A Member of the Stigmatized Disabled Writes to His Family

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

Take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, ... re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul - Walt Whitman, Preface to first edition of Leaves of Grass

To be decent, every person has to make their own ethical decisions. . . . If you are conformist, you almost certainly violate universal ethical standards of decency. [Vide infra]

"X" wrote the following to his sister, the member of his family he thought most open-minded:

Dear __:
  The following is a copy of an e-mail I just sent to my son. The incident I refer to near the end occurred at a party at [my son's] residence. It was the last time I saw him and may partially explain why this is so.
  I will give a very brief account of the incident. A guest, someone I'd never seen before, started asking intrusive questions when she discovered I wasn't a community college teacher like most of the people there. She persisted even when it was clear that I was uncomfortable with what seemed to be an insinuation that I didn't belong there. When she managed to work in a reference to someone she knew who was also--her exact words--"funny looking," the two guests to my left were visibly shocked. My son and my daughter-in-law were sitting right there at the table while this happened.
  The following e-mail may explain things my family seems not to understand. Or it may not.

__:
  The issue is the discrimination against my people. My position is that a double standard is not acceptable, and in consequence I am no more to be expected to accept discrimination than an African American would be.
  We have examples of this double standard in the press. The phrase, "I don't care if it harelips the governor" is clearly defamatory. If this is not clear, ask yourself if it would be defamatory of the n-word was substituted for the h-word. The phrase appeared in the print edition of Time a dozen years ago, it is in the blockbuster movie "Casino," and in modified form in the classic movie "Dr. Strangelove."
  Would the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and Jesse Jackson have allowed this if the phrase was "I don't care if it [n-word's] the governor?" If the answer is no, then the phrase constitutes an unmistakable example of a case where our normal, decent, respectable society displays a double standard concerning defamation of my people, as contrasted with defamation of African Americans. Just as other discriminatory behavior does, defamation of character degrades and intimidates the people it targets. The [a government agency] anti-harassment policy prohibits any effort to "degrade and intimidate" an employee. And respectable society acts as if it does know that "I don't care if it harelips the governor" (which still appears on time.com in an article by the supposedly liberal columnist Molly Ivins) is discrimination.
  This is my first point. Respectable society--not only the conservative right, but equally the supposedly liberal left, which is silent on this issue--accepts discrimination against certain groups, including my people. Respectable society's conscience was raised concerning people of color and women, but it has never been raised concerning other people, including those with cleft palates. There is still a civil rights battle to be waged. Defamation of character is targeting, and it is, as documented above, still socially acceptable to target my people, even though such discrimination, as Sociologist Erving Goffman said in Stigma, causes my people to have reduced "life chances."
  Respectable society, that is, discriminates against my people, and because this discrimination is not recognized, it is invisible. It is socially acceptable, and because it is acceptable, there is often backlash against anyone who draws attention to it. If a person with a cleft palate objects to any aspect of the pervasive, unconscious discrimination against us, he or she is blamed, and accused of something, such as being "anti-social."
  In this sense, since discriminatory conduct is always unjust and unethical, regardless of whether it is socially acceptable, respectable society's acceptance of the above defamation of my people is unjust and unethical. It is, to put a word to it, indecent. As a consequence, to be decent, every person has to make their own ethical decisions. One can't say, "it's all right because it is socially acceptable." The history of the socially acceptable demonstrates this. It was socially acceptable, when I was in high school, to be racist in Mississippi. It was socially acceptable, when my dad was in college, to be anti-Semitic in Hitler Germany. If you are conformist, you almost certainly violate universal ethical standards of decency. If you have the habit of adulating the recognized leaders of your in-group, you will likely be emulating unrecognized discriminatory behavior.
  My second point is that decent people object to all discriminatory conduct, even if such objection results in their incurring social disapproval. They have the moral courage to resist social pressure.
  I have several examples of this, and I will give you one of them: One day, when I was a cashier at Toys R Us, a businesswoman and her ten-ish son came to my counter. When he saw me the boy, without thinking, made a sound like a raspberry, but more sloppy and mucous-y. His mother immediately realized what he had done and, while the line waited, she knelt down in her suit to his level and explained to him why decent people did not do what he had just done. It took her awhile, because she recognized that this could be an important event in her son's life as a morally autonomous, responsible person.
  In a subsequent e-mail I will describe to you an incident in which what was unmistakable discriminatory behavior against your father occurred right in front of you. It has been treated as if it was socially acceptable, that is, as if it didn't happen. This is why I wrote that I don't see you as "marching to the sound of a different drummer when social values are debased and venal."
  Your response to my last e-mail, your catalog of your virtues, doesn't address this issue, which M.L. King described as the situation where "good people stand by and do nothing."
  My people live socially isolated, embattled lives because "respectable" society defines away defamation of character and other discriminatory behavior. In the above example, a well-dressed woman who was a total stranger showed courage and decency as soon as she saw discriminatory behavior taking place. Is it too much to ask that my family do as much when it sees social wrongdoing against their own flesh and blood?

