just use a dictionary, these are real complex human issues!", I'm sorry, but no. I sort of understand where you'd be coming from, but in a discussion like this people have to actually figure out what the fuck they're talking about. It's called defining your terms, and without doing it you just get nowhere really fast. So…

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination

Now, there seems to be one primary assertion about so-called "subconscious racism" stated over and over so far in this thread- it is shown by how many (if not most, or virtually all) individuals show more care and emotion over a tragedy happening with those "in their own neck of the woods" so to speak- or, in the typically used language, those of the same race. But hold on a second… is the race the real issue here?
In my opinion, no.
Let's do a little thought experiment. Imagine that the Charlie Hebdo event happened exactly as we know it, with one exception: most of the creators, writers, and artists- and thus, most of the victims- were of Arabic decent, former Muslims (or at least former orthodox ones) that changed their minds and fled their respective countries of origin years ago for the promise of freedom of speech. Ask yourself this: would the outrage, the protests and so on have been less severe? If you think so, then damn, congratulations for somehow being even more cynical than me.
The way I see it, the deciding factor is not who, but where. It is entirely natural for your attention to be more drawn to a massacre that occurred within your own nation or "cultural sphere", because of concern for your own situation and the feeling of a greater connection to what happened. It's the exact same reason why you'd spend a lot more time worrying if someone got shot down your street than someone across town, even if you didn't know the guy anyway.
Does that attitude produce some bullshit in the world? Certainly. But it's not something you can really train out, and furthermore, it's certainly not racism.

i think this is a great opportunity to bring something up regarding the macca X kanye thing (oh look i got kanye as my av, that couldnt have been more obvious and transparent)

and yes i know i shouldnt lose sleep over it, but the way the media took the issue seemed to underline some racism.

every site i looked, i saw white old condescending people talking about how "this kids are dumbasses, and idiots" (and specifically targetting kanye fans) and a bunch of insults more, and after the reveal that it was a prank barely any of them bothered to corect themselves, it seems they target hip hop fans far more than any other type of music lovers, they take any chance to categorize them as ignorant and lost, of course the stereotype is that 90% of hip hop fans are black, hell, i even saw news outlets ATTACKING KANYE, like they took the chance to take jabs at him pretty fucking quickly

im not saying thiis issue was fueled by racism at all, but its not really something to overlook.

The Charlie Hebdo had two entries because it had a huge spread in the internet, not because we think that twelve liveas are more valuavle than 2000 lives just because they are european people.
By the way, you make a really good point, thousands of people are dying every day due to violence but people don't really react (most people, not everybody) until they see people dying in the Western world (maybe because people think they are safe until they have a proof that yihadism can reach here too). Other example would be ebola, I live in Spain and here nobody cared about ebola until we had an infected (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29514920).

When twelve white journalists die in the Western world due to Jihadist attempts at censorship, it triggers millions-strong marches, 24/7 media saturation, and international dialogue on the state of Islam.

At least two of them were Muslims and if you count the Montrouge attack, one of them was black and some jews were also killed during the hostage crisis.
It has less things to do with the color of their skin and more to do about where it happened, on which soil. It's normal (sort of) to relatively less care about things that happen elsewhere because we aren't immediately involved with them.

And, anyway, did you Americans care that much when we had the 1995 bombings and plane hijack? Not really, you were busy with your 1993 bombing (which wasn't that much of a deal back then in France).

What about the Madrid bombings? It didn't last long, did it?

I'm sorry but we have, in France, just like in your country, regular new outlets about crimes involving people of any color but we don't care that much about them (aside from the usual right-wing weirdos). I'm pretty sure they are countries in Africa or elsewhere that don't care that much about the Charlie Hebdo shooting too, or to at least a lesser extent.

And an example of this happened to me. Me and my brother knew this kid named Allen. Allen would always hang around us, and he was for the most part open with us, always wanted to do stuff with us. He was a friend, (though my brother didn’t see it that way). But I noticed something, every-time we would walk home and he would be with us and black people walked by, he would put his head down like a scared dog, he was legitimately afraid of other black people. But he was cool with us.

Ok, do you know this guy's story? I mean, what if he was bullied by black people during his childhood through out his college years and that he likes you because you are not like them and that he can try to trust black people again thanks to you? Or, another theory, does it do it to all people that look like thugs regardless of their skin color?

I do that thing too, the "bow your head when you meet threatening people in the street" because you know what? I was bullied as a child. However, I won't ever say all people of color are like that because I never believed so. Does that make me racist? Really?

This "internalized" "subconcious" racism/sexism is a slippery slope to me, and I don't like it, because it's kind of an excuse to treat people with condescending shit (example: "Oh, he doesn't agree with me on this racial/sexist issue, that poor guy must be subsconciously racist/sexist/words en -ist and -phobic!").

TripleA9000 wrote:

And an example of this happened to me. Me and my brother knew this kid named Allen. Allen would always hang around us, and he was for the most part open with us, always wanted to do stuff with us. He was a friend, (though my brother didn’t see it that way). But I noticed something, every-time we would walk home and he would be with us and black people walked by, he would put his head down like a scared dog, he was legitimately afraid of other black people. But he was cool with us.

I dunno man black people are p. scary

We live in a society where the response to a person admitting their racist/sexist/homophobic/etc and wanting to change is "kill yourself you fucking monster," causing people to believe that if are racist/sexist/homophobic/etc, it would be incurable. Hell yes I feel subconscious racism is a thing.

