The Secret Haters

This election is like the "Bucket List" so to speak for this country. Things are so bad and so messed up, people are looking for some type of drastic change in government. They want something they havent seen before because then maybe just maybe a black man or a woman could possibly be the one to fix some of this countrys long festering problems.

This election is like the "Bucket List" so to speak for this country. Things are so bad and so messed up, people are looking for some type of drastic change in government. They want something they havent seen before because then maybe just maybe a black man or a woman could possibly be the one to fix some of this countrys long festering problems.

I'm tired of 'experts' and pundits insisting that most people are racist. For God's sake, isn't it possible that we are getting past that mindset, rather than having it lurking in the shadows, as they would like to perpetuate? Some people have a vested interest in keeping the 'racism everywhere' cries going, and the media is all too happy to parrot it. So go ahead and cry wolf, but the rest of us are getting along with each other just fine.

Small groups of fervent supporters take over caucuses? In Iowa over 350,000 people voted; in Washington state 200,000; in Nevada 125,000, in Maine 50,000. The numbers reported for caucus results are not the number of votes but a "point system." All of this year's caucuses have recorded record turnouts. The Democratic party should be proud of that. Instead persons who are unpleased with the results of these duly sanctioned time-tested events have denigrated them and insulted the process. Shame.

Of coarse we have raceism that is why MR. Axelrod has devolped this ploy to keep the likes of Senators Obamas preacher the Rev.Wright Jr. at arms length because if white america knew his balck militant attitude they would be justifably scared away. With too many of Obamas supporters refering to the struggles of the middle class as " a history of white privilege" it is clear to see there is deeffinatly raceism from his supporters, wating for their day to come!
Whites have under the critical review of racial attitudes for a long time now let that door swing both ways in the intrest of demoracy.
By the way I think your article is garbage sorry

I believe that we still have racism. I believe it is simmering waiting for an opporutnity to justify or show itself.
If you look closley both black and white and any other ethnic group have their poor, illiterate, drug addicts, gay, etc. What has been done and is still being done is taking a sheet and covering the truth that we see and not acknowledging that we all bleed and have the same issues regardless of race or background.

Fox news bad strategy. (It???s outright stupid) It is wrong to give him the platform. Promoting Obama in order not to run Against Hillary will backfire, because there are plenty naïve Republicans, as there are Democrats, and they most certainly will vote for Obama. I hope it is not too late.

Fox news bad strategy. (It???s outright stupid) It is wrong to give him the platform. Promoting Obama in order not to run Against Hillary will backfire, because there are plenty naïve Republicans, as there are Democrats, and they most certainly will vote for Obama. I hope it is not too late.

Therefore the end result, if elected by zombies, what will the army and sane minority do? Your guess is as good as mime. If he is smart he should quit. And he has gal to repeat, that he was against the war, did he know that gen. Paul presentation induced by an Iraqi political figure wasn???t valid? In fact nobody knew.

Are you forgetting that we are at war (imposed on us) against a minority numbering in the millions?
Consider you???re self as intellectually overloaded.

Obama appeals to blacks because he is black. Otherwise most blacks who vote would be behind Hillary Clinton. Let's assume that this is a general social given. When it came to final choices, my dad always voted for a Catholic, regardless of party (although in that time Catholic Republicans were nearly non-existant). Beyond that, Obama has never attracted more than rich white liberals and the media. This surge for Obama recalls the George McGovern wave. I do not trust movements. I don't believe Obama has more than speechmaking to offer. Kennedy was all myth, McGovern was a movement. I prefer the likes of a Lyndon Johnson. Give me a worker, a man or woman who knows the system and can work it. Race is not the Obama problem. The common worker that doesn't share Obama's color and is not a dreamy eyed wealthy liberal just sees a man who talks pretty. There is nothing else there. Clinton appeals to blacks and hispanics because she and her husband have a history of hard work to counter racial boundries. She gets the votes of elderly and poor working whites in the factories because they know the Clinton history with working people. I have a very bad feeling that Obama may win this and then the baloon will pop and we will all find out that what we heard (pretty talks) is reallly all there is.

What idiocy! All animals including human beings are genetically programmed to identify and initially distrust those that do not belong to their own "tribe". Other primates do it by scent, humans do it visually. This has served us well from an evolutionary point of view. Look at what is happening today in Africa with tribal warfare. Or what is happening in South Central LA between rival gangs. Or the religious fighting in India between Muslims and Hindus. In all these examples, the people killing each other are of the same race.
In our modern multicultural society, our "tribe" is not only based on race, sex, language or other visible characteristics but it is also increasingly based on shared values, education, wealth, sexual orientation, religion or other non visible characteristics. Obviously, because these are non visible, it takes some effort to identify a person as a member of your "tribe", which could lead to initial distrust based on visible traits.
In fact, many people choose clothing or markers like bumper stickers, buttons, etc. to visibly identify themselves with a particular group. Think of goth kids, hip-hop fans, Bush haters (identifyable by the "Not my President" bumper stickers).
We all make snap judgements about everyone we encounter and based on those we make decisions on how to act.
It is important to differentiate this innate distrust of "outsiders" from real racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. The latters occur when we take actions based solely on that innate distrust that are detrimental to the other person; for example, violence, denying housing or employment, or not voting for them based on their race or gender.
Of course, not see every act of violence against a minority group as an act of racism. Doing this will only harm the true understanding of this issue.

