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Virtual Reality Experiment Wants To Put White People In Black Bodies
Molly McHugh (3774987) writes with an intriguing use of VR technology: "It's as simple as making a light-skinned person feel connected to a virtual, darker skinned self—a thought experiment pretty much impossible without the immersive potency of VR. The effect is achieved by outfitting participants in VR headsets with built-in head-tracking and motion capture capabilities that sync actual movement to virtual experience." From the article: Evolving from cruder methods, VR is a natural extension of research examining the ways that people think differently when made to feel like they are part of a meaningfully different social group, known as an outgroup.
... What’s most exciting about this channel of research is that it gets at the kind of complex, subtle prejudices that most people can’t even articulate if asked directly.
I've an easier method. Adopt an African American Child. I did and my view on many social issues pretty much changed overnight.
You tell your kids not to go to Chicago because of the crime, I tell mine not to go because of the police. I don't need a VR headset to see that reality.
Why just black. Why not brown, red, or yellow.
I lived in India for several months, I know what it's like to walk into a restaurant and have 20 pairs of eyes watch every move I make. I'm sure someone from Mexico or Senegal would experience the same thing.
I know people of all skin colors that have lived among other people of different skin colors and I've heard plenty of stories to tell of ignorant people making rash judgements. I've heard people from India say racist things about people with dark skin, and I've heard people with dark skin say racist things about people with lighter skin. I know a white person that was stopped by a cop in a neighborhood where people with browner skin colors predominately live. He didn't complain about 'walking while white'.
I'm sure that no matter where someone goes in this world, people with a skin color or any other attribute that is in the minority are viewed differently from people in the majority. What makes some people think they are experiencing something no one else in the world experiences or can understand? Or that only white people don't get it? Why was it in college that groups of people with similar attributes (i.e. ethnic background, religion, political leanings) all tended to group together and often made fun of everyone not like them.
A good step in getting rid of racists attitudes is to ignore the morons who are racist and stop letting them interfere with our lives. Generalizing the attitudes and behaviors of an entire group of people just because of the traits of a small minority is prejudice.
No matter what your skin color is.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
No one ever said that race was the only thing that determines how one is treated, by police or by anyone else. I do not dispute that you had and might even continue to have a very hard life, but your hard life does not mean that racism is false.
Anyone can be racist. Anyone. In fact, probably everyone is racist to a certain degree even if they try to not be. The biggest difference is that black people, already not only in the minority in the general population but in an even smaller minority in positions of authority, have a lot less capability to do harm to white people as a whole than white people, occupying the disproportionate majority of authority positions even relative to their majority-race status, can do to black people as a whole. If 50% of people in each race are racist in their attitudes and behaviors toward the other, and if the balance between white to black populations in authority is 80%:20%, then 40% of jobs (half of those with racist whites making decisions) are already off-the-table for blacks, while only 10% of jobs (half of thsoe with racist blacks making decisions) are off-the-table for whites. That's part of White Privilege, not having a large number of doors already closed simply because of race.
Barack Obama grew up in one of the few places in this country where race is much less of a factor. Hawaii's issues aren't black/white, they're native/migrant in nature, with the natives coming up on the short end of the stick, but with so many natives compared to settlers plus the massive tourism industry, it's less pronounced. A mixed-race child of African and European ancestry will blend in a lot better in Hawaii as the playing field is a lot more level there to start with. Maybe that had something to do with his mindset, and why he was able to succeed further than any other 'black' politician has, he is not a descendant of the legacy of slavery, and he did not start out pre-judged to the same extent that most black people in the continental United States are.
I do have black coworkers and have had black coworkers throughout the years. I've had Asian coworkers. I've had Hispanic coworkers. I've had Indian coworkers, of both definitions of Indian. Obviously I've had white coworkers. It has been true for all of them throughout the years, some are great, some are good, and some aren't worth a damn. Race is irrelevant in that.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
You are an ass.
I speak English clearly. I obey the laws. I studied in school. I didn't associate with felons. I show up to work on time.
These are not privileges, they are common sense.
Sure, I had it great growing up in a trailer in the Appellations, single mother, etc. Leave me out of your privilege claims and stop fucking stereotyping me based on the color of my skin, you damn racist bigot.
I certainly understand that the mostly upper-middle-class-good-college Social Justice Warriors who have never done anything use with their life feel like they have unearned privilege. Yup, you do. That has little to do with race. Stop assuming that other people who look like you have a similar background. Stop assuming that there aren't people who look nothing like you but have the same background. That's exactly the sort of offensive stereotyping we're trying to stamp out!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I didn't know what a Brahman was until I worked for one. And you're right... all of them I've met have been assholes, while the lower caste Indians I've known have been mostly pretty decent people. In fact, I've noticed a strong correlation between caste, hygiene, and personality. Lower caste Indians, from what I've observed, are often slightly less well-groomed, and are typically far nicer people. High-caste Indians will dress and groom immaculately, and be complete assholes.
There are exceptions, but by and large this has been my repeated observation after working with hundreds of Indians over the years. I'm probably a racist for pointing it out, but whatever.