I am married to a 'black doctor'. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter what I say or don't say, I can't get away with shiat.

She's an ICU doctor and her patients are almost always unconscious and unable to communicate. When she does talk, it's with family of the patient. It's usually something like ' Granny is 95 and brain dead. It's been a month and you still want her on the respirator?'.

Relevant (new window)

/Not really relevant.

There are black doctors?

/thought they were all Asian and Indian now

So how did they determine whether the researched doctors and patients were 'black' or 'white' (or whatever else or whatever in-between) ? Was it a self-identification thingee, or did the researchers in question just label their subjects as they saw fit ?

Switch the colors of the doctors and patients.the conflicted pattern of communication wouldn't suggest a lack of social ease but people would suggest racism.

FTA: "African-American physicians face many professional challenges, including discrimination, bias from employers and colleagues and white patients who question their authority

Studies have shown that discrimination and questioning authority are the result of years of Affirmative Action programs telling society that African-Americans are inherently inferior and cannot succeed without special privileges and lower standards. Without AA, patients, employers, and colleagues would know that anyone, regardless of race, who got into and graduated from medical school was qualified. With AA, no one can be sure.

Studies have also shown that there are tendencies among races to be better at different kinds of intelligence and skills. No race is inherently smarter, their intelligence manifests itself in slightly different ways. Again, these are tendencies, not absolutes. Perhaps inherent skill at better non-verbal communication is another of those tendencies.

Mr. Right: FTA: "African-American physicians face many professional challenges, including discrimination, bias from employers and colleagues and white patients who question their authority

Studies have shown that discrimination and questioning authority are the result of years of Affirmative Action programs telling society that African-Americans are inherently inferior and cannot succeed without special privileges and lower standards. Without AA, patients, employers, and colleagues would know that anyone, regardless of race, who got into and graduated from medical school was qualified. With AA, no one can be sure.

Studies have also shown that there are tendencies among races to be better at different kinds of intelligence and skills. No race is inherently smarter, their intelligence manifests itself in slightly different ways. Again, these are tendencies, not absolutes. Perhaps inherent skill at better non-verbal communication is another of those tendencies.

Outside the industry of breeding cats, dogs and horses, where it is a mere commercial qualifier, the whole concept of 'race' does not exist.

What a black doctor might look like.

in all fairness, black doctors were mostly raised by black mothers who had that "mmm-hmm" thing down pat. so, there's that.

/and deadly accuracy with high heel fu

What a black doctor might look like.

This sounds like a big load of crap. "Non-verbal communications"? I'm sorry, but we were born with mouths for a reason. And apparently it only works when they're talking to other black people. Well duh, people with the same culture communicate better than people with different cultures. I'm guessing the only reason white doctors aren't as open with blacks is because they're afraid they're going to say the wrong thing and get slapped with a fraudulent lawsuit. That tactic doesn't work so well on black doctors.

Blacks are also better at violent crimes, not completing high school, and generally leeching off society.

My white Irish doctor has a hard enough time that I question everything he does and second guess the medical tests he orders. Then when his nurse calls with results I ask her for specific numbers rather than the "it is good". No I want to know my cholesterol numbers specifically ... etc...

After 20 years my doctor knows that I am not really questioning his authority, but any new doctor gets upset fast when I am asking about things they think they should not have to explain.

/sorry, you cannot just accept what a Dr. is telling you, you need to get details and research what they mean.

j0ndas: Non-verbal communications"? I'm sorry, but we were born with mouths for a reason.

Yeah your right! at least on the internets

gearsprocket: Blacks are also better at violent crimes, not completing high school, and generally leeching off society.

That's not a bad effort. Maybe a little overreaching, but you'll still get quite a few bites.

j0ndas
2012-01-19 06:25:56 AM
This sounds like a big load of crap. "Non-verbal communications"? I'm sorry, but we were born with mouths for a reason. And apparently it only works when they're talking to other black people.

Yeah, because doctors always treat people who can talk and then, only other black people. Because a black doctor is obviously just for black people. Right? Like on the Lawrence Welk show where the two black dancers always end up paired no matter how much running around they do in between. That's some hellified choregraphy.

OMG. Ya'll are so clueless and ya'll make me weary with your racism. He're what the article is really saying:

SurBlACK! You've come across a NEGRO! Don't faint.

Sometimes, in the course of a day, white people come across black people and it surprises the shiat out of white folks. ESPECIALLY if that white person has already called in advance and particularly if they have already spoken to the black person in question and safely assumed that, upon arrival, their business would be conducted in the security of an all white or mostly white environment. White people are used to the token black receptionist and of course the black janitor. These black people they accept graciously. Others, not so much.

