Hacker News Reader

It didn't flip a switch for me because I never had any bias against someone for their accent. My question is why has this false, irrational belief about accents persisted for so long in America? There are tons of people in this thread talking about their bias, and I don't understand what led them to that state of mind in the first place.

View on HN

The article is about this being a global phenomenon, with emphasis on France and the UK. Weird to believe that this is any worse in America than it is anywhere else.

It's human nature to have an in-group and out-group. Sometimes it's as simple as language. Generally, anyone who claims they have absolutely no bias against X people for Y characteristic aren't aware of their own biases.

> Anyone who pretends they have no bias against X people for Y characteristic just isn't aware of their own biases.

Bias is easier to mitigate when you ignore any generalization about any large group of people, such as a linguistic group. Human nature is no excuse for having delusions about an accent.

> My question is why has this false, irrational belief about accents persisted for so long in America?

> Bias is easier to mitigate when you ignore any generalization about any large group of people

Hmmmmm...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com