# Think you're not a racist? (or other -ist) Check this out.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-youre-not-a-racist-or-other-ist-check-this-out/468145
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 16, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-youre-not-a-racist-or-other-ist-check-this-out/468145 "2008-10-16T03:22:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-youre-not-a-racist-or-other-ist-check-this-out/468145/41 "2008-10-18T17:21:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> We’ve had links to these sorts of tests before. I’m not a psychologist, but I smell a lot of bullshit. The tests are designed to train you that right is good and left is bad, or vice versa, and then when it comes time to see if you’re a racist or a sexist or some other kind of asshole, reverses the keys, thereby conflating racism/sexism/other assholism with the fact that _you’ve just been physically trained to hit those keys._
I didn’t look at all the tests, but I think they did the counterbalancing reasonably well. And they do caution people not to read too much into the results.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-youre-not-a-racist-or-other-ist-check-this-out/468145/42 "2008-10-21T21:15:11Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> We’ve had links to these sorts of tests before. I’m not a psychologist, but I smell a lot of bullshit. The tests are designed to train you that right is good and left is bad, or vice versa, and then when it comes time to see if you’re a racist or a sexist or some other kind of asshole, reverses the keys, thereby conflating racism/sexism/other assholism with the fact that _you’ve just been physically trained to hit those keys._
No, not quite. Did you actually take the test? The test makers took care to flip around good and bad and, in the case of my test, Jewish and non-Jewish to counteract that. In other words, sometimes good was on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes Judaism was on the left, sometimes on the right. Whoever made the test is doing their best, in my opinion, NOT to conflate subconscious prejudices with something as simple as motor training. I’m not saying this test is infallible, just that it does not suffer from the deficiency you perceive.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-youre-not-a-racist-or-other-ist-check-this-out/468145/43 "2008-10-21T21:21:20Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#):
>
> It’s like expecting people never to masturbate or never to tell lies.
I never masturbate.
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### Author:  [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-youre-not-a-racist-or-other-ist-check-this-out/468145/44 "2008-10-22T09:06:48Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#):
>
> There seem to be a couple of threads in the Pit at the moment where some folks are arguing that they’re only against illegal immigrants because of the “illegal” bit, not because they’re racist.
Even if you ignore the racial aspect, most immigration haters are still acting out of prejudice. In areas where there is a visible ‘immigrant problem’ such as loitering, overcrowded houses, etc, people just automatically assume that because the people they see are hispanic, that they are not citizens. This kind of thinking is wrong headed for several reasons:
1. Not all poor hispanic people or day laborers are non citizens.
2. Focusing on the identity of the people involved rather than the bad behavior is inherently prejudicial - the idea that if you can get rid of a ‘certain type of person’ that the activities you associate with them will disappear. If you don’t like loitering or overcrowded housing, fine - police that specific issue regardless of who is involved. Don’t just go after a type of person you think is most likely to commit that crime.
3. In a lot of cases, the fact that they are illegal is what leads to the bad behavior. It’s obviously harder to find legitimate jobs, go to school, get drivers licenses, and pay for reasonable housing if you aren’t allowed to. You could easily make the case that by giving them citizenship, it will solve the problems more readily than trying to find them all and kick them out.
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