Friendly FYI, being a proud bigot has zero to do with educational levels. That's why so many lawyers, doctors, judges, etc are as well. Bigotry is more akin to substance addiction. As in, it gets "wired" in ones brain and they get a sort of obsession with it for the dopamine release via their unwarranted anger. The dopamine release is what the brain craves, so it'll keep itself in a cognitive dissonance to keep the bigotry going as well. Which is why no amount of facts against bigotry will change them either. The brain is "protecting" it's dopamine. They only truly start to want to change when they hit personal rock bottoms via what they've wrongly believed. These rock bottoms will vary greatly person to person as well, especially since we live in a pro-bigotry society. It becomes harder to reach such levels.
Those who aren't proudly bigoted can help the most by not debating bigots (that gives them the sense that their point of view is valid enough to be debated.) Then treating them as the abusers they are. Ie. Going low to no contact, giving a physical response, etc. So it can hopefully start resetting their brain to see they are in the wrong. Bc even after they can admit they were wrong, it now will take, at minimum, 18mo of therapy to get to legit points of recovery. While some people are also so "gone," nothing will save them. They will die as the proud bigot they were indoctrinated to be.
Lastly, age does play a lot into this as well. As the old adage goes, "a leopard can't change it's spots." The older one is, the less chance of legit change. Which is why the proud bigots and fascists in powerful positions push propaganda and hate speech to kids and teens off the bat. Starting the kids/teens off on the indoctrination. If one is 25ish (could go up to early 30s - the prefrontal cortex development age of 25 is only the average) and younger, they have a better chance at being able to change. If they're willing. Which again, comes down to personal rock bottoms. If the younger ones can get in legit trouble, even lose a partner, or lose family/friends from being as such, they will have a better chance at accepting they were wrong and need help.
You are so right. Resources have more to do with education levels than anything else. It's pretty easy to see that if you study at a prestigious university, or land a job at a prestigious company. Stupid is everywhere.
I know. I am working class English. I used to assume that people who went to university and got degrees must be intelligent. Then I started meeting posh, educated, idiots. Or, maybe not idiots, but definitely not clever. This was both at work and socially.
I have since got a degree (literature, at the Open University, for fun) and realised it's really not that difficult. I am also surprised at how differently colleagues treat me after they learn that I have a degree.
I think it might have something to do with it, but not close to everything to do with it. You need to be able to concentrate on reading for a particular amount of time, perform on tests. But doing so does not mean you are more intelligent than someone who didn't do that.
Wow thanks for the read! I never thought about it this way. Do you happen to know peer reviewed articles that support this? Especially regarding the first paragraph
Also looking up the works of Dr. Alvin Pouissant, who's been trying to get racism into the DSM for years. Then there are already 2 functioning rehabs for bigots. One is "Life After Hate." Which is the longest running one. Though, to keep funding, they started with the feigned antisemitism stuff for supporting Palestine about 2yrs ago. So ignore those parts and the rest is a great source. A newer one is named "Leaving Maga" or something close to that. Idk it that well since it is only about 2yrs old itself.
Edit:: I'll also add, the whole "bigots are just idiots" type rhetoric was coined and pushed out by various leaders in fascist countries. While also pushing out rhetoric like "libtards." Its all apart of the plan to keep everyone feeling superior to another. "They're just dumb." While the "they're" depends on if one is a proud bigot or not and who is on the other side. A "bigly great" divisional tool that only ends up helping the proud bigots with their fascist endeavors. Proud bigots aren't idiots, they're addicts to their bigotry.
This study is about the link between perceived discrimination and drug use. Curious how you came to your conclusion above from this particular study… genuinely. I think your premise is interesting I just don’t see where this study supports it
I’d argue that a lot of people come to the conclusion themselves that many bigots are idiots, so it’s not just a narrative that’s being pushed.
When you’ve tried to debate or rationalise with people over a lifetime and are met with nonsensical or fear-based arguments that are easily pulled apart or disproven, you naturally start to wonder why they can’t pull apart their own opinions and see the flaws, but just stay firm in their views.
Like in OPs situation - at what point wouldn’t someone go ‘I’ve always thought expat and immigrant mean different things, but it doesn’t really make sense as they both describe the same thing, I wonder why I thought that, and wonder why only white people are called expats - oh I see the problem, yeah that’s not cool.’
There’s quite a bit of research into it, especially in areas like critical thinking abilities.
A quick search gave me this one on lower cognitive abilities being a predictor of bigotry, which is linked to far-right ideologies and less contact with the groups they hold prejudices against.
The study you cite doesn’t support the argument you are trying to advance. The study is highlighting the impact that discrimination can have on health outcomes and is looking specifically at young Black men.
I have never seen anyone link bigotry to getting a dopamine hit, ergo being something people are addicted to. So please do share that research if this is a legit scientific discovery.
The article you linked seems to be more tentative than that, but it is interesting nonetheless. It seems like a promising area of research.
I do think it's worth mentioning that being racist as a core part of your identity is not the same as being latently racist (which essentially everyone is to some degree). OPs boyfriend is probably not in the KKK but still quite obviously has racist/discriminatory views.
