Archetypes within LinkedIn Discussions on Racism

Lynda Elliott
Sep 10, 2020
13 min read

Updated: Nov 30

2020 has been an astonishing and unsettling year for many reasons, but perhaps the most interesting observation to arise from this momentous year is just how polarized people have become.

The BLM demonstrations around the world that sprung up following the murder of George Floyd in the USA have showcased this polarization very clearly online, and in the real world.

I've noticed that - on social media - Black people have recently been stepping forward and discussing their experiences of racism candidly.

[I use the word "racism" only because it has a universally accepted meaning, but the truth is that there is no biological, ethical or genetic rationale for dividing humans into different, hierarchical "strains". We are all modern humans - breathtaking in our diversity, physicality, traditions and cultures. Within each one of us, dwell the unambiguous genomic strands of our common ancestry and the indisputable genesis of our species in sub-Saharan Africa.]

The plural of anecdote is data - Ray Wolfinger

I'd like to caveat that this article is based purely on my personal observations, conversations and interactions and that this is an opinion piece, not a formal research study. It is, if you like, a collection of hypotheses.

Echo Chambers as an Enabler of Hate Speech

So ... going back to what I've noticed happening in this sphere on social media. On Facebook, users are emboldened to use hate speech because very often, reported comments are not removed and there are no consequences for the protagonists. The Facebook algorithms actively enable echo chambers, and misinformation and/or hate speech is not consistently and rigorously removed. There is little accountability.

The situation is more restrained on LinkedIn, since this is a professional network, and as a rule, users tend to self-regulate their behaviour and employ a professional mask when interacting with the platform - since their professional life is at stake if they make comments that users report to the HR of their organisation. Business owners are less affected by this constraint. The echo chambers that exist on LinkedIn are primarily to do with professional activities and networking.

The tone of content generally tiptoes around "controversial" topics such as racism (unless diversity is a theme or role).

In 2020, this has changed. The masks are slipping off; the polarization is becoming more evident, and the reactions to Black folk disclosing their experiences on LinkedIn has produced some interesting insights.

Perhaps the attention that BLM and Mr Floyd (and other African Americans who have been murdered by "the system") has received in the media recently has created a space where this frank conversation can be had.

There is certainly an opportunity for White people to understand and learn about what it feels like for their friends, colleagues, managers, and professional connections to experience institutional, casual, and overt racism.

The posts that Black professionals are daring to share tend to get a lot of attention, and I've noticed that there are, broadly, four different types of people that interact with the posts.

The Knowers
The Aware
The Unaware
The Deniers

The Knowers

This group is composed of people who have directly experienced prejudice, insults, abuse, bigotry, and/or discrimination in their lives, based purely on their ethnicity. These folk are exclusively "non-White" (mostly Black) if we are to use racial terms.

A portion of these individuals is initiating discussions around race by posting about their experiences. The storytelling highlights personal experiences and nearly always contains an educational message.

Other Knowers are quick to jump in and provide support and/or attempt to educate The Unaware and The Deniers who inevitably respond to the posts.

Not all Knowers are publicly active in their support and/or education on social media. The cost of putting your head above the parapet and becoming a target for trolls can seem too great - especially if one is representing a professional organisation.

Professional reputations are fiercely guarded by most on LinkedIn. The nature of a professional network is such that going too off-piste can be seen as creating damage to one’s professional reputation, and the evaluation of those risks is generally a subjective one.

Furthermore, it's not always easy or comfortable for some Knowers to be open and public about experiences that have been deeply wounding, traumatic, humiliating, or frustrating for them.

A subgroup find ways to open up and squarely face the risks of potential hurt or abuse. The content provides perspectives on the pressures The Knowers face in terms of representing all Black people.

Some speak about feeling afraid to speak up, because nobody really wants to hear about it. Others mention the stress of witnessing their communities being traumatized and mistreated, and still having to go to work and put a professional smile on their face.

Broadly speaking, individuals react to traumatic events in one of four ways : Fight, flight, freeze or fawn. These trauma responses will, to some degree, determine how - and if - Knowers who have directly been affected by racism will engage with these sensitive discussions on professional networks. It requires resilience and courage.

The hypothetical scale of activity that Knowers sit on looks something like this

A small number of members of this group could be moved from apathy towards activism through a collection of events that they experience personally or on the world stage, through witnessing unjust behaviour towards other Knowers.

However, judging from posts, many people are exhausted and traumatized by events shown on traditional media and shared relentlessly on social media. As one Knower puts it:

The majority of my day is spent at work, and the persistent images of Blacks being murdered, systemic racism, the awareness of my own blackness - these thoughts and feelings don't automatically go away once I step into the office.

Being unable to "switch off" from traumatic images and news may be another reason why people are starting to put up posts of a more personal nature, when it comes to the colour of their skin and their lived experiences, but this does not imply that they would automatically become activists.

The Aware

This group tends to be "White people who get it". They don't say things like "All Lives Matter!" because they understand that to say so is to misunderstand the loaded historical, political, and socioeconomic signifiers that are embedded within the phrase "Black Lives Matter" and thus, to effectively dismiss it.