White people are rarely prepared to encounter black people. Unlike black people, who generally start off their thought process with "this is what I'm going to do when I encounter some clueless white person in situation X" white people can, with little effort, assume that they can always find some white person to deal with and are almost always nearly taken aback when a person of color is not just their waiter or nurse, but has some position of authority (that they must question as a matter of course) such as manager or *gasp* doctor.

Because of this, black people, and black doctors in particular, have become really good at detecting white folks discomfort with their being black. Here's the funniest part: White people think they do a really good job of hiding their surprise but they really do a lousy job of it. Black people, and again, particularly black doctors who must come into contact with a high number of white people, have learned to read the signs of a white person suffering from SurBlack! syndrome and we do our best to put white folks at ease.

We smile more. We use softer, higher speaking voices, much as you would with a child or dangerous animal. The concept is much the same. We use open body language so that white people do not feel threatened. We may chuckle more or use references to white culture to put white people more at ease. We do all of this in an effort to convince the white person that we are dealing with at the time that we are less like Flavor Flav (whom white people would see as undesirable but is actually an intelligent business man but puts on a minstrel act because it makes him money) and more like Oprah or Bill Cosby (whom white folks revere as the standard to which all black people should aspire).

This article was written by a white person who was amazed that a black doctor should be able to sense white folks discomfort. As a white person, it's something they would have never guessed! Why should a white person be afraid of a black doctor? And if they were, well surely they would do such a good job of hiding their racist assumptions and fears that a black person would never, ever know. Again, I must reiterate: white people do a really bad job of hiding their microagression and it never goes unnoticed by black people even though we never mention it. So white people always go away breathing a sigh of relief thinking that they just pulled off an acting job worthy of an Emmy and we're laughing our asses off at your racist asses, but also breathing a sigh of relief that we didn't have to deal with darky jokes.

The upshot of all this racial ring-around-the-rosy is that black people, and by the same token (no pun intended), black doctors, who must come across a diverse number of people, are much better at reading the body language, facial expressions and non-verbal cues of, not just white people, but pretty much everybody.

Because we have to be able to read white people to survive, it's actually become a useful job skill. That it's actually important for a doctor to understand what a patient is saying and what they may NOT be saying is woefully lacking from this article. That black doctors have this skill in spades (ok, maybe pun intended) where it's one that overall, some white doctors lack, is something the article states up front. Sadly, making the point up front, that black doctors have a skill or are better at something than a white doctor results in a thread like this where said skill is immediately written off as unimportant or only useful when working with jive talking black patients.

I know the standard white people replies to this are going to be a) that I'm the one who's really racist and b) as long as you're getting treated, you wouldn't care what color your doctor was.

And to that, I would reply, that's what you're mouth says. That's the standard politically correct answer and, according to this article, you may even be able to smile and act like you mean it.

But your body language says you're lying.

Because you are.

And black people know this.

SurBlack!

Hermione_Granger: Sometimes, in the course of a day a movie, white people come across black people

I have some of those. Black Beauties riding white cocks 7, Spackle her black face 3, and White studs face-blasting black cowboys 15.

Jack Black 62
Of course many people will feel weary having a black doctor. They do not know if he really is qualified, or if he is just there because of Affirmative Action.

You can be secure in the knowledge that if your doctor is black he had to study twice as hard and be twice as good as his white counterparts to be in the same or lesser position.

This thread should turn out well.

I hope this doesn't sound racist, but I've noticed that African Americans seem to be particularly good at compassionate communication. They listen and commiserate with great heart, in my experience.

PsiChi: I hope this doesn't sound racist, but I've noticed that African Americans seem to be particularly good at compassionate communication. They listen and commiserate with great heart, in my experience.

You should see them dance. What rhythm!

Jack Black 62: Of course many people will feel weary having a black doctor. They do not know if he really is qualified, or if he is just there because of Affirmative Action.

Yes, because they just give anyone an MD these days.

/My wife also got a PhD because it was two-for-one at Mt.Sinai that day.

Jack Black 62: Of course many people will feel weary having a black doctor. They do not know if he really is qualified, or if he is just there because of Affirmative Action.

Why would a black doctor make them tired?

eraser8: Jack Black 62: MythDragon: Hermione_Granger: Sometimes, in the course of a day a movie, white people come across black people

I have some of those. Black Beauties riding white cocks 7, Spackle her black face 3, and White studs face-blasting black cowboys 15.

Those are bestiality "films".

How do you figure?

Are you saying that white people are subhuman?

I know giving somebody the benefit of the doubt is a bad idea around here, but maybe it was a riff on the "Black Beauties riding..." title?



/Image is hot like that sexy, sexy horse.

CSB time:

I referred a 60-ish year old man to a colleague to treat him for a back problem (lumbar spondylosis and an L5 radiculopathy). I told him that the doctor was very good, and that I had previously been treated by him so I could vouch for him personally.

