The Secret Haters

Some experts argue that even the most politically correct among us may harbor unconscious prejudices against ethnic groups, women, gays and others. Can these dark impulses shape our actions?

By Wray Herbert | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Feb 11, 2008 | Updated: 5:41  p.m. ET Feb 11, 2008

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  • Posted By: neocranberry @ 02/15/2008 1:42:21 AM

    I have my own crew from my small online company and my affiliates with its base in the country of my origin, South Korea. And, to consider a bit more about eco-friendly aptitude tests and assessment, and also evaluation, why should my company and the rest have to make their way all through unanimous minds and conjurers from secret agents or their agency at our own expense. God willing, could you be more transparent and comprehensive on your plan to international development from the perspectives of you or any other third parties. Thanks.

  • Posted By: Reasons1 @ 02/12/2008 4:11:37 PM

    This article is very much relevant because unsconscious racism exists. Comments posted by jackgenius,tjkl2007 and Time for Change is justification for this article. For the record, it is not the responsiblity of minority groups to convince others that they are capable of objective judgment. Minorities are subjected to racism and prejudice of the so-called objective member of society. Also, the Clintons made this presidential campaign about race. Barack's mother was white. Question: Why aren't Jewish people asked to forget about the Halocaust, but African Americans are constantly encouraged to forget the slavery?

    • Posted By: Nator56 @ 09/19/2008 12:28:25 PM

      I concede that Jews want the world to "Never Forget" the horrors of the Holocaust. I will go further to suggest that the world should never forget Rwanda, Sarajevo, Stalinist Russia, the treatment of Native Americans, the treatment of Allied POWs by the Japanese during World War Two, American Slavery, Slavery that still exists and thrives in other parts of the world today, The Spanish Inquisition, the brutal mutilation and/or subjegation of many Muslim women, 911, ad nauseum. My point? Human beings of ALL colors/religions/nationalities/political beliefs have proven themselves capable of great evil time and time again. Those who have been able to remember and forgive on the victim's side grow. Those who remember and truly repent on the perpetrator's side grow and deserve a "clean slate" - Those on either side of the equation who remember but cannot forgive are doomed to be caught in a never-ending cycle of hate and retribution. Seek justice by all means, but also seek to understand that EVERYONE EVERYWHERE is a member of the same race (Human) and once in a while try to bring goodwill to the table.

  • Posted By: Dodgers42 @ 02/15/2008 3:47:13 AM

    Racism is completely different from prejudice or bias. Racists are individuals who act on their feelings against those they despise because of ethnic differences. For example, a human resources manager who denies a qualified African-American or Asian job applicant a position simply because he/she hates African-Americans and/or Asians is a racist. Racism is active! Lynching is racism. The "street justice" meted out by cops in Los Angeles, New York City, Boston and Miami is racially-motivated because a plethora of academic studies have shown that many of the police officers involved in such incidents harbored racist feelings toward their "victims." It didn't matter whether they were realy guilty of anything; their color was the real crime.

    When George Bush speaks of "real Americans" and "real American values," who is he referring to? Who are the "real Americans" and what are "real American values?" Those are merely code phrases that are meant to appeal to racists, bigots and those who harbor various prejudicial ideas against various groups in American society.

    The hypocrisy of America has no limits when it comes to racial tolerance. The so-called "Founding Fathers" professed to adhere to a moral doctrine that "all men are created equal," but still enshrined in the Constitution a legal basis for slavery and the denigration of African-Americans. And let''s not forget what was done to the Native American population of this country. It was racist and the actions taken against them were demonstrative of that.

    Bigots and those who are prejudiced usually hide their feelings, but hey too can use thier power and influence to deny people of color a fair shake, Racists, however, make no such allowances.

    Fly your confederate flags and sing your song that "this is our country" (General Motors isn't fooling anyone) but think about this: Are the enemies of our country made weaker when we divide ourselves along ethnic/racial lines?

    • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 4:25:31 AM

      Beautifully spoken. Thank you

      • Posted By: prairiebear @ 03/06/2008 4:53:42 PM

        You said it all!
        Greatly appreciated.

