The Notion of Color Blindness

[@marcsman07]

Well said. I was unaware of what Colbert said until you brought it up.

[@michaelmyers6985]

Really glad you reposted this. I've listened to it several times, it's an interesting counter balance at the very least. Thank you.

[@jesperlykkeberg7438]

I say no matter, no matter what color, you´re still my brother! (Timmy Thomas)

[@JimmyTownmouse]

As a little white kid growing up watching Reading Rainbow, the race of the host wasn’t really on my mind. Then watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, I related most with Geordi La Forge-probably because of the affinity I already had for LeVar Burton. By the time I was old enough to worry about race issues, I thought that the prominent position of influence LeVar held in my childhood was a pretty good sign I wasn’t a racist in spite of growing up in a community where there wasn’t a single black kid in my grade level at school. Then, I grew up all the way and found out I am actually a racist just because I’m white. Funny how I was so deluded as to believe what MLK said about judging not on the color of skin but the content of character only to find out that the content of MY character is, apparently, defined by the color of my skin.

[@stephencarter7266]

Yeah, but whose opinions about "race" do YOU value more? Are you listening to people like Mr.Huges or are you listening to the democratic shills who are paid to race bait? No one is forcing you to listen to the Al Sharpton types. Word to the wise: Less whining; and more critical thinking.

[@TheAmateurEditor]

@@stephencarter7266 When CRT is being taught in schools, universities, forced into hiring practises in the work place and determines your ability to participate in the democratic process, then yeah, you kind of ARE forced to listen to it all day as it now pretty much encompasses every aspect of your existence. The only people that completely insulated from it are living on private lands with no other societal influence. The 'segregated' people you might say....

[@stephencarter7266]

@@TheAmateurEditor So, you were forced to close your business, and made to feel you had to wear masks (alone) in your vehicle, a presidential election was "allegedly" stolen _in your face_ , you've got to treat trans women as real women and now this CTR garbage (all within a span of a couple of years) _do you finally understand what it means to be a slave?_ This is it! What are you going to do about it (besides b!tch & moan)? Because I as a "black" man, have no control over CRT. Where this country was once governed culturally and economically by a WASP Brahmin caste, we are *now* being ruled over by _a non Christian, "alphabet" Brahmin caste_ ,

[@stephencarter7266]

In Chicago, what was once the financial district is now a homeless settlement. *Let that sink in.* How much longer do you think you'll be able to keep any land before your rulers decides to "distribute" it as well? You can run but you can't hide. The fact that you're cravenly blaming CRT when you've ALREADY submitted to things that would have made the most docile 1800s slave blush means GAME OVER.

[@irishguyhappy4272]

You remind me of saner times. Thank you.

[@CaptainTae]

“I don’t see color” is so clearly, in context, a euphemism. Attacking it is a poor argument by people who INTEND to misunderstand.

[@weignerleigner3037]

Some of us simply don’t care about this subject at all. Most of us are just trying to get by so people who are super focused on race need to understand that a lot of us simply don’t care and don’t want to be part of the conversation. We just want to go on with our lives unbothered.

[@CaptainTae]

@@weignerleigner3037 Same. Which is why I have run out of patience for the Strawman argument that Stephen Colbert makes.

[@weignerleigner3037]

@@Hemlocker yeah that’s true. Idk my political views are basically toxic where I live in Connecticut. I’m pretty libertarian and pretty much no one agrees with my logic and every person I vote for always loses. I’m just tired of it. I’m teaching myself coding at the moment and plan on moving to Puerto Rico. I’m hoping I can get a job where I can work from home so I can live there and still make great money. No federal income tax there either which is nice. I’m starting to believe that maybe I’m the outcast. Maybe the people in America don’t want freedom, maybe they do think this country is terrible and want to destroy it. If that’s what people want than they should get what they deserve. I don’t want to be apart of it, so I guess I’ll leave and go somewhere that will accept me and my beliefs.

[@CaptainTae]

@@Hemlocker So do you think race is real and very important?

[@CaptainTae]

@@Hemlocker But you’re ignoring what people mean when they say it in deference to a meme about what MIGHT happen if we continue to misrepresent Dr. King’s idea that we should all be judged by the content of our character. I don’t think it’s better to have Steven Universe and Sesame Street telling my mixed race kid that the most important thing about him is his skin color.

