[Peace] query: de-gendering, de-racing, de-religioning our political discourse

[Robert Naiman]

I'm sure that other folks here have studied and thought about this question
more than me. I'm very interested in your insights. I awoke from a dream
with the eureka sparklers dancing. What if…?



What if it's the case that the collective we is carrying around a
collection of unconscious assumptions about who has and who will have
political power that are associated with identity markers. What if it's the
case that this doesn't matter very much when we have good information. When
we have good information, we tell our conscious brains to make a decision
on the merits. But what if it's the case that when we don't have good
information but feel forced to make a decision, we throw up our hands and
shrug our shoulders and toss the ball to our unconscious brains. Here, you
figure this out. I'm not sure which choice is better.



And what if our unconscious brains are then like: O joy, O rapture.
Finally, we are free at last from the oppressive jackboot of the
politically correct busybody bureaucratic thought police in our conscious
brains who are constantly caulking up our creative juices and cramping our
style. Finally, at long last, we get to use our unconscious prejudices to
make this judgment.



This train of thought started in my mind several years ago when I read an
interview with a local dentist in the News-Gazette. By the time of the
interview, this guy was very well established in his practice. But, he
said, when he was first starting out, he had a bit of a challenge
establishing himself, because he was black. And at the time, people didn't
believe that a black man could be a dentist. Well, the guy said, I had
taken some marketing classes in college. So, I looked at it as a marketing
problem. The first thing I did was I put a bunch of ads around with my big
smiling black face on them. Like, I'm offering a new service, called "black
dentist." And the second thing I did was find out what other dentists in
town were charging for various dental services. It's not creative writing.
There's a basic set of things that dentists do, fillings, crowns, and
everyone charges a fixed price for these things. And then I offered all
these services for a cheaper price. So now what I'm saying is: I'm offering
a new service called "black dentist." It's not exactly the same as the
"white dentist" service that you're used to. But my new "black dentist"
service is significantly cheaper. Now I knew from my marketing classes that
a certain number of people are early adopters, looking for a deal. Soon I
had all the patients I could handle. As soon as I had all the patients I
could handle, I started raising my prices to match what the white dentists
were charging. Now I don't need to give you a discount. Because now you
know me. Now you don't see me as a "black dentist." Now you just see me as
a "dentist."



What if political actors are like dentists? What if, once you know them,
you judge them on the basis of merit, but before you know them, you are
susceptible to judging them on the basis of prejudice?



I happened to be visiting my parents in Elmhurst in 1984 when there was a
debate between the Democratic presidential candidates on WBBM-TV in Chicago.



Walter Jacobson asked Jesse Jackson,



"Jesse, are you the dark horse candidate?"



Jackson responded:



"Let's not talk about whether this is a *dark* horse or a *light* horse.
It's a *good* horse, and it's a *fast* horse, and it's a *winning* horse."



Jacobson's face turned bright red. It was a world-historical moment.


===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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