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> We’re socially conditioned to believe that certain accents – Black accents, Southern accents, strong accents from non-native-English speakers – are indicators
by bt1a 6y ago
> We’re socially conditioned to believe that certain accents – Black accents, Southern accents, strong accents from non-native-English speakers – are indicators of low intelligence. This is bullshit; don’t fall for the trap.
Uh, what? Delete this
- cobraetor 6y agoThat's interesting. As a non-native English speaker, I was surprised to read it as well. Do American natives really think that non-native accents indicate low intelligence?
- eat_veggies 6y agothis is a pretty textbook example of unconscious bias and it's very real.
- readflaggedcomm 6y agoTheir accusation that "we" are conditioned by it is also real and an unjustified projection coming from the author's own unexamined biases.
- eat_veggies 6y agoHow would you like it phrased? Obviously if you're totally unbiased (doubtful), then that advice is not for you and you can skip it.
- readflaggedcomm 6y agoWhich implies that I'm being untruthful or lacking introspection of my own guilt, by objecting to this phrasing. By accusing we/us of experiencing a specific unconcious bias, the author has set up a trap. I want it phrased honestly without assumption about the reader.
- zacharycohn 6y agoPerhaps you should consider why you seem to be taking this so personally.
- readflaggedcomm 6y agoYou're right, my unconscious bias made me object to offensive rhetoric. I should be better.
- techsupporter 6y agoI'm happy you've never experienced this. I have. I am as white as fallen snow and had a very thick Southern accent. "What y'all gonna need to do is git yerself..." That kind of thing. I trained myself out of it almost immediately after hearing someone, when they thought I couldn't hear, call me a "backwater hick" and dismiss an entire meeting's worth of ideas and discussion I had led...and others agree with that person. That wasn't the only time, but it finally clicked. I'm fortunate that I could work on that and tamp down my accent; other characteristics are more innate and cannot--nor should be required to be--"hidden from view." Even now, I will trip and slip in a "yuup" or "fixin' to" in a drawl and see the double-take on people's faces.
- karaterobot 6y agoYep. Ask any open-minded, liberal person from the coasts to do an impression of a stupid person, and 9 times out of 10 they're going to put on a bad southern accent. It's a bias, unconscious or otherwise.
- zug_zug 6y agoWell they won't do a wealthy southern-peach accent, they'll probably do more of rural "trailer trash" imitation. I see it as classism more than racism, but it's there.
- kortilla 6y agoThat’s so unfortunate. Southern accents are so cool. Now I know yer fixin to stamp out your past and I know we’ve met but we ain’t shook, but I hope you might could embrace it again some day. :)
- mandeepj 6y ago> That’s so unfortunate. Southern accents are so cool. Love southern accent. It's so cool.
- gher-shyu3i 6y agoLook at how other cultures solved this issue. Arabic has a dialect known today as Standard Arabic. It's what official documents, books, news, documentaries, etc. are written or spoken in. Arabic speakers in general are able to understand, but in case their dialects are significantly different, they can always switch to Standard Arabic to get the point across. Also, some people do pick up the local dialect in the country they're living or working in and attempt to speak it, it's not seen as somehow an inferior move or putting oneself down, on the contrary, it's showing a form of flattery.
- odyssey7 6y agoI was trained out of my grandmother’s accent in elementary school, because my teachers knew that biases against it would hinder me later in life. It’s a shame. If I can claim to have any wit, she’s the influence that deserves most of the credit.