CRITICAL RACE THEORY LACKS CRITICAL THINKING

These days Critical Race Theory (CRT) is getting lots of publicity in the news here in the US. But that’s a shame because when you examine it, it is full of falsehoods, biases, and cognitive fallacies. The bottom line— it lacks critical thinking.

“CRT is the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color.”

The first requirement for believing CRT is an extremely divisive manuever. First of all you have to divide up the human race into “races.” But race implies basic and incompatible differences. Yet all humans on planet earth are of the same species which explains why we can intermarry and produce children. We are a singular species! That means there is no incompatible differences. Actually, it is false to say that there are multiple “races,” there is only one race— the human race. The idea of more than one human race is simply false. There are many human families, and as all families have their own history and values, so with the many human families. Yet in the end, it is the one and only human family (see Neurons #13 March 29).

The next cognitive fallacy involves turning “race” (a non-existent entity) into “racism.” And with any -ism, it then becomes a belief system and an ideology. Those who believe this ideology adopt the cognitive bias that “racism” is “present in every aspect of life, every relationship, and every interaction.” Talk about a belief system gone toxic! Here is over-generalization that promotes “race” over character, morality, love, compassion, law, ethics, etc. It is as if the only important thing is your so-called “race” — whatever that is.

What “race” tends to be for CRT is skin color (the most superficial distinction of all). People are divided into groups of white, black, yellow, brown, etc. Mostly it is white versus color. Then with that, we have the next bias in CRT— the bias against white people. “White people only give black people opportunities and freedoms when it is also in their own interests.” Of course, the immediate question that arises from that is, “What date are you talking about?” 2021? 1950? 1870? 1500? Given the history of Europe in 1600s, perhaps we could say that “most” white people at that time “only” gave “black people” opportunities when it is in their own interests. But is that still true? What about “black people” who today are CEOs, or wealthy, or in positions of authority? Can they not give opportunities to people when it is in their own interests?

Another distortion of CRT is that it because treats race issues as “socially constructed,” there are no individuals in this theory. CRT rejects the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. that we’d become a country color-blind and focused more on a person’s character, to see a person as an individual

—a member of the human race.

Another aspect of CRT that’s pretty ridiculous is that it frames science, reason, and evidence as a “white” way of knowing. As a cognitive distortion this makes science and reason bad and ugly. Conversely, CRT presents storytelling and lived experience are a “black” alternative. A cognitive distortion known as either/or which is a polarizing over-simplification.

CRT sets up a double-bind so that anyone who disagrees with it thereby demonstrates that they are racist and strangely enough that even includes people are black(!). This double-bind prevents a white person from saying, “I am not racist,” that is something he cannot say. He is a racist by nature and always will be. Now racism is inherited and genetic! What’s required is that he confess that he is a racist simply because he was born with white skin color. If he believes all people are equal, he is still a racist. If he believes people should be respected on the basis of their character, he is still a racist.

The problem with CRT is it came out of Marxism. That’s why it divides the world into oppressors and the oppressed. Here the cognitive distortion of over-simplification creates two categories of people: oppressors and victims. Then with a sleight of hand, they categorize all minorities as automatically victims. That means all white people are oppressors.

As more over-generalizing and over-simplifying, all white people (regardless of their economic conditions) are privileged, that’s mostly because as white people, they bear “the sins of their fathers” (meaning numerous generations ago). Reparations for the sins of slavery (pre-1860) is now what’s supposed to cure the illness. Of course, trying to figure that out is another major problem. Would whites whose relatives fought for the union be excepted? Would abortionists who created the underground railroad?

CRT is irrational on so many counts. It is irrational in its framing of history, irrational in the face of the legitimate problems we have among different ethnic groups, and irrational in its proposed solutions. Rather than helping, it polarizes people and promotes hatred. It offers a childish frame about history— an over-simplified good versus evil. For these reasons, CRT should be rejected by every politician, school administration and every thinking person who cares to protect equality of persons before the eyes of the law. CRT only makes things worse. It is completely unworkable for mixed “race” couples and families, their children, and people who have learned to be color-blind. Because CRT lacks critical thinking, it violates what it means to think clearly.