  • Posted By: rocky67 @ 02/15/2008 11:44:28 PM

    I think its apart of our evil human nature to be prejudice.I don't believe that it is good or right.I'm a 41 year old Caucasian German/English male.I also know what its like to feel prejudice.I have struggled with homosexual tendencies.I don't like to call myself GAY because I'm not proud of it or liked to be labled as such.I'm William, a guy who gave his life to Jesus Christ in July 1993.However, some people or extended family members label me as such........Shame on Them!!! I wonder if they...know that fornication or pre-marital sex is wrong??? or Divorce.......or adultry or adultrous thoughts...or gossiping...

    • Posted By: anon01 @ 02/18/2008 9:08:57 PM

      Rocky67...your struggle can end in Christ; you probably need deliverance (I didn't say exorcism). It is may be some demons lying to you...I put you in Christ's Hands in Jesus Name, Amen.

  • Posted By: phiomalibumalibu @ 02/16/2008 4:18:18 AM

    Sexism is also a mindset. Albeit and interesting one, actually it's just not only Sexism and ethnic groups, it's our friends, family, ideas, schools, etc etc. It's a part of the human mindset. The mind constantly compares things, that's one of it's jobs, to discriminate. In order to really ease this mental flaw in the human condition, try meditation. Or you can get some tips at FREETENSE.com

  • Posted By: Thinking Woman @ 02/16/2008 12:14:24 AM

    I think sexism is the most underrecognized form of ism's in the world. Nobody talks about it but it is rampant! Even in this article you don't really address it. No teacher would consider pitting blacks aganist the whites but still they pit boys against the girls. What is the worst thing a boy can be called? A sissy? A girl? What does that say to little girls?

  • Posted By: famulla @ 02/15/2008 9:45:45 PM

    The Secret Haters
    Some experts argue that even the most politically correct among us may harbour unconscious prejudices against ethnic groups, women, gays and others. Can these dark impulses shape our actions?
    Eskimos have Wales but we tell Japan not to hunt. Why? Because they have amassed wealth from Toyotas against General Motors and Chryslers?
    There are no secret in hates. It is an open ground and any one can join in openly.
    I have been reading Newsweek when there was Time and superb Life magazine, with extremely good photographs (now this is no longer in the market). Sir. If you state there are secret haters, who am in the sub Sahara country to state otherwise. Here is one caption that tells you more of our society. No. This is not the only piece after 9/11. There are scores that are floating around that we did not have but the presidents of the states were kept out of the public hates. We used to have reports. These were mostly the black against white. White against white did not exit. We then had the East and West German. We graduated to create the partition after Pakistan and India to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran and gone Persia with the comparing this to the Arabs in the Middle East. WE have a belief that Arab land has Muslims only. This too got cleared by Israel and now we have Hezbollah, from the Middle East backed by, we say, Iran. Syria???s assets frozen by American president. Do we have no cash in the coffers of the Americans?
    I remember the South African apartheid regime. I remember the Asian exodus from Uganda. I remember the Persian ruler thrown out, the Shah, I remember the Rambo???s movie in Far East and the hatred we have. I remember Hugo Chavez giving free oil to the poor of the USA residents, I remember the Katrina victims not settled to date. Sir. I remember the tsunami pledge. I remember Kenya violence the tribal wars and the president postponing his visit to Kenya as there is threat to his life.
    If these, do not add up how about the recent election in USA? Was this not purely ethnic? Call this tribal in my language hatred in your language?
    What have we left? Yes the global warming. No. Even there we have Al Gore talk of the remedies and Mr. Bush not signing the Kyoto Protocol.
    How low can we go?
    I thank you.
    Firozali A.Mulla MBA PhD
    P.O.Box 6044
    Dar-Es-Salaam
    Tanzania
    East Africa


  • Posted By: phiomalibumalibu @ 02/15/2008 7:51:37 PM

    Actually it's just not only ethnic groups, it's our friends, family, ideas, schools, etc etc. It's a part of the human mindset. The mind constantly compares things, that's one of it's jobs, to discriminate. In order to really ease this mental flaw in the human condition, try meditation. Or you can get some tips at freetense.com

    • Posted By: NormL33 @ 02/15/2008 9:22:48 PM

      Feed the poor, love everyone, turn the other cheek, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you. repay evil with good. never take a wooden nickel, etc. etc., etc.,etc.

  • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 4:27:03 AM

    This is hilarious, ya'll are cracking me up! So, has anyone actually had the balls to take the test yet or do any real self-evaluation?!!