Mr. Herbert seems to point out well one of the key issues in American. As an international doctoral student majoring in psychology in Texas, I noticed that numerous Americans, both white and minorities, have sub-conscious prejudices and biases toward race, gender, and culture mainly due to their upbringing and unfamiliarity. Particulary, in this heated election season, I often notice that many TV/Radio hosts have those conscious and unconcious misperceptions about race and gender; I think they are the victims of their cultural background and upbringing. The point I would like to make here is it is "possible" and "needed" to change those prejudices and biases through education and changing societal atmosphere.

I agree that racism is bubling under the surface. I for one sometimes feel animosity to those of other races. Not for the same reasons or with the same venom of those 50 years ago, but it is there. For me it is the double standards and the crutch of "we are disenfranchised" or "our ancestors...." A person who was denied rights because of Jim Crow laws in the 1950s has a right to complain, but a 20 something whose idea of a civil rights leader is Al Sharpton, or worse a Kanye West has no right to call into their life the struggles of those born years before them.

And the double standards of today where Nas can wear a shirt that has the N-word on the front is OK, but if Bono wore that shirt he would be lucky to ever get another record deal. Or how a black comdeian can makes jokes of whites or other races, but Don Imus says something off the cuff without thinking and he is fired. Or how the African-American community like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson try to guilt us into freeing the "Jena 6" while those young men were definately charged with crimes too great for what they did, they still commited crimes and should pay the consequences. Instead of "Free the Jena 6" the signs should read "Charge the Jena 6 with the proper crime". And where are the appologies from Jesse Jackson or Reverend Al over the Duke Lacrosse students? They were the first to proclaim their guilt for raping a black women, but when it turned out they didn't do it they were no where to be found. Is is because those from well to do white families don't deserve appologies?

These things bother white people, most won't admit it on a poll, or a survey, but I have heard it from friends and co-workers and also from many blacks. Most blacks that I know don't agree with these double standards and the likes of Al Sharpton but he makes the most noise. A few elites at MSNBC and CBS fired Don Imus even though overwhemingly the general public supported him. Unfortunately the majority isn't always the ones heard, only those with the loudest microphone are heard, and Al Sharpton, and his kind are the ones with the loudest microphone. It is too bad the the majority of blacks in this country can't truly speak about how they feel, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson took it upon themselves to speak for them. And many whites feel an undercurrent of racism when Al Sharpton speaks or a Kanye West who should be sticking to music makes a social commentary. Until people of other races have a voice of their own, rather than someone with the loudest microphone there will be racism.

Please remember, psychologists (including the author of this article) have their own bias in running this test - i.e. they are inclined to uncover so called "hidden racism" because if they didn't, how could they justify the need for the test (and their funds to run it , or in the case of this author, the reason to write this article). Their very jobs depend on their finding the conclusion that we harbor hidden biases. There are so many holes in this test, it is ridiculous. Apparently, even the testers reclutantly recognize this - note that there is a disclaimer at the very bottom of the test : "the results of all tasks may be influenced by a number of variables, including your familiarity with the categories". Does the author of this article point this out? No. He writes as if the test is valid scientific proof and therefore "hidden racism" is a foregone conclusion. For example, one of the words used frequently in the test was "noxious". Now, I know what "noxious" means, but my reaction time to it might be slower than to a word like "poison" or "ugly" - whcih ellicit a more immediate response. Does the test measure the number of times people get that word wrong (or other more complex words) and factor it and others into an overall distribution curve? I don't know. But I'll bet neither does the author of this artcile. Yet he goes on to conclude that we are all susceptible to "hidden racism". Their clearly vested inteterest in perpetuating continued hand wringing over racism, hidden or otherwise, should cause everyone who reads this article to pause and think very long and hard about the fact that an intellectual industry that has grown around this cause celebre.

Someone commented here that women are only voting for Hillary because she is a women. Maybe there are some, but I am a woman voting for her because she is ready to be President. Her experience is not only in politics, but her standing for years fighting for just causes that cross over races and genders. Obama uses the same claim. They both have baggage and they both have experience. Just leave it at that and move on. I will not vote for Obama for any reason except that I support Hillary. It is nothing more than a well-thought out decision based on my research on their voting records and my personal beliefs that she would be a great President. I think it is great that people for Obama if they truly believe he will be a good President. No personal attacks, I don't agree, but that is what is wonderful about our country. I don't believe in caucuses becuase they are arm-twisting, peer pressure circuses. Our voting is suppose to be personal and by secret ballot. If my state had caucuses, I would fight to bring an end to a very undemocratic event. Back to the racism issue. It is the fault of blacks and whites and people need to get over it. I find the gender issue to be of significant concern as well. It has been apalling the things that have been said all based on Hillary being a woman. We all just need to grow up.