{"id":188330,"date":"2021-03-03T12:30:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T17:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=188330"},"modified":"2021-03-03T12:30:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T17:30:54","slug":"implicit-bias-is-nothing-but-divisive-junk-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/implicit-bias-is-nothing-but-divisive-junk-science\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Implicit Bias\u2019 Is Nothing But Divisive Junk Science"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fimplicit-bias-is-nothing-but-divisive-junk-science%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=188330&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1175990285-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">The pervasive notion of \u201cimplicit bias\u201d reared its spurious head once again during the recent confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland. Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA) pressed Garland for a more succinct definition of the term, but to no avail. Garland insisted on its merits but refused to offer any further insights on how he would apply the supposed litmus test for prejudice as Attorney General.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Over the last decade or so, the Left has promoted implicit bias \u2014 also known as \u201cunconscious bias\u201d \u2014 as an effective metric to gauge all manner of prejudice. They argue the concept is rooted in sound science and hard data. As a result, widespread <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/coca-cola-racism-robin-diangelo-coke-b1806122.html\"><span class=\"s1\">training protocols<\/span><\/a> are now being implemented and enforced all across our nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Regardless of Garland\u2019s posturing, implicit bias needs to be abandoned as nothing more than junk science tearing at the already threadbare fabric of our society.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>What exactly is implicit bias?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">At its root, implicit bias is an inherently nebulous assertion that all manner of prejudice is deeply embedded in our subconscious whether we are aware of it or not. The concept draws from critical race theory and assumes that systemic racism and all aspects of privilege are fundamentally true.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Online progressive curricula such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.racialequitytools.org\/resources\/act\/communicating\/implicit-bias\"><span class=\"s1\">Racial Equity Tools<\/span><\/a> (RET) state that \u201c[exposure] to structural and cultural racism has enabled stereotypes and biases to penetrate deep into our psyches.\u201d Consequently, implicit bias \u201cserves to justify racist policies, practices and behaviors that persist in mainstream culture and narratives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">RET goes on to explain that prejudice has some supposed neurological connection. As such, individuals can only shed such bigotry through a process of \u201cdebiasing\u201d wherein \u201cindividual neural associations can be changed through specific practices\u201d and protocols.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Echoing RET, <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/national-equity-project\/implicit-bias-structural-racism-6c52cf0f4a92\"><span class=\"s1\">The National Equity Project<\/span><\/a> claims that \u201cit is critical that any learning about implicit bias includes both clear information about the neuroscience of bias <em>and<\/em> the context of structural racism that gave rise to and perpetuates inequities and harmful racial biases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Perhaps the most fatiguing aspect of implicit bias is that it\u2019s being promoted as some serious scientific endeavor established by objective facts. As a result, it continues to go largely unchallenged.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Why implicit bias is junk science<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Bluntly put, the idea that implicit bias is somehow rooted in scientific rigor is patently bunk. It ought to be relegated to the trash alongside craniometry, cold fusion, and the infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oxford_Capacity_Analysis\"><span class=\"s1\">Oxford Capacity Analysis<\/span><\/a>. Unfortunately, it remains a growing cultural force backed by corporations and <a href=\"https:\/\/diversity.uiowa.edu\/implicit-bias-training-and-resources\"><span class=\"s1\">academia<\/span><\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Writing for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/2017\/01\/psychologys-racism-measuring-tool-isnt-up-to-the-job.html\"><span class=\"s1\">The Cut<\/span><\/a>, Jesse Singal argues that \u201c[p]erhaps no new concept from the world of academic psychology has taken hold of the public imagination more quickly and profoundly in the 21st century than implicit bias.\u201d This phenomenon is rooted in the \u201cblockbuster success of the so-called implicit association test [IAT], which purports to offer a quick, easy way to measure how implicitly biased individual people are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The IAT is heralded by academia as some final and objective measure for prejudice. Singal notes that the IAT is \u201cfrequently written about by some of the top social psychologists and science journalists in the country\u201d and is considered \u201c<em>the<\/em> most sophisticated way to talk about the complicated, fraught subject of race in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Singal, however, eviscerates the notion that the IAT can provide any meaningful and objective measure for prejudice, especially on any scientific level:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>\u201cUnfortunately, none of that is true. A pile of scholarly work, some of it published in top psychology journals and most of it ignored by the media, suggests that the IAT falls far short of the quality-control standards normally expected of psychological instruments. The