[@PolishMoon2]

Well said as always, Coleman. Thank you for sharing.

[@dyerarch]

"We listen to react, not to understand."

[@AkilanNarayanaswamy]

The fact that Colbert didn't see the irony in that is astonishing. Any elementary school kid who studied the history of Dr. King could have easily seen how wrong that was.

[@Theyungcity23]

That’s directly opposed to what King wrote about. He was in favor or reparations. At his most basic level he was about helping black people. You cant identify the specific and significant problems that faced black america during his time and also be color blind in the sene that you’re opposed to different treatment for different races.

[@canteluna]

Color-blindness is PREFERABLE to anti-racism. Here's my argument: Those making the argument against "color-blindness" claim that the objective of color-blindness is fallacious or disingenuous because we can never NOT see color, and yet seeing color is the problem - i.e. we react to color with acquired prejudices. Of course the concept and objective of "colorblindness" is not to claim we're literally color blind or that we are free of all prejudice, but because we are AWARE of color distinctions (as well as a myriad of other distinctions that may trigger prejudice), we ATTEMPT a non-prejudicial observation or response. So, the AWARENESS question is one of method. The color-blind method attempts to dismiss color as important UNLESS it is somehow important. The anti-racist method ASSUMES one is racist (to some degree) or that racism exists in a social setting, or institutionally, and significantly impacts relationships and therefore must be mitigate or "equalized" somehow (an attempt at some calculus of equity) and puts the responsibility on the white person (or the non black) for the equalizing the power dynamic assumed to be inherent in the relationship or transaction. The problem with the anti-racist method is that it puts the white person in a position of having to assess and account for some level of the historical legacy of racism and making some calculation of compensating. How would one do this? The idea is so vague that it would be untenable to practice. At the individual level, if one is a decent person one is already treating another with equal dignity. But at the institutional level (education, employment, interaction with police, etc.), then practicing "anti-racism" would require some calculation of "affirmative action", which also places the responsibility of the institution in question for "evening the playing field". How would they know how much to compensate to "equalize" a situation? ONLY through the EXPERTS (the Ibram X Kendis of the world) at the level of governmental authority, or even at the level of voluntarism on the part of the business or organization. This is ABSURD! This is not justice. This is a cynical game where the TRUE OBJECTIVE is to put such power into a few hands where it can't be questioned. Whereas, if you simply reinforce the idea of equality under the law, and the "golden rule" at the individual level, that is about all that can and should be done (which is not to say that there can't be redress or law suits for true violations of law or even policy as long as it is legally binding).

[@wrenenglish915]

Excellent work as usual. How do we find the Bernstein study?

[@tbaerg]

Great episode Mr. Hughes. In light of Dr. Kendi's lack of interest in having a conversation, would you consider having a chat with Calvin Robinson instead? Best wishes, sir.

[@TedSeeber]

What about autistics with face blindness to the point I cannot distinguish between races? I still agree though, I argue that people are individuals, not groups. Identity groups are an irrational criteria for any decision.

[@LouisGedo]

Well put

[@maggietinsley2516]

To say “I try to treat people without regard to their race”means I am already looking at race as a determining factor of who this person is. I think that promotes racism! If I’m having a conversation with someone and never think “wow this is black person” that’s a lot healthier than me approaching a conversation and begin by thinking “this is a black person, I wonder how this is going to go because of our skin color differences.”

[@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad]

Hello Maggie, I hope you are doing well. I believe you are confounding awareness of race with measurement of race. The issue here is that we all notice color, facial features, accents, smells, etc. Especially when they are out of the ordinary to us. It isn't possible to stop discriminating (general term) but it is possible to be less guarded or fearful of "the other", "the unknown", "the misunderstood". Familiarity is what solves the issues bread by fear.

[@maggietinsley2516]

@@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad I agree that familiarit’s helps solve the issue of fear toward another race. When I taught world religions at a high school, I begin to look closely at the teachings of Islam and begin to feel fearful about the Muslims coming into our country. I prayed about it and asked God to give me Muslims that I could come to know so that I would not feel fearful. I was able to befriend a huge family with eight sons! I do understand that even though them ideology of Islam is problematic my Muslim friends are the kindest sweetest people ever. Sorry if I am getting off track here. I, being a 61-year-old, have a experience when integration happened within our schools. My school had been a safe place until then. When integration occurred I think that a lot of the black kids themselves were fearful and they took that fear and turned it into violence. For example, I couldn’t go to the bathroom if there was a room full of black girls because they would crowd me and ask for my lunch money or they would beat me up. This occurred from elementary school to high school. I’ve had to work very hard to understand not all black people are like this.