They have chosen to educate themselves, once they became aware of concepts such as privilege and institutional racism, and/or they were not "taught" racism by their family and/or belong to a “mixed” family, and were thus able to see it for the great injustice that it is.

This group connects to the human experience without having to draw on references contained within their own personal position of "privilege". They can think outside of their own "box" of life experiences, and they can feel compassion and solidarity.

Some of these individuals actively support and "validate" the Knowers, but - like The Knowers - not all people in The Aware group choose to be public in their support.

Our differences are what makes us beautiful. You and I are clearly different, but I support, encourage, and champion your voice and anyone that needs it.

The risk of being attacked for their interaction, however, does not have the same psychologically venomous sting as it would have for The Knowers, because in addition to being insulted or ridiculed or diminished, for The Knowers, there is an element of gaslighting from The Deniers, and, to a lesser degree, The Unaware.

The scale of awareness for this group contains individuals who are consciously aware of their privilege, or at the very least, display compassion for The Knowers.

In terms of the types of activity this group tend towards, it ranges from activism through to apathy.

Individuals can be stimulated to act (but not necessarily become an Activist) when their feelings are aroused through being personally affected by acts of racism (witnessing a colleague, loved one or friend being abused, insulted, or discriminated against), and/or via media stories around, for example, the topic of police violence towards minority groups.

Awareness of privilege moves into consciousness as these individuals recognise the implications of the fact that not "all cats are grey in the dark".

The Unaware

This group may not understand exactly what all the fuss is about, they simply don’t care, or they struggle to understand the terminology and nature of racism from the perspective of a Knower.

We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are

Anaïs Nin

Individuals within this group are not exclusively "White", however, and may contain individuals who have adopted the unconscious fawn response to their own trauma (in other words, take an appeasement approach within the race discussion as a means of self protection), or "Brown" people who don't see the Black "cause" as their own.

This group generally do not consider themselves racist; however, they may hold stereotypical views of other ethnicities, or display views that are decidedly racist. They are more likely to say "All Lives Matter!" or fail to grasp why a Black person was offended by a particular incident.

If they are White, they do not consider that they have "privilege", because, like everyone else, they are struggling to get by. Life isn't easy for anyone, hence ... all lives matter.

Racism: The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.

They may not necessarily understand the meaning of "privilege" in this context, and the term can be perceived as snarky, or a slur - and this can lead to further polarization between the groups.

They may not understand the exact meaning of terms such as systemic racism , or the true meaning of racism.

The Unaware may acknowledge that racism exists, but they point out that Black people can be racist towards White people, that Hispanics can be racist towards Asians and so forth. They question whether systemic racism really exists.

They tend to be unaware of how, for example, a friend or colleague was once targeted on the street simply because of the tone of his complexion. In part, this could be because the Black person never spoke about this embarrassing and traumatic experience, as he didn't want to be perceived as "other" by his peers. He may be more comfortable disclosing this to an Aware friend, if at all.

People within this somewhat fluid group have a number of directions of travel. They may become conscious and open to understanding and accepting that they have privilege and biases that may be hurtful to others. They may choose to become part of The Aware group through this consciousness and acceptance.

They may also become more entrenched in their unconscious (or, indeed, conscious) bias and feel the need to defend their beliefs, thus becoming part of The Denier group.

Or - they may decide not to engage further and continue to live as a bystander, minding their own business (aka the Apathy subset).

In terms of being aware of privilege and their own racism, individuals within this group sit somewhere within this scale.

The journey from unconscious to conscious could be activated through education and experiences shared by The Knowers (supported by The Aware), as well as first-hand experience of witnessing racism or being personally discriminated against in some way.

The individual’s response to these stimuli will determine which group they will most likely become a part of next if they choose not to remain unengaged.

If the tone of the discussion is polite and respectfully educational, there may be a better chance of reasoning - and the opportunity to find bridges across this polarized debate.

If … you’re a white liberal whose goal is to foster a more equitable culture, you need to stop yelling ‘Racist!’ at anyone who doesn’t see the world exactly as you do. Somehow you need to find enough common ground for a real conversation about race. Very few people are stupid or irredeemably mean. They’ll listen to what you have to say if they trust you’ll listen to what they have to say back.

Margaret Renkl, How to Talk to a Racist, writing for the New York Times

It would appear that for many, established base views are fairly immutable - particularly if they are enabled through social echo chambers and/or political beliefs and systems - but I have observed a handful of stories on Facebook, where Unawares have made the journey to, for example, Aware Activist.

The Deniers

The final group of people (mostly, but not exclusively, White men) are the ones engaging in provocative or aggressive responses to posts and comments from The Knower (and to a lesser degree, The Aware).

An element of this group of people can be very political in their views. They pepper their comments with disdain-drenched terms such as "progressive liberals", "the LEFT" and "socialists". This subgroup sees BLM as a corrupt, violent movement to be feared and loathed. Outside of their echo chambers, they unwittingly reveal their belief in baseless conspiracy theories and their (far right) politics through the terminology that they use (snowflake, liberal, globalist, progressive, etc).

