MetaFilter posts tagged with white

The Color of Sin - Why the Good Guys Wear White

filthy light thief — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:34:06 -0800

When the Chrysler car company released its new model Dodge Coronet in 1967, the theme of its ad campaign was the "White Hat Special," with some ads featuring the "Dodge Girl" in her signature white Stetson, saying that "Only the good guys could put together a deal like this." These ads didn't need any elaboration. Madison Avenue knew the potential buyers had all been raised on film and TV Westerns, and knew the symbolism of white hats. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, the Lone Ranger — cinematic heroes wore white hats, and bad guys wore black. It was all very simple. The colors white and black have carried layers of moral meaning since long before American infatuation with cowboys and automobiles, and some scientists believe that those associations may be automatic and universal and ancient (abstract). Blackness and whiteness may be wired into our neurons, and tightly tangled up with notions of sin and virtue and cleanliness and dirt, according to research by doctoral student Gary D. Sherman and professor Gerald L. Clore, from the University of Virginia Psychology Department (print view). Clore and Sherman tested the concept of grounding of metaphors with a method similar to the the original studies performed by J. Ridley Stroop. The result showing something of the Stroop effect, but instead of displaying a delay in stating the name of colors because of the color of the text, there was a lag in identifying positive and negative words when colored black or white. And the amount of delay changed when the participants were primed to think about immorality.

First, they administered the color identification test with moral and immoral words. Then they asked the participants to hand-copy a very short first-person story about a workplace incident. Half the stories had ethical endings and half had unethical endings. Then they issued the color identification test again. For those who had little trouble with the color identification initially, exposure to the unethical story made it harder to identify word color when it didn't match the moral/immoral dimension of the word. "This shows you can bring this out in people," said Sherman. "We were struck how easily it could be moved around." But even more interesting was that for those who struggled more with the identification in the first test, priming immorality made these participants better at naming the color. This was a bit puzzling. Clore believes that for those already thinking about immorality, becoming even more attuned to it helped bring it to consciousness, where it could be controlled. "If you make something obvious, people appear to be able to regulate it," he said. "What we find with emotion is that if you make something really salient, people are better at making proper discrimination. By making it salient, people got rid of it."

A third study was performed, in which they asked people to rate several consumer products, some of which were cleaning products. Those who ranked cleaning products most highly turned out to be the individuals who had the hardest time identifying the colors when they didn't match the moral dimension of the words. This last test is associated with the Macbeth effect (abstract), where physical cleanliness is psychologically linked to concerns for moral purity. More fun with the Stroop test: Neuroscience for Kids, and the Stroop test and Mount Everest.

Black and White WTF

grumblebee — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:08:44 -0800

A blog of strange (found) B&W photography

The First Ripples of the Silver Tsunami

Acromion — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:18:53 -0800

Nearly 1 in 5 young adults is out of work. Student debt is the highest its ever been. With a 10 year job growth of negative 230,000 jobs, the pool of available jobs is the lowest its ever been as a ratio to available college grads. And even with this dwindling tax base, in order to sustain Medicare and Social Security by 2020, we will need to tax 1.5 workers for every retiree. The dominant media narrative now is focused on the racial tensions surrounding Obama's health care reform. But in reality, the strongest opposition to Obama now comes not from young whites, who stand to benefit the most from medical reform. It is largely from 'angry white seniors' who fear cuts in the their Medicare. Are you ready for the Silver Tsunami?

White Refugee

PenDevil — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:11:27 -0800

This past Thursday the Canadian government granted refugee status to Brandon Huntley, a South African who has been living illegally in Canada since 2005. Huntley claimed that if he were to be repatriated back to South Africa he would be persecuted due to the fact that he is white. The South African government is not amused.

Tribunal panel chair William Davis said the evidence of Huntley "showed a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness" of the SA government to protect "white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans".

Don't tread on ME

sredefer — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:53:13 -0800

Costumed patriots channel forefathers: coming to a civic center near you! Need a little pump up music?

Perfect.

uaudio — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:23:02 -0800

Pitcher Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox has thrown a perfect game. A tremendous sporting achievement; this has happened only 19 times in the history of major league baseball. Buehrle is the 17th pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) and the first since Randy Johnson in 2004.

Kimba

vronsky — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:51:18 -0800

*Kimba*

This post is very stylish.

jacquilynne — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:53:41 -0800

For the last 50 years, grammar and style have been learned from The Elements of Style. That's not necessarily a good thing.

The Job

NotMyselfRightNow — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:56:11 -0800

The Job.

What is race in the Obama age?

shetterly — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:16:42 -0800

What is race in the Obama age? Some blacks say there are two black races, one poor and one rich. Does that mean Obama is from the rich black race? Some wonder if he's black enough or too black. Or do we have to choose among four options: "a) black or b) white or c) half-black and half-white or d) an American and who-gives-a-damn about his ethnicity"? Or is he multiracial? All I know for sure is he's the president.

