The fact that the anonymity gives the people involve the ability to interact before any bias can come up is the good thing. Even if it does later on, hopefully it will result in the 'TV-like morality lesson'. Even one person treating another like a fellow human being is a good thing. And as for being sanitized, I think its quite the other way around when it comes to email. We post our thought without much editing for content, grammer or social ques. The slips, rants and other things we post tell others a lot about who we really are. If a psychologist went through our posts they could probably build a rather accurate picture of each of us. The true us.
> Is it a removal of bias when you deal with someone anonymously? On the > surface, it seems like it works, but as I see it the bias hasn't been > removed, only obfuscated. > > The interaction is able to take place without a preconception or prejudice > based on appearance, and that can certainly be good. But that doesn't really > mean that the bias doesn't exist. To take an obvious stereotype example: if > you put a prejudiced white person in a room with a prejudiced black person, > the bias is there. If they interact online with no knowledge of skin color, > the interaction may proceed normally, but what happens if they then meet? We > want to believe that a TV-like morality lesson will be learned and that the > racist person will realize that the other person's skin color doesn't > matter; however, in my experience the bias comes rushing to the forefront > and the racist person may become even more incensed feeling they have been > betrayed and lied to by the other person. It's not rational, but I've seen > it happen. > > I'm not saying that obfuscation is all bad. As Patrick said, it may help > break down the "Us and Them". However, does it have a flip side? Do people > intentionally hide their color/race/religion/culture in order to interact? > Do those aspects become like a dreaded albatross and something people come > to wish to shed in order to become a nameless, faceless "sanitized" person? > If we are sanitizing, does that cast those troublesome qualities as "dirty"? > Where is the line drawn between being proud of our differences and being > hindered by them? > > Kevin Graeme > ______________________________________________________________________ Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