This is typical of how you cry baby liberals act ... I’m sick of your victim mentality.

While Facebook might be accused of having the bargain-basement variety of The Denier (low literacy skills and sarcastic or cruel use of the "ha ha" or "angry" reaction), LinkedIn users, unsurprisingly, tend to be more articulate.

Quite often, individuals within this group call others (who do not share their views, or offer alternative views) "racist". This could be the result of a lack of self-awareness, that leads to projection, or a poor understanding of the term racist (see also Can White People Experience Racism in the Further Reading section below).

Some assert that not all Black people are "Lefties", and that The Knowers are not speaking for all Black people - especially Black Conservatives (and this, to a certain degree is accurate, since some Knowers have explicitly admitted that they cannot speak for all Black people, and nor would they wish to).

Gaslighting : A form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem.

There are also those who engage in these posts to provoke and gaslight the poster. For example, one commenter challenged a Knower's perception of - and reaction to - an event at work where he encountered what he described as microaggression. The Knower posted the context around this event and opened up a discussion about this type of behaviour in the workplace, as well as a link to an article on microaggression.

A Denier contributed to the discussion by asserting that the affront was not racist, and insinuated that Black people are "playing the victim card" and finding racism in every little nuance. He continued to rationalise his argument by saying :

If I punch a Black woman, is that a racist attack?

What is notable from the extreme elements within this group is that they are relying wholly on their own worldview and frame of reference, and they feel a strong need to justify or defend racism or racist acts, sometimes by discrediting victims of systemic racist abuse by labelling them "criminals" who deserve to be shot or murdered. One Denier called it "Suicide by cop".

In this example, a female Knower shared a tweet from Black female scientist Danielle Twum, PhD.

A male Knower (a chauffeur by profession) commented "Well it's time our kids knew that not everything good in this world is white."

A male Denier chipped in "You are a racist black man hiding behind your skin colour and poor me race card ... are you being paid by BLM to stir on public forums. Calling white people out and trying to drive aggression. Nice keep driving your car!!!"

A female Unaware reacted with : "Scientists are scientists nothing to do with colour."

A female Aware reacted with "As a matter of fact, career options has much to do with colour. There's a study out of Harvard on what is called the Matilda Effect where black women scientists are consistently mistaken for cleaning staff."

While not all Deniers can be called extremist in their views, the ones that elect to participate in these discussions tend to be aggressive and determined to say their piece and defend their viewpoints - often through attacking others, and in some cases, tagging other Deniers for "back up".

The Deniers are usually challenged and/or educated by The Knowers and The Aware.

For the non-Apathetic subset, the range of activities that individuals may engage in are illustrated in the Denier Scale of Activity.

How do People become Racists?

Racism is taught and programmed into the brain through repetition, social consensus and systems, and enabled through echo chambers, algorithms and racists in positions of power.

To be a conscious (or unconscious) racist is essentially a series of conscious or unconscious choices [that align with unconscious bias] and/or psychological reactions to events in both personal lives and within the world.

In some cases, racism is the result of direct experience. For example, I knew a young woman in South Africa many years ago, who had been gang-raped by a group of Black men. A hugely traumatic experience, that led to her being an active, conscious racist.

She could have chosen to become a vehement misandrist. We can speculate as to possible subconscious motivations for making the journey to arrive at extreme racism (towards all Black men, women and children), as opposed to, say, a general hatred of men.

Where political leaders or public figures actively enable this through their speech and reactions to events, this is seen as validation of biases and bigoted beliefs. At the time, South Africa was practicing apartheid - a political and cultural system of institutional racism that enabled and supported the leap to classifying all Black people as inherently "inferior" or "bad".

It's possible, that as a heterosexual woman, cognitive dissonance arising from this horrific experience may have forced her to choose all White men as allies and all Black men as enemies in order to resolve conflicting feelings about men and the weaponization of sex. We will never know the truth, but this anecdote shows that for some racists, there is a powerful, personal psychological (potentially trauma-based) rationale for their stance.

In Conclusion

2020 sure is proving a pivotal year for opening up the cracks and divisions within individuals, society, systems and politics.

I have no doubt these conversations will continue to happen on social media and on LinkedIn. It is, perhaps, heartening to see that the majority of comments I looked at were supportive and kind, and that it was generally a comparatively very small number of vocal users who felt the need to challenge, undermine, oppose or insult others. There were very few posts where at least one Unaware or Denier did not participate.

But, to the people who are brave enough to self-disclose or publicly support others, the impact of cruel words can have a powerful emotional effect at a time when coronavirus is still wreaking havoc on public health and economies, and civil unrest and shootings of Black people and BLM supporters in the USA continue to make headlines.

There are clear mental health impacts (including PTSD, depression and anxiety) for people who experience racism in all of its forms, and no clear biological or ethical rationale for why this toxic, inhumane social construct should be enabled and tolerated in society - or on social media.

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