I think we might care more of what happens here then there, think about it, if a massacre starts in another country, we wouldn't be on it's track 24/7, but if it happens here, we would be on it's track for everything it has. it's not that we don't care, it's that we don't know what to do OUTSIDE of our nations, atleast sometimes

I think the whole Charlie Hebdo vs. Boko Haram coverage thing has more to do with being able to relate to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
It took place in the west, so it obviously has more impact on the news in the west.
Boko Haram is more of a 'far-away-from-your-bed-show' as we call it in Dutch. It's not an apparent thread to our safety, while on the other hand, a terrorist attack in Paris is something that could hit us all.

Subconscious racism is def. a thing, though.

Well, now looking at Tomberry's and .9999's posts these stories have more to do with culture than race, but it's almost undeniable internalized racism exists in other forms. Like I brought up but didn't really explain, there's people being rejected from more jobs because of their race and of course the housing market where people leave a neighborhood if they see minorities living in it which crashes the market in the area and creates ghettos, not to mention minorities being denied a home by the previous owner for "unspecified reasons" way more often than for white people. And if you haven't check out the video I posted. It's not that long and it's a perfect example of internalized bias.

And Tomberry has a point on Triple's story as well. Do these people look thuggish or does he do it to only black people? Like Tom I actually do this too but with anyone who dresses stereotypically thuggish. I tilt my head down to thuggish-looking white people more often than black people even. It's just a matter of clothes to many. Now, is judging people by how they look still shallow? Yes I do admit it's not very kind of me before I get to know them, but at least it's not racism. Just wondering triple if it's really racism or something else.

So far all the examples don't look like racism, its common sense that when a population feels threatened it want to protect itself. The Charlie Hebdo thing is more that people in Europe feel at risk and want their governments to protect them, labeling this as racist is ridiculous, in that case all the world is a subconscious racist.

@TripleAAA
so in that way a dude that is afraid of women is a misogynist? Your analogy is confusing, that could be said to any person in general, it gets scary because I dont know if he is friendly person or a total douche.

I hate how the word racism is the same for a person who is afraid(for whatever reason) to one that truly hates a race.

edit:@Sam, Ok thanks for clarifying

I'm curious, does the cross-race effect effect mixed people too, and if it does how so?
I'm mixed but i'm able to individuate say black people the same as white people.

nah, they just looked like other black people, maybe its because im used to it.

On the issue of media coverage, media outlets tend to give priority to conflicts with a seemingly easy-to-grasp narrative, rather than considering the actual impact of the conflict. For instance, South African newspapers give far more coverage to the Israel-Palestine conflict than they do for the Congolese civil war, despite the fact that the latter is closer geographically and far more destructive, having been said to cause the most casaulties of any armed conflict since WW2.

In short, Israel-Palestine can be constructed as simple question of ethnic tensions between jews and muslims, while the Congolese civil war spans a range of complicated political issues.

Once a simple narrative has been established, the individual can then comfortably define their Bad Guy an Good Guy, in line with their own political ideology (in the case of Israel-Palestine, right-wingers tend to root for the former and leftists the latter).

This could easily lead to a superficial understanding of how the world actually works, and is a huge problem with regards to the quality of contemporary media.

Confirmed racist then. I'll take your word for it.

People need time to address things.

In the wake of the Je Suis Charlie popularity, #JeSuisNigeria popped up on social networking sites.

So, you see, faith in humanity may be restored sometimes.

Not just racism, but gender or about any factor that would deem a person distinguishable may contribute to one's outlook on them by what you associate that distinguishable factor with. I might compare the attribution of facial and bodily features to females to the attribution of certain behaviors to females as well. In making the behavioral attribution, I hold a some form of subtle prejudice for or against them.

Upon the premise that I make behavior attributions to physical features, and upon the premise that it is very unlikely that those attributions would be fundamentally equal to other attributions to other features; I would have a bias with my uneven attributions.

This is purely my own perspective.

"People don't constantly talk about how those poor people in Africa are being killed, starved or worse!"

or maybe the news media wants views?
they know if they can report on a something that could effect us personally or someone we know they can get more people to watch.

This isn't internal subconscious racism, its just the News media being view whores, like when people make a video on FNAF specifically because its popular and not because they genuinely care about the game.

I'm sorry people are just now realizing people care more about what could affect them and their friends over something that won't effect them. but what the fuck did you expect?
No country is going to throw everything to fix a country when there are problems with itself.

Got feminists screaming about sexism, got Cops shooting people all over the place, Companies abusing their power, Corrupt politicians, and more; and you want THIS COUNTRY to go and FIX a shit ton others?! Are you fucking insane?!

Easier to blame one race for all the ills of society and the world than it is to try and fix them.

The U.S. has…

-a real democracy, and not a sham one where the "president" is really a dictator in disguise
-law and order
-a political system where politicians are held accountable for policy decisions
-a functioning economy
-relative safety from terrorism

Many places in Africa don't have half those things. I'd say we're pretty damn well qualified to "fix" countries in Africa. It's not a race thing, and never has been a race thing; there are plenty of black people in America (if you hadn't noticed we kind of have a black president right now) and more white people than you'd think in Africa. It's a less developed countries vs. more developed countries thing, and as a highly developed country we're obliged to assist less developed countries in their development.

No we aren't. Unless they grant us mineral rights or something else to make it worth our while.