I saw the man back about six weeks later (I was treating him for a different condition) and asked him how his back was doing. He commented that while his back was much better, he didn't think Dr. Smith was very friendly, and that he let "his boy" do all the talking. Also, he was somewhat perturbed that Dr. Smith also had "his boy" do the epidural injection while he stood off to the side and did paperwork.

What do mean, "his boy", I asked.

"The young colored fella! The boy who follows Dr. Smith around!"

"Ummm... Dr. Smith IS the 'young colored fella'. The older white guy is his assistant, and he's a nurse."

"Waaallllll, son of a gun! I just figgered... who'd a thunk it! A colored doctor with a white helper!"

*facepalm*

Righteous.

Jack Black 62 Quote 2012-01-19 08:21:29 AM

Hermione_Granger: Jack Black 62
Of course many people will feel weary having a black doctor. They do not know if he really is qualified, or if he is just there because of Affirmative Action.

You can be secure in the knowledge that if your doctor is black he had to study twice as hard and be twice as good as his white counterparts to be in the same or lesser position.

Yeah, okay. CSB!


Dismissive acronyms like CSB and all it embodies are why I particularly despise the idiocy of white people sometimes. That you can describe something racist and they dismiss it with more racism makes me want to load up on guns and bring my friends.

/and then, I exhaled

coco ebert: O.M.G.

Even better: I'm not white either. But maybe people are used to seeing Asian doctors, cause we're all sciencey and stuff, amilite? ROR

Anyway, it's not like the old guy was maliciously-frothing-at-the-mouth racist. I just chalked it up to his demographics (Boomer hillbilly) and the nature of this part of the country (southwest Ohio). "Colored" professionals were, and maybe still are, somewhat unusual.

Hermione_Granger: Dismissive acronyms like CSB and all it embodies are why I particularly despise the idiocy of white people sometimes. That you can describe something racist and they dismiss it with more racism makes me want to load up on guns and bring my friends.

/and then, I exhaled

Consider this statement: I despise the idiocy of black people.

Racist?

/sure glad you're out there to put us white folk in our place for all that racism and whatnot.

watson.t.hamster 2012-01-19 12:53:01 PM

/and then, I exhaled

Consider this statement: I despise the idiocy of black people.

Racist?


Maybe. Depends. On face value, not really.

Hermione_Granger: wall o'text redacted for brevity

*applause* Well said.

Note that sometimes white people's nervousness is due to unfamiliarity and/or a different kind of worry. I grew up in a small town that was 98% white and rarely got to interact closely with people who weren't.

Subtle racism undergirds a lot of things people do and say and think. Because blacks have gotten the shortest end of the stick from it, and because I don't have a lot of experience with culturally-identified African Americans (I have black friends, but most are so linguistically and culturally identical to my white/etc. friends that the difference rarely occurs to me), I worry the most around them that I will thoughtlessly say something that could cause offense. I don't want to contribute to someone feeling like a pariah, and sometimes anxiety might do exactly that. :(

Thankfully, living for the past year in an area where black people are pretty common in all social classes has made this less of a deal.

watson.t.hamster: Hermione_Granger: Dismissive acronyms like CSB and all it embodies are why I particularly despise the idiocy of white people sometimes. That you can describe something racist and they dismiss it with more racism makes me want to load up on guns and bring my friends.

/and then, I exhaled

Consider this statement: I despise the idiocy of black people.

Racist?

/sure glad you're out there to put us white folk in our place for all that racism and whatnot.

Yeah, that was a little racist. The dismissive "CSB" isn't limited to white people. But maybe HG was talking about the practice of dismissing racism (which still isn't just a white thing, but is more understandable).

Madbassist1 [TotalFark] E 2012-01-19 02:13:08 PM Edit/unIgnore User Ignore User

Hermione_Granger: watson.t.hamster 2012-01-19 12:53:01 PM

/and then, I exhaled

Consider this statement: I despise the idiocy of black people.

Racist?


Maybe. Depends. On face value, not really.

Of course it is. Categorizing an entire group of people according to their race ('Black people') is the DEFINITION of racist.


Uh, no. The idiocy of white people, particularly in regards to racism, annoys me. However the idiocy of black people (in other areas) sometimes annoys me as well.

However he's referring to something some black people do. He does not express a hatred for all black people.

So, to me, what he said wasn't necessarily racist.

Madbassist1: Hermione_Granger: watson.t.hamster 2012-01-19 12:53:01 PM

/and then, I exhaled

Consider this statement: I despise the idiocy of black people.

Racist?


Maybe. Depends. On face value, not really.

Of course it is. Categorizing an entire group of people according to their race ('Black people') is the DEFINITION of racist.

Close but no cigar. Categorizing people solely on their race is the definition of racist. "All Asian people drive badly." However if you have actual evidence and draw a logical conclusion that is substantially correlated with race then we call that "factual."