Inside the mind of modern bigotry

[Karma]

This is your brain on racism: Inside the mind of modern bigotry - Salon.com

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This is a truly interesting read.

It not only paints a picture of what/who a bigot today is, but also gives a timeline for bigots throughout human history.

here's one part that stood out to me:

Not so deep in his heart, the bigot is an opportunist. Other than his prejudices, he has no core beliefs. The bigot likes it when his interests are being served, when people of color are exploited, but he dislikes it when he feels disadvantaged. In principle he endorses inequality and the idea of competition. But only when he is on top or, better, believes he is on top. The problem arises when he finds himself on the bottom. Competition is good when it works for him. When it doesn’t, the bigot will insist that his competitors are cheating—and that they cheat because it is a trait of their ethnicity, nationality, or race. Jews conspire against him in ruling Wall Street, immigrants take away his jobs, affirmative action undermines his prospects, and unions and welfare programs have made his country soft.

sounds like a modern day tea party person to me. or someone who is convinced that they are a victim of reverse racism. although that term has always been rather odd to me b/c the main ppl who claim to be victims of it are the same ones who claim THEY themselves arent racists or that racism doesnt exist. in order for something to be the reverse, there has to be the original form of it first, right? so they're giving place to what they've always tried to convince those they've heaped it upon t hat it DOES exist after all! but of course it's only OKAY when THEY are the ones perpetrating it upon their targets.