Mahzarin R. Banaji: Hidden Prejudice – The Implicit Association Test
[6:16]
I’M A RACIST!
Yes, there are aspects of me that are…. But how would I get rid of that ignorance? Would I want to?
A summary of the brain to mind…. that is far more complex than I will explain but for the purposes of a quick read…. The brain creates mind patterns, an efficient way of piecing together thousands of information to form a coherent, efficient identity narrative, that helps amplify our chances of survival, safe from ridicule and ultimately safe from exclusion….
Thousands of information that we have no time to stop, think, assess, chop and change. So……the brain evolved to create an automatic system that quickly makes sense of and gels together all it comes across via a finely tuned survival mind where all of our thoughts and movements connect the dots together and back each other up… IDENTITY.
This means that we do not have a true conscious understanding of how and why we comfortably conform where we have to and exclude where we have to also… Part of the automatic, efficient unconscious process is that the brain cleverly tricks the conscious aspects of us into assuming we chose intelligently all of the surface solidified decisions we make… The brain will not show the conscious mind the background erratic mess of quick pattern forming… The crafty brain carefully sculpted what we now refer to as an ego that helps keep eventual biases deeply rooted into place without us having to investigate if something is rational or irrational… The ego evolved to settle upon comfort and appropriate, simply brilliant at adapting well to its immediate surroundings and circumstances within that. If it evolved for us to dissect and evaluate all we came across rationally, that slow process would simply make us extinct, we would be changing our minds too often and not forming group bonds of which help support our survival. Groups love familiarity!
Me now, aware of this process, can therefore finally tackle this automatic process. Somehow I’ve been inspired to become aware of the process and that awareness itself is the key for any real change if I wish to make. I can now be truly honest, and sidestep my natural automatic ego that only makes changes within appropriate unseen processes, only convenient changes at any given time… I’m observing the paradox… I’m observing that ‘me’, puppeteered by ego is nothing to do with me consciously, intelligently, methodically forming that me… Are you with me so far? LOL…. Let me elaborate…..
The ego self that loves appropriate patterns therefore easy for it to be indoctrinated by parents, culture, peer pressure, media and detailed circumstances with those as a solid platform to bounce off from and so therefore as I speak, that ego for example, so deeply rooted as part of my core identifying existence is telling me that Cypriots and then Americans and English are somehow more cool, better, just some how more positive in different ways than other cultures especially in comparison to races of color… Naturally I find Greek / Cypriot women more attractive as a mate and people in general easier to relate to and trust, just ahead of the ‘Western white’ person. REMEMBER…. NOT MY CONSCIOUS RATIONAL THINKING SELF BUT MY AUTOMATIC EGO SELF THAT WAS INDOCTRINATED OVER MANY YEARS, FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD ONWARD.
My conscious, reasonable, philosophical self wants nothing to do with that ridiculous bias hierarchy and I try hard to avoid such biases… I would say I’m only 85% successful though, constantly battling the ego aspects of mind that developed from young and solidified via deeply set neuronal connections over time… No matter how hard I try to consciously out-think the ego mind, neurons forming connections within my emotional memory centers from very young are not for me to just eradicate through rational well-meaning thought, no matter how much I would love that to happen… The brain does not give up patterns set so easily… No matter how reasonable our thoughts become consciously through inspiration and education, it’s never straight forward changing to a new way of thinking…
All we can do if we are genuinely honest and well-meaning with our conscious aware mind is to keep learning about brain to mind processes, with an ever evolving awareness of that complicated ambiguity, accept that our biases via that powerful ego will still be very much part of our lives, hundreds of them (thankfully most trivial) and just be patient, communicating with each other to help speed up the positive progress the continual awareness can help unfold. In the meantime, and I can only speak for myself but I hope you can honestly relate, I will continue to be partially racist, I will continue to contradict myself in many ways, will continue to have my bad habits and various lazy imperfections but without feeling any pressure, continue the desire consciously to become one with all. I have that duty and peace and love through out our planet is my ultimate conscious goal.
Only when we can be truly honest and not conveniently honest can we then open the first door to help make the world a better place. Anything less is convenient ego adapting to suit itself, unable to observe contradictions and imperfections genuinely. Changing from one religion to another or taking up meditation and yoga can still be very much part of convenient ego adaptations with the individual unable to observe a grand scheme of things controlling survival brain/mind. It’s not so easy stepping all the way back and taking a real good genuine look, the ultimate paradox. I hope you appreciate my efforts, ‘exposing’ myself by sharing my ego nature. That ego is not happy with me right now but I would rather dive straight into the roots to get rid of the weeds rather than snip snip the flowers above and place them in a separate vase to suit… Good luck with your journey too. 🙂
By Panayiotis Stavrou
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