IAT, this research suggests, is a noisy, unreliable measure that correlates far too weakly with any real-world outcomes to be used to predict individuals\u2019 behavior \u2014 even the test\u2019s creators have now admitted as such\u2026There\u2019s also a case to be made that the IAT went viral not for solid scientific reasons, but simply because it tells us such a simple, pat story about how racism works and can be fixed: that deep down, we\u2019re all a little \u2014 or a lot \u2014 racist, and that if we measure and study this individual-level racism enough, progress toward equality will ensue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 2017, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/can-we-really-measure-implicit-bias-maybe-not\/\"><span class=\"s1\">The Chronicle<\/span><\/a> reported that researchers analyzed decades of data on the IAT, including hundreds of studies from close to 100,000 participants, and found \u201cthat the correlation between implicit bias and discriminatory behavior appears weaker than previously thought.\u201d The researchers also found \u201cthat there is very little evidence that changes in implicit bias have anything to do with changes in a person\u2019s behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A piece for <a href=\"https:\/\/quillette.com\/2018\/08\/24\/the-problem-with-white-fragility-theory\/\"><span class=\"s1\">Quillette<\/span><\/a> by Jonathan Church points out the utter lack of sophistication and virulent dogmatism from the likes of DiAngelo that run completely counter to any scientific enterprise:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p5\"><em><span class=\"s2\">\u201cScientists themselves can become so wedded to their theories that they give short shrift to reasonable objections that may arise from their audience, especially audiences not trained in their discipline. In fact, it appears that DiAngelo and her disciples have become so focused on white \u2018illiteracy\u2019 in the conversation about race that they are prepared to sacrifice the scientific method on the altar of fighting \u2018institutional racism.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">What\u2019s most fatiguing about implicit bias are the circular arguments and syllogistic contortions from those who insist on its scientific merits. Take this hopeless bit of reasoning from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/how-to-think-about-implicit-bias\/\"><span class=\"s1\">Scientific American<\/span><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p4\"><em><span class=\"s3\">\u201c<\/span>The IAT is a measure, and it doesn\u2019t follow from a particular\u00a0measure\u00a0being flawed that the\u00a0phenomenon\u00a0we are attempting to measure is not real. Drawing that conclusion is to commit the\u00a0Divining Rod Fallacy: just because a rod doesn\u2019t find water doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no such thing as water. A smarter move is to ask, \u2018What does the other evidence show?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p4\">The authors\u2019 fatiguing assertion of a logical fallacy to bolster their claim is, in fact, its own deductive fallacy of sorts. In effect, the authors are insisting that because racism exists, the IAT is a sound measure of it. They even readily admit that the IAT is inaccurate, stating that \u201c[t]he stability of the test is low\u2026And the correlation between a person\u2019s IAT scores and discriminatory behavior is often small.\u201d Instead of accepting their own findings, they double down on its inherent shortcomings and false outcomes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">The issue here is one of causality which the IAT \u2014 again, by the authors\u2019 own admission \u2014 fails to demonstrate. At best, it barely registers a correlative value and that\u2019s being generous. Again, they clearly state it\u2019s an unstable and \u201cflawed\u201d metric.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\">As though the authors can foretell such scrutiny they simply resort to dogmatism, arguing that \u201c<span class=\"s2\">[t]here is a mountain of evidence \u2014 independent of any single test \u2014 that implicit bias is real\u201d without, of course, providing such evidence outside of indulging a hopelessly circular argument.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">What seems to be a far more accurate assessment is that many in the scientific community and academia lean so far Left that they simply wish to believe the IAT to be an accurate way to measure prejudice. Such a conclusion is as tragic as it is ironic: their own biases disallow them from objectively understanding a hopelessly inaccurate protocol meant to gauge bias. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>How implicit bias training is being implemented all across our nation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Implicit bias training first made headlines in 2018 when Starbucks announced it would shut down all its stores after an alleged racial incident occurred at one of its locations in Philadelphia.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5294343\/starbucks-employees-racial-bias-training\/\">Time<\/a><\/span> reported that \u201c<span class=\"s2\">[m]ore than 175,000 Starbucks employees participated in the mandatory racial bias education program\u201d that \u201cplaced an emphasis on encouraging some employees to become \u2018color brave\u2019 instead of \u2018color blind.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Most recently, Coca-Cola reportedly employed Robin DiAngelo\u2019s bias training protocols to inculcate its thousands of employees. According to Evita Duffy of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/02\/20\/whistleblower-coca-cola-uses-antiracist-training-that-tells-employees-try-to-be-less-white\/\"><span class=\"s4\">The Federalist<\/span><\/a>, this included such egregious pronouncements as \u201ctry to be less white\u201d and that \u201c<\/span>[n]othing exempts any white person from the forces of racism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Duffy concluded that DiAngelo \u201cimplies that white people are, by their very skin color, oppressive, defensive, arrogant, apathetic, and so forth.