Sunday, July 29, 2007
The Words
I downloaded Ricki Lee Jones' Sermon on Exposition Boulevard last winter ignorant of her friend Lee Cantelon's The Words project of which the album is a part. It turned out to be one of those “where have these people been all my life moments“.
Here's the blurb from the project web site which describes the goings on:
The Words website was begun in the winter of 1999, publishing the words of Jesus in a new translation by Lee Cantelon that groups Christ's words thematically. The idea was to provide access for readers to discover the ideas that are the foundations of Christianity, and to do this outside of the traditional New Testament setting, allowing access to the words of Jesus in a non-historical manner, and in a less religious context. The Words website has gone on to publish translations of the English manuscript in more than two dozen languages and generated a following among scholars and those in pursuit of spiritual insights. This site contains the results of this work, as well as many informative studies, exploring the basic idea of Christianity in art, classic and contemporary writing, and in Jewish literature that searches for meaning and revelation in a post modern world.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Implicit Sex, Race and Open Source Software
Any time a hapless public figure claims they're not a racist after making statements that would have made Bull Conner blush should be made to reveal the results of their Implicit Association Test on racial attitudes. Developed by researchers at Harvard several years back and now spun off into a web project called Project Implicit, the IAT is designed to “assess your conscious and unconscious preferences for over 90 different topics ranging from pets to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers”. The methodology developed for the test is fascinating. I would also love to get my hands on the mother lode of data amassed by these researchers.
I've taken several IAT's over the past couple of years and always found them insightful and accurate. YMMV, of course. For example,
on the test for racial (Black/White) preferences, I show a slight automatic preference for White people compared to Black people. The graphic to the right shows the percentage breakdowns for racial preferences for the over 750,000 people who've taken this particular IAT. I don't have a problem admitting that I harbor racial preferences. I suspect the first step in overcoming racism is to acknowledge the extent to which it exists in your own heart. Judging others solely on the basis of their color, of course, is a sin worthy of working hard to overcome.
On the IAT for sexuality, I show a moderate automatic preference for straight people compared to gay people. As the graphic below shows, this puts me in
with 25% of the over 250,000 people who've taken this IAT. This is a little surprising to me since I strongly support equal rights including marriage and ordination for gay people. Too many Christians don't see how judging a person solely on the basis of his or her sexual orientation is every bit as wrong as racism.
Again, the value of knowing your own implicit biases is in knowing they exist and then overcoming them the next time you hire a person or invite someone into your church or home. Now, I would be very concerned if my scores showed no preference for either White over Black or gay over straight as this would indicate either a disturbing propensity to lie to myself, or given my intensely racist and sexist upbringing, proof that I am the Second Coming.
On the two latest tests I've taken I show a slight preference for open source software over Microsoft software and a slight preference for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. The first is no surprise. The implications of the second are too complicated to even begin unraveling at this point .....
I've taken several IAT's over the past couple of years and always found them insightful and accurate. YMMV, of course. For example,
on the test for racial (Black/White) preferences, I show a slight automatic preference for White people compared to Black people. The graphic to the right shows the percentage breakdowns for racial preferences for the over 750,000 people who've taken this particular IAT. I don't have a problem admitting that I harbor racial preferences. I suspect the first step in overcoming racism is to acknowledge the extent to which it exists in your own heart. Judging others solely on the basis of their color, of course, is a sin worthy of working hard to overcome.On the IAT for sexuality, I show a moderate automatic preference for straight people compared to gay people. As the graphic below shows, this puts me in
with 25% of the over 250,000 people who've taken this IAT. This is a little surprising to me since I strongly support equal rights including marriage and ordination for gay people. Too many Christians don't see how judging a person solely on the basis of his or her sexual orientation is every bit as wrong as racism.Again, the value of knowing your own implicit biases is in knowing they exist and then overcoming them the next time you hire a person or invite someone into your church or home. Now, I would be very concerned if my scores showed no preference for either White over Black or gay over straight as this would indicate either a disturbing propensity to lie to myself, or given my intensely racist and sexist upbringing, proof that I am the Second Coming.
On the two latest tests I've taken I show a slight preference for open source software over Microsoft software and a slight preference for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. The first is no surprise. The implications of the second are too complicated to even begin unraveling at this point .....
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