    • Posted By: allopac @ 02/15/2008 6:04:18 AM

      Yes, because, as we all know, tests like these are always completely foolproof, 100% dead on accurate, and based completely on absolutely proven scientific axioms. Just like we all know that only an absolute bigot would associate any negative words with drug addicts.

    • Posted By: tawanda24 @ 02/15/2008 4:38:18 AM

      hmm, well since the test is administered by trained psychologists, I don't think I'll find the time today, tomorrow or umm...ever. So you go for it and let us know how it turns out souldanza.

      • Posted By: VivaValor @ 02/15/2008 5:40:19 AM

        It's actually not administered by psychologists, you can do it online for free.

  • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 5:28:46 AM

    Wow....so impressed. Big talk, still doesn't make up for small brains. I'm so glad this article was written and that YOU, Allopac actually took the time out to read it. I think it may have been written for your audience. I don't know if you may have possibly experienced a "deficiency" in character in your lifetime before, but you do know that substance abuse is actually a "disease" of addiction and not a matter or will-power? Just like the perversion of your bigotry, perhaps?

    • Posted By: allopac @ 02/15/2008 5:36:17 AM

      Oh, I'm sorry...I should have realized that it takes somebody as enlightened and compassionate as yourself to equate being a member of a racial minority with being a junkie and a criminal.

  • Posted By: tawanda24 @ 02/15/2008 4:17:10 AM

    ha, ok allopac, well then by all means please impress your wisdom upon me...How exactly are people expressing their opinions necessarily biased? Having valid points, or at the very least opinions on a subject in no way even approaches the idea of bias. Of course, an preference could be considered bias, but seriously, we are having a discussion here. Can you go sharpen your knives or something?

    • Posted By: allopac @ 02/15/2008 5:11:08 AM

      OK, let me lay this out real simple-like, easy enough for a, say, intelligent 9-year old to understand. The writer of this article is trying to persuade readers that it is somehow wrong to hold a person's bad behavior, such as taking illegal, addictive drugs, against that person. He wants us to believe that doing so is an example of "bias," in the same exact way that racial prejudice is bias. What I am implying (that is, trying to say without having to spell it out like I'm explaining brain surgery to a pre-pubescent like I'm doing here) is that something like drug addiction and the general lack of self-control that accompanies it, is not an superficial characteristic that has no reflection on the "content of our character," as it were, but rather a direct and obvious manifestation (I'm sorry, is that too big of a word?) and ndeed, a logical consequence of that character. So the writer of the article, in lumping health professional's reasoned conclusions about what kind of person a drug addict is with something like racism, is not making in a rational appeal for the purposes of engaging in constructive discourse (did I lose you there?Just replace the last two words with 'helpful discussion') but is rather engaging in a intellectual fraud, with the probable purpose of loosening the general population's grip on logic so as to (eventually) allow the justifying any number of types of irresponsible and perverted behavior.

      I suppose it would be hoping to much to think that this little sidebar actually would help you comprehend what I am trying to communicate, but hope I will.

  • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 5:03:22 AM

    Well, I tried, but there's some technical difficulties and right before it was about to post my results..."This webpage has expired." Oh, well here's the link, and I'll keep trying. Although I already know my issue, I will still find it interesting. I'm racist against racists, ignorance and fairy-tale stories that none of us have skeletons in our closets to clear out... be prepared it's almost time for spring cleaning!!!

    Here is the link: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/featuredtask.html

  • Posted By: dermetrice @ 02/15/2008 4:42:50 AM

    I would love to argue, but the point has already been made; we all have issues. Although some of us are in denial of this fact??? and can't look within or upward for a solution to the problem, so we take out our frustrations on others. Plus, arguing is just someone trying to impose his/her will onto someone else, rather than see it from a different perspective. This trait is one of the characteristics of the closed-minded that rush to judgment. The truth is a bitter pill to swallow Libby Faye. Thank you.

  • Posted By: dermetrice @ 02/15/2008 4:10:40 AM

    There is some good that has come out of racism and discrimination...mainly, the Civil Rights Movement. Personally, I???m in my third year of college at 42; I also have an A.A.S degree. I changed my life for the better after encountering ???the Glass Ceiling??? of racism, that everyone pretends doesn???t exist, again and again. In 2002, I was a high-school dropout, an ex-con, a recovering alcoholic/addict and single-parent just to name a few. At one point in life, I embodied every negative stereotype and statistic said of the black man.

