The new racism

My friend Mat S. (also Drudge and Memeorandum) pointed me to new Washington Post article on a correlation between measured biases and geographical voting patterns.

Although they are coy at first, the organizers of the study pretty quickly make clear that they believe their findings support the idea that conservatives are racist. They don’t say how racist, or how much more racist than liberals.

I will grant the correlation and go one step further. I feel that calling a group of people racist is the new racism. Many people like the stereotype that conservatives are racist, and so are willing to believe it, for the same reasons we like our other stereotypes. Is that “meta” enough for you?

(Note also that the study is based on geography, not party identification. So if I participated in the study, and was not racist, I would count as a liberal due to my zip code.)

The more obvious point is, if we are willing to characterize a group based on a statistical correlation, does that affect how we judge individuals? Imagine a self-identified group (gay, black, Jewish) and imagine the stats you might discover. Would you then apply them to the whole group? A right-thinking person would know better.

I propose a study to correlate party affiliation with a predisposition toward accusing others of racism. What do you think we would find?

Update: thanks to Michelle Malkin and Ed Driscoll. Welcome readers!

Comments

[Cain]

Heh, well said. I love Krosnick's take at the end. To question the result automatically equates to "denial". Lovely. I'll bet these guys literally shiver everytime they hear the term "Condi Rice for President".

I felt like Lot leaving Soddom last year when I left SF for Pacifica. Good to see there's at least one conservative still in town.

[John Weidner]

Cain, that makes me laugh...Lot abandons the Cities of the Plain, treks across the burning desert....to Pacifica! Is it any better? I think I shall remain an SF Republican for a while yet.

The study is so bogus. How about if you contrasted "blacks" with "hippies?" You would find Republicans predjudiced against whites...

[Cain]

Hey John, it may not be a desert, but that Daly City fog is pretty treacherous at times ;)

Ideologically, Pacifica is definitely no better; probably worse. The main upside being that I don't have to find traffic routes around the latest mushy-headed moonbat demonstration downtown every other day.