Ten questions about race

I answered B to everything and since we don't have many Blacks here, I substituted other minorities.

How cosmopolitan.

I had 4-A's #s 1, 4, 5, & 6 and I'm for McCain. It's strange - someone could be screwing with it, one of these self-appointed gadflies that can dish it out but don't like to take it - but assuming otherwise, the racialists are for Hilly & Barack and the true egalitarians such as my trusty self are the only ones for JSM. No idea which, but I mean, either way it explains why this forum's got it in for the only one in the race that TCB'd for for the USA outside of furnished architecture.

I had four A's also.

I used to have a black boyfriend.
Whenever anything went wrong, it was because of racism.
The fact that he could not hold on to a job was NEVER due to his unpunctuality and arrogance.
His brother (also black, obviously) held a management job, apparently without any discrimination problems.

I think there is still discrimination, no doubt, but I think in some cases that I know, racism is too easily used as an excuse for everything.

I think a black American President would be awesome, though!

I agree with you Bohne, I had 3 or 4 A's (can't remember, took the poll last night), but I didn't answer with A's directed at any group of people, but at a system that has contributed to this feeling of entitlement.

Something goes wrong? It's because of my race or gender.

Do less qualified people get hired/admitted to meet quotas? Definately.

No A's.

I did pause over question #6 -- neither is exactly right, indeed.

The survey is heavily stacked by the language used, and the lack of choices outside the linguistic ankle traps. However, i fit in the category of those who answered "A" twice. Whom i will vote for is nobody's damned business but mine.

Yea; Setanta, but we really wanna know; least I am curious.

Anyway on the poll, for me; A for first question, don't really know the answer to the second and third question; b for fourth question; b for fifth question; not sure on sixth question as things have changed but not all attidudes; a for the seventh question; b for eighth question; b for nineth question; b for tenth question.

2.5 As. Toss a coin on #6 to make it 2 or 3.

A on 1 and 4. Don't particularly care for any of the candidates on offer.



On threat of death if I didn't vote for one of them, I'd go with Obama, but I'd be gritting and grinding my teeth.

I'm voting for Obama

1) In general, do you approve or disapprove of giving preferences to blacks and other minorities in things like hirings, promotions, and college admissions?

A) Disapprove-I'm not sure that it's necessary anymore and I believe it opens the door to the thought that some people who happen to be highly qualified are only hired because of their race.


2) As a result of such preferences, do you think less qualified people get hired, promoted, or admitted...
B) Hardly ever

3) Which do you think is a bigger problem in this country today...
I can't answer this with any degree of accuracy.

Please tell me if you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

4) We have gone too far in pushing equal rights in this country
B) Disagree

5) Poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs
A) Agree-yes some people alot of the time-it's an enabler - and I saw the same dynamic in the UK.

6) Which of these statements comes closer to your own views?-even if neither is exactly right:
At this particular point in time:
A) Blacks who can't get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition
because since there is no more de jure racism - and equal opportunities are made available legally - I think it's what's within a person that either makes or breaks him or her. Because of my job, I'm aware of what programs for advancement in education and training for trades in which people are able to make living wages (certainly some more than what I make) are available - and I'm also aware that people who could- choose not to take advantage of those opportunities sometimes because it's just easier not to.
I think of the blacks I know who have made it and thrived through segregation and just as that says something about what they're made of inside - I think it says something about someone who doesn't take an equal opportunity and make something out of it today.

7) Do you approve or disapprove of marriage between blacks and whites?

B) Approve

8) Do you feel like you have a lot of common interests with blacks in your social class, some common interests, or very few common interests?

B) Some- politically - but I don't really have a lot of common interests with whites in my social class either.

9) Would you mind if a black person with equal income and education moved into your block?

B) No- in fact I would welcome it. My favorite neighborhood was the one in Maine where I lived with people of all levels of education and income existing together - and I found it much more interesting than more homogenous neighborhoods in which I've lived.

10) If you had a daughter who was dating someone who was black, do you think you would be...
(C) Thrilled - I don't want my family to get too white (joke)

PS - Interesting side note - I asked my African American students how they would answer the questions about affirmative action and whether or not blacks who weren't making it were holding themselves back or if they believed it was society and unanimously
(there were fifteen young adults) - not one single person was in favor of affirmative action - they wanted it to be known and believed they had made it on their own steam.

And everyone but one person believed if a black person didn't make it today it was due to something inside of them and not due to constraints of society.

Come on Set. We all know for whom you are voting.

Largely, I voted like you did aidan.

I'm still trying to figure out why voting A on some of those questions was supposed to be a bad thing.

like set said, I think it was biased.

3 As, and voting for McCain.

Wait! ... I mean it's nobody's damn business whom I'm voting for.

Five As. Slighly favor Obama over Clinton, strongly favor him over McCain.

PS: I kind of resent the question in this poll, for two reasons:

• It reduces racial problems in America to problems between whites and blacks. This doesn't even capture half of the phenomenon. When I moved to the US, one of my first and profoundest "Aha!" experiences was to discover the pronounced New Jersey subcultures of Mexicans, Indians, and Chinese, all of which are victims of prejudice by the same kinds of people who are also prejudiced against Blacks. Like so many contributions to the debate about racism, this one totally ignores all aspects of racism other than white vs. black.
• The poll also annoys me by failing to differentiate between people who oppose quotas and preferences for Blacks and those who actively resent Blacks. There's an important difference between answering "A" to question 1 and answering "A" to question 10. The poll pays no attention to this difference.

I'm not impressed.

No offense, Nimh,

The wording of all the questions indicated a bias.

This is part of why politics is bullshit...

Nite

I don't think there was any right or wrong answer to any of these questions- it was simply asked what you think- what is your opinion. How can that be right or wrong, unless you yourself insert bias or pressure on yourself to say what you think other people want you to say?

And Nimh said that he welcomed people to explain their answers which gave room to extend the boundaries and constraints the wording of the questions might impose.

As Thomas said - just because someone answers A to number one - that doesn't mean they're racist and don't like black people and want them to succeed. Maybe it means they believe in black people and know they can succeed without artificial or imposed 'help'.

Thomas - I think that this black/white issue in the United States IS an issue apart and unto itself in terms of how people think about it, whether they are black or white.

And unless you're talking about Native Americans when you say Indians (which I saw very, very few of growing up in NJ) this particular racial dichotomy and divide is the oldest and most enduring in our country. Maybe that's why people can't seem to get past or around it as an issue.

And for the purposes of this particular survey, it may also have something to do with the fact that for the first time in the history of our country there is a black man who is within realistic reach of the presidency.

It displays an alarming amount of naivete to ask how simply asking a question can be biased in itself.

Yeah, well, there is that...I won't say I'm not naive- in that I believe I have the right to give my opinion and I extend that same right to others - even if their opinion is different from mine.

If someone is uncomfortable giving their opinion, based solely on what it happens to be, I believe it's because there's some other environmental or social or cultural factor at play.
I usually ask questions because I want to know the answer- and if it's an opinion- because I'm interested in that person's honest opinion.
I don't ask questions I think I already know the answer to- and I don't ask people for opinions unless I'm interested in that person's opinion- not what I think or hope it should be- I already know that.