"X" relates that his sister's and his son's response was breast-beating sympathy with the plight of his people. He adds that subsequently they doubled down on the behavior he had described to them.

To cite the first post in this weblog, Social Attitudes and the Disability Cohort:

In Plessy v. Ferguson, the first Justice Harlan wrote:

Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.  In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.

Yet we have among us people we see every day, who are members of a targeted minority, but are not, as Prosecutor Fitzsimmons' comment reveals, in a protected class (there do not seem to be civil rights cases regarding them). That should not make a difference in how we treat the disabled. But it does: The most horrifying aspect of Molly Ivins' offhand remark is that everybody understands it. If it was possible to "harelip" the governor, it is understood that person would be outside the protections and considerations we afford those of "normal" identity.

From Around the Web

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

Take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, ... re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul - Walt Whitman, Preface to first edition of Leaves of Grass

Ta-Nehisi Coates, in The Atlantic:

It is wrong to make war on people because you can not get over yourself. And though today we may say that we have advanced, through much of this country, the wrong continues unabated. (Emphasis added.)

Andrew Sullivan in The Dish:

The term “stereotype threat” is used to describe how negative stereotypes cause members of a stereotyped group to underperform. (See Reduced Life Chances)

insideakronchildrens.org:

As with most kids, all Kelsey wanted was to “fit in.” But there were times she had to endure stares and questions about her appearance – some simply inquisitive while others malicious and intended to embarrass.

Cleft Palate Girl to Toss Coin at Start of Men's Tennis Final 

["Cleft Palate Girl?" Reminds one of the scene in the movie “Goodfellas,” when Joe Pesci says to Ray Liotta, “I amuse you? I make you laugh?”]

The following are from valuable cleft palate resource websites:

http://www.cleftsmile.org/what-are-cleft-lip-and-palate/ 

Teens with cleft lip and palate may have had to cope with bullying or teasing. For many people, this can play havoc with self-esteem. ...
Your friends, family, and medical team can be a source of support. Talk to them about how you’re feeling. You might also want to talk to a counselor or therapist because these health professionals are trained to help people deal with difficult situations and improve self-esteem.
And if you’ve had cleft lip and palate, you’re not alone. Your medical team may be able to help you get in touch with other people with cleft lip or palate or support groups in your area.

http://www.patchofpuddles.co.uk/archives/9931/having-a-cleft-lip-palate-by-fran 

I didn’t really care what people thought about my looks or speech because I knew that I wouldn’t let other people’s opinions change who I was and what things were important to me. Now, in year ten I’ve got good friends who will stick up for me and have stuck up for me when people are being completely unreasonable! They like me for who I am and understand about my cleft and never let me underestimate myself, in fact I am most severely told off if I ever say a word against myself!

From English cleft lip and palate association:

cleftaware2013.wordpress.com/bullying-and-self-image/

It’s important to remember that bullying is bullying, no matter who it’s coming from, and that the best way to stop bullying is to call it what it is and ask for help.
If someone is deliberately hurtful to others over a period of time, that person is a bully, even if they aren’t aware of how much their actions hurt others. Some myths about bullying include the idea that ‘it’s harmless fun’, it ‘builds character’, it’s ‘just teasing’ or that the best way to deal with it is to fight back. If friends and relatives say these kinds of things to you, they may mean well but that doesn’t mean they’re right! Bullying is never acceptable, and hurts both the victim and the bully in the long term.

http://cleftaware2013.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/carmit-bachar-answers-your-questions/

Worth watching: Carmit Bachar (formerly of the Pussycat Dolls) was born with a cleft lip and palate. Here, she answers some questions submitted by some children and young people who have a cleft themselves, and talks a little about growing up, bullying, fame, and developing self-confidence.

An American resource:

http://cleftline.org/docs/Booklets/TEN-01.pdf

Shawna: I really wanted to know how to make the teasing stop, so this is what she told me. “Every time someone starts to make fun of your cleft lip and palate, ask them if they have a question about it.” Well, the next day, the kids made their usual comments, but this time I was ready. I turned around and confronted them, and I asked, “Do you have a question about my lip?” They didn't expect me (quiet and shy as I was) to say anything back to them at all. So, to my surprise, they started to ask questions about what happened and why I looked different. They were not expecting me to be able to answer them, but I did, and gradually the teasing stopped.