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 2018, DiAngelo told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2018\/05\/28\/racism-white-defensive-robin-diangelo-white-fragility\/637585002\/\"><span class=\"s1\">USA Today<\/span><\/a> that \u201c[w]hite people are bad at admitting implicit bias and therefore good at denying the realities of racism.\u201d Ironically enough, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2020\/07\/dehumanizing-condescension-white-fragility\/614146\/\"><span class=\"s1\">black scholars<\/span><\/a> have rightly accused DiAngelo of racism for \u201copenly infantilizing black people\u201d and \u2014 by extension \u2014 other minorities as well. Of course, the Left refuses to acknowledge her particular brand of prejudice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">DiAngelo\u2019s current reach in the workplace and beyond seems without measure at the moment as she continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/antiracism-is-a-booming-business\"><span class=\"s1\">build her empire<\/span><\/a> off dividing us even further, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/coca-cola-racism-robin-diangelo-coke-b1806122.html\"><span class=\"s1\">The Independent<\/span><\/a>:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>\u201cDiAngelo has done diversity training for businesses for more than 20 years and previously said she has experienced <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2018\/08\/white-liberal-racism-why-progressives-are-unable-to-see-their-own-bigotry.html\"><span class=\"s1\">hostility from white people<\/span><\/a> when talking about race during her training. Her White Fragility book discusses the response white people have when their skin tone is mentioned. She argues that \u2018wokeness\u2019 also doesn\u2019t deal with the problem of race, as it helps to avoid questioning one\u2019s own unconscious racist bias.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p4\"><strong>Implicit bias is rooted in dogma, not science<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s5\">Parsed of sophistry and academic hubris, i<\/span>mplicit bias and its various offshoots, including \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/khan-the-truth-about-the-anti-racist-movement-and-its-founder-ibram-x-kendi\"><span class=\"s1\">antiracism<\/span><\/a>,\u201d have far more to do with the rote dogma one associates with fanaticism. More than anything else, the adherents and advocates of implicit bias and antiracism echo the zealous trappings of nothing more than a cult.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">One is not even allowed to question the very tenets and foundations of implicit bias and antiracism without immediate accusations of either being racist or suffering \u201cinternalized racism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Black scholar and professor, John McWhorter, elaborates on this extremism in an essay for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/antiracism-our-flawed-new-religion\"><span class=\"s1\">The Daily Beast<\/span><\/a>:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>\u201cTo say one is not to question is not to claim that no questions are ever asked. The Right quite readily questions Antiracism\u2019s tenets. Key, however, is that among Antiracism adherents, those questions are tartly dismissed as inappropriate and often, predictably, as racist themselves. The questions are received with indignation that one would even ask them, with a running implication that their having been asked is a symptom of, yes, racism\u2019s persistence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">McWhorter goes on the argue that implicit bias training, the mantras surrounding \u201cantiracism,\u201d and the constant proselytizing by the likes of Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi signal a type of religious fervor with \u201cWhite Privilege\u201d being a corrupted, secular version of Original Sin though, of course, without any hope of atonement or salvation. Instead, \u201cWhite Privilege\u201d is a sin relegated to perpetuity wherein \u201cto be white is to be born with the stain of unearned privilege\u201d and that no matter the penance in the form of \u201cunbiasing\u201d or \u201cantiracism\u201d, one \u201cwill always harbor the Privilege nevertheless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">***<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Far from bringing us together, the notion of implicit bias fosters even more antagonism in our already deeply polarized nation. It pits us against one another by reducing each and every one of us to our skin color, and then confines us to it without any hope of transcending such mere superficialities.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In fact, all implicit bias training does is endorse the most exhausting and troubling aspects of critical race theory and progressivism. It then disallows any substantive arguments against it by virtue of its very circularity. If you disagree with its methods and findings, you\u2019re automatically guilty of prejudice or \u201cinternalized racism\u201d in some hopelessly Kafkaesque manner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Worse, it is growing into a kind of zealotry masquerading as some scientific finding. We must simply call this what it is: Outright and utter madness for all Americans, regardless of creed or color.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pervasive notion of \u201cimplicit bias\u201d reared its spurious head once again during the recent confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland. Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA) pressed Garland for a more &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274668,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1175990285-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Implicit Bias\u2019 Is Nothing But Divisive Junk Science","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1175990285-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Implicit Bias\u2019 Is Nothing But Divisive Junk Science","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}