Comments on: Making Excuses https://contemporaryracism.org/916/making-excuses/ An academic blog about whiteness, implicit bias, and systemic racism Sun, 12 Aug 2012 01:10:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: kw237335 https://contemporaryracism.org/916/making-excuses/comment-page-1/#comment-238 Wed, 02 May 2012 21:08:47 +0000 http://www.professorwolfe.com/blog/?p=916#comment-238 This class has opened my eyes greatly to the idea of “if you work hard, you’ll get what you deserve.” I had always believed that that was a true statement. I always thought that if I worked hard in all aspects of my life, then I would be successful in my life and I would get good things because I deserved them. I thought that this was true for everyone before coming to Muhlenberg and taking classes such as multicultural psychology and contemporary racism. Now I understand that the “if you work hard, you’ll get what you deserve” mindset does not apply to everyone. In fact, even if you work hard and you are white you will still possibly get more than you deserve. But as a black person, you will not get what you deserve even if you do work hard because of aversive racism and implicit attitudes. This class has really opened my eyes to the negative consequences of believing in that statement.

]]> By: Daniel.Greenfield90 https://contemporaryracism.org/916/making-excuses/comment-page-1/#comment-234 Wed, 02 May 2012 19:00:52 +0000 http://www.professorwolfe.com/blog/?p=916#comment-234 Well said. “Don’t use discrimination as an excuse,” is really an ignorant thing to say. However, it represents a huge part of our society’s views on racial issues. This is a real life manifestation of the protestant work ethic: If you work hard, you’ll get what you deserve. Unfortunately, this attitude spirals itself into the widespread belief that minorities just aren’t working hard enough. I think the solution to this problem may lie in reaching out to the up and coming generation.

The way to reach the up and coming generation is through social media. Although the Kony 2012 video was problematic in its own ways, it showed just how quickly young people can get wrap their head around a problem presented to them. Although the majority of these people did not physically do anything to help, they definitely came out with an understanding of the problem presented. In this case, we’re not NECESSARILY looking to find a way to get people to help in any way. We’re just asking people to understand. Perhaps that could be a real solution.

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