American Idol Homophobia

[kittyboy]

Hmmm...is that why Clay Aiken managed to win?

He lost.

IMHO - Because of the persistent racism in the US, I am surprised that Ruben Studdard won the contest. Maybe (big maybe) when it came down to a black guy or a rumored fag -- In the minds of many Americans it was the lesser of two evils. It could be that homophobia is more potent than racism in the US.

I have read quite a bit of the scholarly literature on racism in the US but it is not my area of expertise.

There is a very famous set of experiments by a guy called Dovidio (and others) that looked at unconscious racism in the US. They labeled it aversive racism. The basic idea is that the white majority in the US has negative feelings toward people of color. It is the basic us versus them phenomenon that you see in many social interactions. Given the opportunity, the majority white population (us) will, in very subtle ways, discriminate against people of color (them). There are always exceptions and it may be that in the area of sports and entertainment black American have made such progress that aversive racism is not an issue.

With the American idol contest between a possible gay guy who was white, and a black guy тАУ It is possible that the general negative feelings toward blacks were overwhelmed by homophobia - just a thought. The alternative is that racism and homophobia had nothing to do with the outcome and it is all a bunch of hand wringing.

I would be happy to supply reading material to anyone who would like to read up on the issue of aversive racism.

GF please do read up on the issue of aversive racism before you post more idiot comments about an area in which you have no knowledge.

Because of the persistent racism in the US, I am surprised that Ruben Studdard won the contest.

Same way Obama did, maybe?

[kittyboy]

Because of the persistent racism in the US, I am surprised that Ruben Studdard won the contest.

Same way Obama did, maybe?

Ouch.. Good point.
I voted for the guy but I am also surprised that Obama won the election.

Maybe race is becoming less of an issue in the US. I don't see it but it may be happening. I have a job offer at a university in the US south. When I went down for interviews I was surprised at the latent racism that still exists. (in the local community not the faculty)

The aversive racism literature points out that if a person is extremely well qualified race generally is not an issue. However, given two equally but moderately qualified candidates for a job the white candidate will often be rated higher than the black candidate by white raters.

Maybe Prez Obama was so well qualified or appeared to be that race was not an issue.

And IMHO - american idol is about the triumph of mediocore talent. Let me qualify that by saying my singing is about as melodic as the sound of cats being strangled.

Maybe Prez Obama was so well qualified or appeared to be that race was not an issue.

Are there that many racist Democrats? When the Republicans finally put a woman or person of color in office, then perhaps one could make a statement.

Are there that many racist Democrats? When the Republicans finally put a woman or person of color in office, then perhaps one could make a statement.

Like Condi Rice, you mean?

...and Colin Powell?

[kittyboy]

Maybe Prez Obama was so well qualified or appeared to be that race was not an issue.

Are there that many racist Democrats? When the Republicans finally put a woman or person of color in office, then perhaps one could make a statement.

Racism is not my area of expertise but I am sure there are lots and lots of racist democrats. Whether it is more prominent in one party of another I do not know. However, the Democratic Party in the US appears to be more open and inviting to black people.

Blacks are about 13% of the US population whites are about 75%.
My understanding is that about 10% of black voters in the US votes republican and they represent about 1% or 2% of the Republican Party. Rice and Powell were appointed not elected, the republicans do not have a very good record or attracting or electing public officials of color.

This is getting a bit outside of my area of expertise but one explanation for people of color that become prominent in the Republican Party is tokenism. A well known sociologist named Kanter studied the idea of tokenism in the workplace. Again this is a very basic explanation of the topic, but tokenism is pretty much what it sounds like, it is policies or practices of limited inclusion of members of a minority group, creating a false appearance of inclusive practices. A few people of a particular underrepresented demographic are given prominent positions and trotted out as examples of inclusiveness. For the Republican Party in the US, Rice and Powell would be their tokens. If you looked at the overall numbers the Republican Party is overwhelmingly white.