In this 2d episode of my five-part series on racism, I present a real-life example of a conversation between two of my friends that reveals one of them had a prejudicial mindset towards black people (in general), even as they were trying to deny that they had any negative feelings towards the person to whom they were talking....
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Les Knotts
2/20/2025 06:30:12 am
Steve, of course humans in community discern visual an auditory markers of other humans. Those are two means of recognizing familiar people from strangers. You may recall the bomb threat sheets that used to be placed by landline telephones; among the questions about voice were "male?, "female?," "young?, "old?" Noticing identifying markers is routine and necessary. We notice hair, height, and skin tone. To declare that we do not make these distinctions is disingenuous. Making a sincere effort to acknowledge and value differences--the differences that matter--is an honorable goal. Understanding self, including conscious and unconscious bias for or against people groups or individuals based on appearance or other superficial associations, is a necessarily deliberate act. Your attempt to assist in our making this move toward foregrounding our oft unexamined attitudes is laudable. This effort is especially praiseworthy because it seems clear that your objective is a more honestly harmonious and civil society. Against such there is no law.
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Stephen Tryon
2/21/2025 07:40:06 pm
Thank you, Les!
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AuthorAuthor of What Makes a Great President?, Close Encounters With Accountability Citizen-ship, Thy King Dumb Come, & Accountability Citi-zenship, Stephen P. Tryon is a businessman & technologist with extensive experience in e-commerce, a retired Soldier, and former Senate Fellow. Archives
March 2025
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