[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #15 CRITICAL RACE THEORY LACKS CRITICAL THINKING

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #15

April 8, 2021

**

CRITICAL RACE THEORY

LACKS CRITICAL THINKING

 


These days Critical Race Theory (CRT) is getting lots of publicity in the
news here in the US.  But that's a shame because when you examine it, it is
full of falsehoods, biases, and cognitive fallacies.  The bottom line- it
lacks critical thinking.

"CRT is the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist
and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is
a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their
economic and political interests at the expense of people of color."

 

The first requirement for believing CRT is an extremely divisive manuever.
First of all you have to divide up the human race into "races."  But race
implies basic and incompatible differences.  Yet all humans on planet earth
are of the same species which explains why we can intermarry and produce
children.  We are a singular species!  That means there is no incompatible
differences.  Actually, it is false to say that there are multiple "races,"
there is only one race- the human race.  The idea of more than one human
race is simply false.  There are many human families, and as all families
have their own history and values, so with the many human families.  Yet in
the end, it is the one and only human family (see Neurons #13 March 29).

                                                        

The next cognitive fallacy involves turning "race" (a non-existent entity)
into "racism."  And with any -ism, it then becomes a belief system and an
ideology.  Those who believe this ideology adopt the cognitive bias that
"racism" is "present in every aspect of life, every relationship, and every
interaction."  Talk about a belief system gone toxic!  Here is
over-generalization that promotes "race" over character, morality, love,
compassion, law, ethics, etc.  It is as if the only important thing is your
so-called "race" - whatever that is.

 

What "race" tends to be for CRT is skin color (the most superficial
distinction of all).  People are divided into groups of white, black,
yellow, brown, etc.  Mostly it is white versus color.  Then with that, we
have the next bias in CRT- the bias against white people.  "White people
only give black people opportunities and freedoms when it is also in their
own interests."  Of course, the immediate question that arises from that is,
"What date are you talking about?"  2021?  1950?  1870?  1500?  Given the
history of Europe in 1600s, perhaps we could say that "most" white people at
that time "only" gave "black people" opportunities when it is in their own
interests.  But is that still true?  What about "black people" who today are
CEOs, or wealthy, or in positions of authority?  Can they not give
opportunities to people when it is in their own interests?

 

Another distortion of CRT is that it because treats race issues as "socially
constructed," there are no individuals in this theory.  CRT rejects the
vision of Martin Luther King Jr. that we'd become a country color-blind and
focused more on a person's character, to see a person as an individual -a
member of the human race.

 

Another aspect of CRT that's pretty ridiculous is that it frames science,
reason, and evidence as a "white" way of knowing.  As a cognitive distortion
this makes science and reason bad and ugly.  Conversely, CRT presents
storytelling and lived experience are a "black" alternative.  A cognitive
distortion known as either/or which is a polarizing over-simplification.

 

CRT sets up a double-bind so that anyone who disagrees with it thereby
demonstrates that they are racist and strangely enough that even includes
people are black(!).  This double-bind prevents a white person from saying,
"I am not racist," that is something he cannot say.  He is a racist by
nature and always will be.  Now racism is inherited and genetic!  What's
required is that he confess that he is a racist simply because he was born
with white skin color.  If he believes all people are equal, he is still a
racist.  If he believes people should be respected on the basis of their
character, he is still a racist.

 

The problem with CRT is it came out of Marxism.  That's why it divides the
world into oppressors and the oppressed.  Here the cognitive distortion of
over-simplification creates two categories of people: oppressors and
victims.  Then with a sleight of hand, they categorize all minorities as
automatically victims. That means all white people are oppressors.

 

As more over-generalizing and over-simplifying, all white people (regardless
of their economic conditions) are privileged, that's mostly because as white
people, they bear "the sins of their fathers" (meaning numerous generations
ago).  Reparations for the sins of slavery (pre-1860) is now what's supposed
to cure the illness.  Of course, trying to figure that out is another major
problem.  Would whites whose relatives fought for the union be excepted?
Would abortionists who created the underground railroad?

 

CRT is irrational on so many counts.  It is irrational in its framing of
history, irrational in the face of the legitimate problems we have among
different ethnic groups, and irrational in its proposed solutions.  Rather
than helping, it polarizes people and promotes hatred.  It offers a childish
frame about history- an over-simplified good versus evil.  For these
reasons, CRT should be rejected by every politician, school administration
and every thinking person who cares to protect equality of persons before
the eyes of the law.  CRT only makes things worse.  It is completely
unworkable for mixed "race" couples and families, their children, and people
who have learned to be color-blind.  Because CRT lacks critical thinking, it
violates what it means to think clearly.

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

Check out The Shop -- www.neurosemantics.com/shop/ 

 

              Sometime this week we will be adding the books of

Meta-States and Neuro-Semantics to The Shop.

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to Neurons, send request to meta at acsol.net 

Making smart decisions is not easy--- many, many cognitive biases work
against us and it is far too easy to default to pseudo-decisions: emotions,
gut feelings, intuitions, circumstances, others.  

Executive Decisions (2021) offers a way to decide intelligently and wisely.

 

130969 Neuro Semantics Executive Decisions Book Cover

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20210411/45550a97/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 11695 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20210411/45550a97/attachment-0001.jpg>