Quote Originally Posted by Beach Bunny
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.