(06-10-2019 04:32 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 04:14 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 04:07 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 04:02 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 03:50 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  Right... I think we're on the same page here. I have not seen first-hand racist behavior by any progressives that I know. I don't know what otherwise lurks in the minds of my friends and acquaintances.

But are you sure you would be willing to recognize it? Again, my own experience is that when leftists who engage in overtly racist behavior are questioned about it, the response by themselves and many of their fellow leftists is denial, excuse-making, deflection, sometimes name-calling, and ultimately a claim that leftists BY DEFINITION cannot be racist -- a retreat to tautology. It's hard to have much confidence in the observational ability of judgment of people who act like that.

There has been nothing obvious. We all have biases that will affect our perception of situations and I am clearly no different than the next person in this regard. I am open to the possibility that I missed subtle instances somebody with a different set of biases would have picked up on.

Are you open to the possibility that you might be different from the next person in a relevant respect -- e.g. that your biases might be stronger than average, or that your observational powers might be weaker than average?

I am open to the possibility. Do I think that my observational powers are weaker than average? My experience doesn't suggest that, however I am certainly biased when it comes to that question as well.

You haven't ever observed any racist behavior from a conservative while you have from liberals. Are you open to the same possibilities?

I think I have the same degree of openness as you do, and the same degree of confidence in my own abilities. But two data parameters that might be relevant are:

- I know a whole lot of people-- my wife and others often tell me that the number of people I know is astonishing. And of the people I know, the overwhelming majority (by an integral multiple) are on the left. That in itself may explain why I've seen more racist behavior from leftists whom I know than from conservatives whom I know, and more than you've seen from leftists whom you know.

- As I mentioned a while ago, my social circle is extraordinarily loaded with advanced degrees, even by Rice alumni standards. That doesn't make it "better", but it is demographically unusual by any objective measure. It is possible that as they pile on degrees, any latent racist tendencies of conservatives tend to decline or at least be suppressed, while latent racist tendencies of leftists tend to increase or at least are given freer reign. That hypothesis may fit not only yours and my observational data, but also some of the other topics cited in this thread.