[@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad]

@@maggietinsley2516 Thank you so much for sharing your personal story. As you found out over time of considering all that life throws at people and their plethora of ways to "deal" with these hurdles, people can get down right nasty. So some sub groups must have felt like they had been mistreated (they were) and now with this huge chip on their shoulders feeling pushed into new, scary (as you said), situation. Conflict ensues. But not from the whole group, and not even close. It's completely the wrong metric for categorizing human behavior. In my opinion, cultures and especially sub-cultures are what to watch out for. Sub-culture example: A man or woman (usually younger but not always) with gang style clothing and an attitude to match makes me nervous. This is problematic because the "thug" style has become popular but what can you do, that's why I include attitude. You can often guess a lot about someone by looking at their face, walk, etc.

[@guitargas1894]

Prejudice will always exist, it's based on real experience and some real but most defiantly false information. When I was in highschool in Belgium, the chance of getting problems with another student was 9/10 someone of Moroccan(islam) descent. They often grouped together and felt superior over white Europeans (especially atheists) like me. So whenever someone "like them" would approach me I'dd be suspicious but I can honestly say it did not make me racist, meaning making a final judgement based on how they looked like. It's like the police using statistics for making decisions on who to arrest or not if a split second decisions is to be made.

[@worsethanjoerogan8061]

One fact that doesn't get mentioned much is the fact that not all whites were racist before the Civil Rights Era. The implicit assumption that "they were all complicit" oversimplifies it. I always joke about how my family tree is full of Quakers who actively opposed slavery. If I'm assigned ancestral guilt, should I not get ancestral credit for that as well? The main argument against color blindness seems to be "well blacks were treated unfairly in the past, so just wanting to move on without leveling the playing field". Once you go down that road, why not apply this to every injustice in history?

[@pablorages1241]

You're young ... as you get older ... with people you know well ... you literally forget about a persons skin color

[@ntr10me]

I salute your optimism

[@espada9]

It's difficult even if you're older because some people CONSTANTLY REMIND YOU!

[@pablorages1241]

@@espada9 ... but that's the only time .... as Morgan Freeman said ... just stop talking about it

[@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad]

dementia is a real problem, good luck to you my friend... jk lol

[@jesperlykkeberg7438]

Before you can read me you got to learn how to see me; I say Free your mind and the rest will follow Be colorblind, don´t be so shallow (en vogue)

[@jones2277]

how can you be colorblind, if you only date white women? (not saying you specifically, just "you" in general.)

[@jondazeishere]

Well some people have very few relationships before they get married have kids etc. So it is possible that they just never had the opportunity. More accurate Would be to say how can you be colour blind if you would never consider dating someone of a different Race.

[@jones2277]

@@jondazeishere ok, semantics.

[@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad]

@@jondazeishere There might be discrimination (being particular or having preferences) of different cultures, physical shapes, colors, etc. All of which (not race per se) are absolutely acceptable ways to chose a partner, you simply can't help but have preferences. Just by pointing to one person, object or scenery and believing them to be more beautiful than another, you are discriminating. Let's not forget that.

[@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad]

Actually, reading your comment again I am reminded of so many families that frown upon mixing races / cultures. It's clear to me that race is not the only factor to these people. And hey, let's be clear, I disagree with that mentality ok? lol

[@GM-cm3qc]

I express myself like a toddler compared to this man lol.

[@fourlegsgoodtwolegsbad]

As far as I can tell it is the commonly held belief that "Color-Blindness" is meant literally, unlike the perfect definition you provided. On the subject of Colbert's joke and the audience's laughter, although most of his fans might be laughing for the reason you pointed out, it is a funny joke regardless. It is funny because of it's juxtaposition and painted image of status quo, even if the reality is that another old white man can hold tremendously different political positions as any past presidents. However, from seeing many of his jokes of the past 4 years... he likely meant it the way you interpreted it. I guess I just wanted to defend comedy lol