Whitewashing Avatar

lunit — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:56:29 -0800

M. Night Shyamalan has decided to cast white actors in the main roles of the upcoming motion picture based on the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. The problem: Avatar featured an Asian world with Asian characters, including Aang, the titular character, and his friends Sokka and Katara. Some people are pissed, pointing to other instances of whitewashing. There's a letter writing campaign and a Facebook group. Bingo anyone?

The Unfinished Swan

GuyZero — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:22:36 -0800

The Unfinished Swan is an unfinished video game set in an entirely black and white world. Players can splatter paint to help them find their way through an unusual garden. A video of the gameplay.

White House Tower Defence

GuyZero — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:04:09 -0800

Friday Flash Fun! It's two great flavors that taste great together in White House Tower Defence!

When Borrowing to Save Actually Makes Sense

Toekneesan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:03:17 -0800

Portland's got white ones, Austin has yellow ones, Vassar has them in pink. What are they? Community bikes. Colleges, universities, even whole cities are seeing the benefits of offering their students and citizens an alternative to cars, fossil fuels, and parking lots. Want to start a shared bike program in your community? Here's how. (previously)

An Anthology of Privilege Checklists

WCityMike — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:41:23 -0800

Privileges: Gender: 10 things only men can do (Askmen.com), male privilege (wiki), 21 Things Women Can Do That Guys Can't (Cosmo), female privilege (2 3 4 5). Race: white privilege (wiki). Sexual orientation: straight privilege (2) (wiki), cisgendered privilege. Body: able-bodied privilege, non-fat privilege. Money: non-poor privilege (2), class privilege (PDF). Demographics: Christian privilege, American privilege, adult privilege, black male privilege, Muslim male privilege. Combo: gamer privilege, male programmer privilege. Criticism and essays: victim privilege, "Point of Privilege", "We can't be equal while ... ", "Where's My Extra Piece of the Pie?". And, lest this become too serious: pirate privilege and lolcat privilege (the latter via). (Covered in smaller scope previously.)

That's entertainment

miss lynnster — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:53:16 -0800

The Black and White Minstrel Show was a (very cheesy) British variety series that ran Saturday nights on the BBC for twenty years. Hard to believe that it was still on the air as late as 1978. A live show, "Memories of the Minstrels ," toured the UK to packed houses in 2004 and 2005. The show was performed white-faced and featured the stars, medley's and costumes from the original TV series. Previ ously. Older episode seen here.

i can has privilij?

streetdreams — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:13:30 -0800

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack as illustrated by lolcats. Also, White Liberal Bingo.

Immigration on the UK political agenda

Jakey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:54:12 -0800

Record levels of immigration have had "little or no impact" on the economic well-being of Britons says a report (pdf) from an influential House of Lords committee. Initial reactions from the various parties, institutes and publications have been largely predictable. Coming so closely on the back of the BBC's recent "White" series on white working-class Britain, it looks likely to provoke some debate on British attitudes to immigration (pdf). IPPR publications on Migration and Integration Migration Watch UK (WP) BBC Destination UK information on immigration and asylum. More reaction to the White series - right, left, bbc employee.

Give me convenient bacon or give me death

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:36:21 -0800

Hi-fi spheres, bacon toasters, translated Pravda on demand, and other changes to come in 1975 A.D. [ via Bostworld ]

Donnie Osmond has it all.

Lord_Pall — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:34:10 -0800

You've seen the original White and Nerdy Video. Now watch two and a half minutes of pure, unadulterated awesome.

Fantasies in black and white

shotgunbooty — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:31:39 -0800

If even most African-Americans believe the black poor are primarily responsible for their own plight, does that make it true?

There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There is just stuff people do.

miss lynnster — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:08:19 -0800

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath on May 6, 1940. The "Wrath" link is the Henry Fonda film in its entirety.

Every Bitch Must Tip

dhammond — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:13:50 -0800

Welcome to The Wieners Circle, a Chicago hot dog stand where you can stumble in after a night at the bar and trade some colorful banter from the staff (along with your chocolate milkshake). But a local tradition that was "supposed to be fun" often cuts a little too close for the black employees in the predominantly white Lincoln Park establishment. [NSFW]

Daddy and I

Jasper Friendly Bear — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:14:28 -0800

Pictures of white men and their adopted Chinese daughters by photographer O. Zhang

Sharks 4. Humans 165,000,000.

humannaire — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:33:13 -0800

Rethink. The. Shark. [YouTube] The Save Our Seas Foundation [small Flash], a Swiss-based non-profit, joins the growing ranks of a world-wide movement to undo the damage caused by popular reports and gross misrepresentation by Hollywood of sharks as human-savoring sea monsters/killing machines. The fact of the matter is that the opposite is true: Current estimates give between 65 million to 165 million sharks being killed worldwide annually via unregulated catch - including 38 million to 70 million [PDF] for their fin alone, with untold numbers of butchered and bleeding-to-death sharks being cast back into the oceans to die slow and gruesome deaths. [more inside]