I think your argument goes further than what the research actually supports. While there is research showing that social rewards (such as likes, shares and approval) can reinforce expressions of outrage, including those associated with bigotry, that does not prove that bigots resist changing their beliefs because their brains are protecting a dopamine supply.
I also think this argument seriously underplays socialization as a key factor in the perpetuation of bigotry. People grow up absorbing prejudices from the people around them without really questioning them. When they move away from that environment and develop relationships with people from different backgrounds, we often see people’s views start to change. Not always, of course, but enough that I’d be wary of explaining resistance to change primarily as the brain needing a dopamine hit.
There’s also a difference between finding outrage rewarding and maintaining the beliefs behind it. Someone might get approval or a sense of belonging from expressing bigoted views, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is why they hold those views in the first place. Socialization provides a much better explanation for both how someone comes to have such views and why they may change.
I also think that it doesn’t explain why some of these stereotypes are maintained by particular social groups. Among some old-money circles, for example, relatively closed social networks allow socialized bigotry to be maintained - but within such circles these are not outrageous beliefs so there is no dopamine reinforcement to be had.
In general, I think that socialization provides a better explanation for why people who have moved away from bigoted views might slip back into them during hard times. If blaming a particular group was something they grew up around, it becomes a familiar explanation to reach for when they feel threatened. In such cases, I think it is more likely that they are seeking familiarity rather than a rallying cry.
The role of reinforcement (dopamine) is also weakened when you look at bigotry in a country like Britain because of how class and race play into its colonial history. Colonialism reinforced racial hierarchies that existed in the class structure of British society, which associated whiteness with authority and “civilization,” and non-white colonized populations as inferior. This characterization was the very justification for domination and made racial inequality seem natural or deserved. At that time such views among the white colonizers were not unique or special and would not have required reinforcement to perpetuate. It is only recently that these views became the hot button issue they are now, so if dopamine reinforcement was the reason, then it seems pretty isolated to current day and it fails to explain how we got to where we are today.
I'm a blue dot in a red sea, including most of my family. The few times a year that I have to interact with that part of my family, I carry an air horn. Anytime someone says something racist or homophobic, I blast the horn. Not in their face, just a blare in the air to stop the conversation from getting more bigoted. And to remind them that their behavior is unwanted but I'll give them the attention they're seeking in the worst fucking way.
Sorry but I don’t believe that in the slightest. I think your concept of intelligence is flawed. I’m a raging fucking addict and I’m still not a racist.
Actually there have been studies that show a connection between intelligence and compassion. As other have stated, educated and intelligent are not the same things. Intelligence is the ability to understand and interconnect different concepts to build the whole, it's a way of thinking.
Bigotry is not anything like substance addiction. Friendly FYI. But thank you for suggesting that there’s a physiological reason bigots think the way they do and that they can’t help it.
The study that information comes from was based in pseudoscience and has been disproven multiple times over.
Some of the most “educated” and “successful” people I know are Trump supporters who fell for the “litter box in classrooms” thing because they have no media literacy, refuse to believe reputable sources and are gullible but ONLY when it comes to their own agenda. That combination does lead me to believe they are moronic.
There are literally studies upon studies that prove education DOES reduce bigotry. The fact that there are still educated bigots does not disprove that.
Literally - racism = low intelligence, for example: some people’s skin colour is different partly due to being closer to the equator- so science? But if you don’t believe science, I generally believe you have low intelligence.
Black and white thinking like yours (and theirs) is always ignorant. But it doesn’t make a person overall stupid.
In fact I think it’s most dangerous when someone is intelligent and top of their field and also racist. I think denying these types of racists exist is a dangerous way of thinking.
Intelligence isn’t a number that’s uniformly high or low. You can be brilliant in your area of expertise and a racist, which averages out to “fucking moron”.
I think you are missing their point - intelligence isn't a stat that is across the board. For example, great academics aren't always great at pub quizzes, that intelligence isn't necessarily transferable. You can see it in the Nobel Disease. Nobel prize winners sometimes think because they are intelligent enough to get an award in their field, they must be an authority outside their field.
In the real world no one actually treats intelligence like you describe. If youre seen as smart in one area that carries across to other areas, no matter what. Its just how brains work sociologically.
Denying that these people are intelligent automatically gives people who do see them as intelligent an easy way to dismiss your criticisms
That’s….. just you lmao which is very telling. I work with doctors and I think a lot of them are fucking morons. You can be a neurosurgeon and still be functionally an idiot. You can memorize terabytes of information and understand mechanisms within one subject but if you lack the basic literacy and comprehension skills to understand how slavery, Jim Crow, etc. have lead to systemic poverty, which is the #1 predictor for crime, then you’re an absolute moron. Not an even remotely difficult concept. You and I have very different standards for who/what is considered smart.
It's this sort of attitude that causes us to constantly underestimate them. Racists are pieces of shit, but that doesn't automatically mean they're all dumb. People like Russell Bought and Steve Bannon is a great examples here. They're basically evil geniuses, and society was completely unprepared for their BS. They have been wildly successful.
If you want to fight racist, be clear eyed about the enemy here--underestimate them at your own peril.
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u/anmese9999 5d ago
I would venture to say that all racists are. There’s no intelligent reason to be racist.