I shall now attempt to fistfight my subconscious

blink by Malcolm Gladwell

I finished Blink this past weekend. It's a quick read and I recommend it to anyone who likes to A) read something profound B) feel the need to share this amazing discovery with others immediately and C) kinda want to learn about themselves without discussing which planet their sex hails from. Pretty fascinating book. The essence of which is that we all, in a matter of milliseconds, make a decision with our subconscious mind that impacts our conscious mind without us necessarily knowing it.

For example, let's say I tell Balldee that I think he's an idiot. In the split second after saying this his face will register anger, then calm, then a smile because he knows I'm just trying to get him riled up. This all happens in maybe 2 seconds but I understand it all. How? That's what the book attempts to answer.

The fascinating part, which also doubles as the part that pisses me off, is how our preconceived notions impact us. In the book Gladwell explains a study conducted at Harvard (or some other ivy league school, it matters not) in which the subject is shown a series of photos. These photos are shown for less than a second at a time and the subject has to associate them with each other in a split second, basically without consciously thinking. A gun, a wrench, a white person and a black person make up the photos. I don't recall exactly but the subjects associated the gun with the black person and the wrench with the white person. This happened for all subjects of all races. This happened around 85% of the time.

That's sad because it means somewhere deeply imbedded within us we have certain notions about people that WE DON'T EVEN GET TO WEIGH IN ON CONSCIOUSLY. We just see the photos and automatically unite "gun" with "black person". That's just sad, particularly because I think most people aren't intentionally racist. This study shows that they may not have a choice.

The amazing thing is that even when the subject is told ahead of time what he's going to see he still makes the same decision. So good natured people who are not racists still associate "gun" with "black person" even when they're consciously trying not to do so. The school did many tests. The only way to change your score in a significant manner was to "prime" the subject. Before the test the subject would be shown photos of successful and respected black people. Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, Nelson Mandela. After looking at these photos the scores changed dramatically and basically split the gun votes between white and black people.

What does this tell us? That spending time with people other than those from our backgrounds (after all this isn't just about race, it can be about gender, sexual preference or D&D enthusiasts) is the only way to change your subconscious choices. The only way to overcome the bullshit shown in the news is to have personal experience to rely on.

So folks, I implore you, hang out with people who are not like you. It's the only way we're going to change what our stupid fucking subconsciousness is telling us. We can't control what our subconscious thinks right now, but that can change if we want it to. Let's start today. Let's start with a hug. Who wants a hug? Come and get your love!