by erl » Fri 06 May 2005, 03:37:47
Doly:
You said,
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') reckon that, if in your environment, most violent incidents involve black people, you will have an implicit association of black and violence, without necessarily meaning that you are racist.
I think the promoters of this test (and those like it) are saying that is exactly what it means. If you implicitly associate "black" with "violence," then that is a racist association. Whether or not one has facts or history in his or her background to support this association is not relevant. It is still a racist association when someone associates certain behavioral tendencies with a particular race.
This is not to say that anyone holding this association is evil. The association most probably comes as a matter of upbringing or is otherwise learned. Much like your example of associating "engineer" with "male."
erl