    Society deemed me a loser, but I chose not to believe them. Adversity is a great motivator???without it I would have given up a long time ago. As long as you have different races, there will be racism. I???m a light-complexioned African-American man with green/hazel eyes, and most black people don???t like me because of it; including my darker family members. Every argument with family and so-called black friends always ended with, ???you think you???re something because you got that color.???

    Today, I no longer deal with close-minded people unless I have to at work, school or during the course of daily life. However, when I do, I use it as motivation to keep going.
    I would like to point out too, that no matter how bad it is, blacks have benefitted greatly by non-racist Caucasians; and that there are no 100% blacks in America except those from other continents. It is only natural for us to be attracted to each other, because we share the same chromosomes. Like it or not.

    • Posted By: tawanda24 @ 02/15/2008 4:33:17 AM

      racism causing the civil rights movement is a pretty circular and silly answer. Also, we share 99% of the same chromosomes with some primates.

  • Posted By: TGWazoo @ 02/15/2008 3:32:13 AM

    I am personally very biased against lawyers and politicians wasting my tax dollars trying to pass laws to get me to accept people based on race, gender, sexual preference, life choices, etc. I do not feel any obligation whatsoever to accept anyone for any reason. I only have to tolerate them and their never ending whining. In my opinion, (one which is based on over fifty years of experience and a lifetime of observation), Afro-American Blacks and Muslims are the most prejudiced people in the world followed closely by Asians.
    T.G.Wazoo

    • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 4:17:26 AM

      I didn't know you were an expert. And how many friends of color, do you have? In these catagories you attack?

  • Posted By: TroyMitchell07 @ 02/15/2008 3:39:52 AM

    I was once labeled as a misogynist and even though to me this seemed virtually impossible and the farthest thing from my mind, I opted not to be automatically dismissive and decided to do some self-reflection. Because we tend to have natural biases, we may not be the best judges of our own character. I think the article/research has less to do with the fact that people are misogynistic/heterophobic/racist, etc. and more to do with the fact that they are those things AND they do not realize that they are. And this may manifest itself in ???unwanted??? subconscious behavior. The ramifications of such may mean receiving ???different and special??? treatment when visiting the local hospital, being passed up for promotions/raises at work, being shot by someone who mistakenly thought you were pulling out a gun when you were reaching for your wallet, etc???

    But speaking of the subconscious, I???d like to bring up another point. I believe most people consider Barack Obama to be a ???black??? candidate for the presidency but he is actually bi-racial (black Kenyan father, white American mother). Shouldn???t he be considered just as white as we consider him black? If you ever get a chance, read Stowe???s Uncle Tom???s Cabin. Thanks K.K.

    • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 4:15:42 AM

      Thank you for the reminder.... I love the fact that this article is actually stirring people up about it, get it out in the open... hash it out!!!

  • Posted By: Eazy49 @ 02/15/2008 4:13:22 AM

    I think as long as we think that skin color is a thing we can differentiate behaviour instead of education or chance to live better than we still practice prejudice wether you realise it or not....

  • Posted By: tawanda24 @ 02/15/2008 3:24:29 AM

    Black people were able to vote in like 1870 or so. Black families have only had a few generations to catch up monetarily, educationally, and socially. Our parents raise us. They dictate our beliefs. Have you ever heard of inherited culture. They see more racism every day than you have ever seen. They aren't racist, they are merely reacting to discriminatory treatment along with being raised by parents who saw even more of it.

    • Posted By: souldanza @ 02/15/2008 4:09:23 AM

      here-here!!! In total aggreeance. Thank you!

  • Posted By: farina-malaysia @ 02/15/2008 4:06:51 AM

    i strongly thimk that racism is prejudice..people despise the ethnic diffrences because they have the wrong perpective towards the opposite races and that is prejudice

  • Posted By: tawanda24 @ 02/15/2008 3:44:27 AM

    will someone give me a call when allopac says something resembling anything that makes sense

    • Posted By: allopac @ 02/15/2008 3:53:16 AM

      Of course none of what I say to you makes not sense. You don't have a brain.

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