Love Your Amygdala

Today our illustrious fellows finished their first week of Humanity in Action. Despite sleep deprivation, a still-tenuous understanding of New York City geography and, for some, wicked foot injuries via shoes poorly designed for walking, the fellows arrived at Brooklyn’s Packer Hall for a day of discussions and presentations on the subject of race.

We began the day with an introduction to German and Dutch experiences with racism and tolerance, respectively. We found out that Germans are more European than everybody else (sorry, I meant “Pro-European”) and that the Dutch are finally getting enough news coverage. On a more serious note, the two presentations showed the struggles European societies have had with racism and integration—not all that far from the American experiences we hear about from the speakers.

Also provocative was the PBS documentary “Faces of the Enemy”, which we watched and discussed in detail. The documentary discussed the depiction of the “enemy” object in propaganda materials as depicted, largely, by political cartoonists and government-contracted artists. From case to case, one becomes convinced that all “enemy” depictions, regardless of nationality or political approach, share similar feral qualities which render them inhuman and therefore “easier” to fight. After separating into small groups, we discussed the psychology behind these representations, the potency of these cartoon symbols and ways in which one might be able to resist these influences through reasoning and critical examinations. By the way, this group of bloggers is better than THAT group of bloggers.

In the afternoon, we realized that such group-identity is both explicitly and implicitly held view. We have since decided that we will put up a rotating screen saver with pictures of other bloggers to widen our perspective.

We left the presentation with an open question as to whether or not tolerance of the intolerant is a good thing, or is it just perpetuating the same kind of problems? Damian Stanley’s presentation offered optimistic details of how we can become more tolerant, but at the same time presented alarming statistics showing that while we have become less explicitly intolerant we are often just as implicitly intolerant. Is it progress if people still hold intolerant views (even if subconsciously), though they do not express them explicitly? Would we be better off if people raised their intolerances and better allowed us to address them?

The last presenter of the day was Hunter College’s own, professor Jessie Daniels. Dr. Daniels explored the imposing presence of hate groups on the internet. She also included an extensive presentation on cloaked websites. Cloaked websites are websites with a subversive message hidden behind a façade of wholesome intent and graphic design. Dr. Daniels focused her presentation primarily on white supremacist websites, about which more information can be found at her website http://jessiedanielsphd.com/.

And now for the weekend- and an entire day FREE. Take care of your amygdala!
(Katharina, Kayla, Jedrek, Jason)