#selection bias goes burrrr

[therulerofallpotatos]

It's always so interesting whenever I'm in a class on a Topic right; the psychology of prejudice, disability counseling, sex psychology, any women and gender class, history of autism, etc etc and the inevitable class discussion of "what are some ways we can combat ignorance and discrimination?" and without fail most of the class goes "just educate people" and while that's a worthy goal and a very good method...it also sometimes feels like we are ignoring the fact that the reason "just educate them" worked so well on the people present in that room at that time is because we are all literally academics who sign up for classes like psychology of prejudice, disability counseling, and sex psychology.

If just telling somebody that a thing they believe is racist worked, we'd have a way easier time getting people to stop saying racist things and that's including well-meaning people who are not interested in being unfair or prejudiced to others. it is simply more complicated than that and it sometimes feels like there's a lack of self-awareness amongst the "study self-awareness" group.