Curious.

[kiaa]

So who here dumbs down their talk when talking to blacks? Hispanics? It’s ok if you do. Others do it too. Or so we're being told. Probably. Maybe.

White liberals dumb down their speech around African Americans in 'patronizing' effort to appear less competent, study says

- White liberals speak differently to African Americans in a 'well-intentioned' but 'patronizing' way, according to a new study by Yale and Princeton researchers
- Liberals drew on racist stereotypes about minorities having low status when altering speech patterns to play down their competence and emphasize warmth
- Conservatives did not alter their speech in the same way, researchers found
- Researchers suggested that white liberals may be making the shift because they are aware of real and perceived differences in their own status and privilege

Me, I dumb myself down to talk to so many people, on a daily basis. Color is not the issue as far as I'm concerned. It's ignorance, and it's color blind. Also, being condescending to people is also color blind (I'm pretty good at that too! LOL) See, people make assumptions about other people all the time without even knowing them, including their intellectual capacity - and then act as per those assumptions. The article is not all encompassing of every white liberal, granted, but still, it raises an issue worth thinking about. Interesting talking points, overall.

In the meantime, let's put things in perspective, and keep in mind that conservatives do the same thing, and that's arguably much more prevalent in their case. The study is not definitive, it just shows racial biases exist on the left as well as the right. Is that news? At least liberals generally advocate for equality and have good intentions. That doesn't mean we shouldn't all reflect on our negative biases and realize we aren't immune. In my experience, liberals can admit it and try to do better as humans more often than not, while conservatives usually just deny it outright, remaining unwilling to change their mind about anything. Or am I generalizing too much? All the recent MAGA-hat drama may've altered my perception on this somewhat. Thoughts?

Comments

[asthfghl]

So... Liberals are trying to be emphatic while conservatives don't bother to conceal their biases? And the former is a bad thing? I guess being genuine and "authentic", even if you're being an asshole, is preferable. It has won Trump the presidency, after all.

The times we live in.

[johnny9fingers]

I try to talk down to everyone else equally.

Unless there are police involved, obvs. :)

[johnny9fingers]

If that is in America that dude is one brave MF. Taunting armed cops. If this becomes a trend....
The asymmetry of the encounter is pretty spectacular. Fox, meet hounds.

Madness. Utter, complete madness. If you want to do something dangerous and life threatening there are always drugs, potholing, bungee jumping, mountaineering, parachuting, or unsafe sex... but leave the cops alone. The reason they wear a uniform is to let the rest of us know they are fascist bastards at heart. Never poke the tiger. :)

[asthfghl]

It was Bulgarian cops. Those are pretty tame. I remember a story by Panookah, a former US member here who was very impressed with the way some cops in Sofia handled a drunk who sat for hours before the building of the president and didn't stop yelling expletives. They tried to persuade him to go away, he refused, so they just let him be. He eventually got tired of yelling and strolled off with no consequences whatsoever.

[johnny9fingers]

Your cops sound pretty damn good. More like the Canadian or even (at a pinch) our police here in the UK; though we have been infected with the American view of things overmuch of late.

I tip my hat to proper policing and withdraw the comment about them all being fascists. Robin Smallburrow was a good shiriff before Sharkey came along and reorganised things.

[asthfghl]

Or cops are scared of all the public pressure from human rights NGOs, etc. Whenever it even remotely appears that they're close to overstepping their boundaries, a shitstorm pours onto them.

[johnny9fingers]

If it keeps them honest it is probably a good thing for society, and probably good for the police force in the long run.

[asthfghl]

If it goes out of hand, it makes them inefficient.

[johnny9fingers]

It can do, if dealt with badly. Our police are starting to wear cameras themselves as have many US forces. Cameras can be an officer's protection too.

[asthfghl]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewa6_5sfDfo

Here's the video.

[johnny9fingers]

Thanks for that. :) Context is everything.

If this had been a young chap in Detroit for example... Ouch! Mind you, at a guess that lad had his ouch moment too.

[asthfghl]

He's fine. He wouldn't be that fine if this had happened about thirty years ago.

[johnny9fingers]

Fine is good. And a local celebrity, no doubt; because that's how these things work. :)

[arhalvaztrirjournal]

The fault seems to be right there in the headline 'patronizing' and assuming that black people are literally dumber than they are because they're black. That was the conclusion I got in reading the article.

And the reflexive backlash against it from white American liberals who wrote long screeds about how they never had a racist thought in their entire lives and those damned CENSORED should have been grateful for it went a long way to validate its assumptions.

[garote]

In my neighborhood people speak that way to different-looking people because they want to ensure two things: 1. That they come across as respectful and non-confrontational (aren’t misinterpreted) and 2. That they have time to think about what they say internally.

This isn’t something exclusive to white people either. Black, Latino, and (usually older) Indian/East Asian people get and give the same treatment, when talking to strangers.

And of course, for maximum rage, it’s reported as “whites think blacks are dumb”!!1!!1!!1!

[oportet]

I don't dumb it down for Blacks or Hispanics, but now that I think about it - I definitely dumb it down when I get Chinese food.

Which is kinda funny, because they're all smart (one more generalization and I get an ice cream cone).

I honestly don't, consciously or subconsciously, see them as beneath me, or unintelligent - they probably know my language better than I do.

But for some reason - I go full, adjective-noun only, caveman/baby talk.

Gonna try to remember not to do that next time...

[jazzyjj]

I've seen, or rather heard, this happen a lot. My father sometimes does it. Not because he's a racist; he isn't racist at all. But where I've heard this happen the most is with people who have disabilities. For instance, there is a certain staff member here who does it all the time. She used to teach the younger grades in school, so I think it has just stuck with her. I'm not the only one to say this either. She's a super nice and bubbly person, and she does her job extremely well.