A woman with a cleft palate: http://cleftline.org/docs/Booklets/ADT-01.pdf

Like many of you, I experienced many hospitalizations due to my cleft, as well as the stares, teasing, and confused looks of others when they could not understand my speech. I grew up in an environment where those in my family and community did not openly discuss my responses to these moments, so others did not know the pain and isolation I felt throughout my youth.

Adult male:

If you have feelings which you believe interfere with your ability to get along with other people, be successful at work, or interact comfortably in romantic relationships, you are not alone. Joining a support group may provide you with the opportunity to interact with individuals who have had similar experiences. Professional counseling, often available through your local cleft/craniofacial team, may also be of benefit to you.

Reduced Life Chances

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

Sociological studies, if they have been done, comparing the income level of the stigmatized disabled of given levels of education with comparable statistics for the general population, would probably show "underachievement," such as people with graduate degrees working as clerk-typists. It should be remembered that our society's treatment of the class of people the late Ms. Ivins' remark, above, refers to, is always a crucial element in the picture their life story presents. "Bellatricksy" writes:

Goffman [says] “The term stigma, then, will be used to refer to ... a special kind of relationship between attribute and stereotype” (2). [1] Observing that “the person with stigma is not quite human” (3), Goffman explains that the our unconscious assumptions lead us to “exercise varieties of discrimination, through which we effectively, if often unthinkingly, reduce his life chances.”
Goffman also echoes Rosemarie Garland-Thompson, noting that stigma reduces a person in the mind from being a “whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” ... stigmatized people are vulnerable to invasions of privacy, with perfect strangers feeling comfortable starting personal conversations.

A familiar experience of our people is the case where our family, friends, or co-workers imply that we should have done better, considering our background; and completely ignore the crucial fact of our lives: Discriminatory social attitudes reduce our life chances. Repeating (emphasis added):

Our unconscious assumptions [about the disabled] lead us to “exercise varieties of discrimination, through which we effectively, if often unthinkingly, reduce his life chances.”

The previous post asked for "A landmark disability discrimination civil rights case." Also needed is a landmark (and widely publicized) sociological study detailing comparative education/income statistics for the targeted disabled as contrasted with the general population.

Imagine That America Had Its Consciousness Raised

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

Needed:

• A landmark disability discrimination civil rights case. ACLU, where are you? Ada.gov, where are you?
• Anti-defamation campaign (Time.com, take note!).
• A civil rights act for the disabled, since the disabled were omitted from the Civil Rights Act.
• A disability ombudsman in each state and each school district to which any adult, and any student, respectively, can go when disability discrimination occurs.
• The addition of specific disability harassment language to the existing anti-harassment guidelines.
• For Shame! campaign.  
• Ad showing a minority being bullied beside one showing disabled being bullied, saying one is just as wrong as the other.
• Spots showing celebrities saying “I'm against disability discrimination, are you?”
• Ad showing teacher rebuking student for slighting disabled classmate. 
• A speech by a national leader citing instances of disability discrimination and calling for change. 
• National leader describing incidents such as Ivins' remark as the product of irrational animus and calling for change. 
• Counseling for the disabled, to deal with the pressure to feel shame, guilt, social inadequacy, etc.
• Proactive response training, such as how to respond if someone says, “How nice you're in the choir—it must help with your speech.”
• The addition of ethical training to the training of physicians and other medical staff, to remind them that it is unprofessional to treat disability as a social sin rather than a morally neutral medical condition.
• Institutions (meeting places, organizations, "meet people like you" events, etc.) to counteract the social isolation of many disabled people.

Did He Do the Right Thing?

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

This is the first of what are intended to be a series of examples of disability discrimination. The society which openly defames certain types of disability, as in the example from a national magazine at the top of this post, encourages shame. This "normal" society conditions the stigmatized to believe that they are in fact worse than other people and have no right to defend themselves.

This example, in which the person targeted did something to counteract the discrimination, may be atypical in that sense:

"Bill" is in his high school PE volleyball class. He experiences very little bullying as such in this school; on the other hand he sometimes overhears himself referred to as "doink-doink" and "bose-nose."
As he is about to serve, someone yells, "Serve the ball, doink-doink." Bill pauses and says, "What's my name?"
The heckler smirks.
Bill looks at the heckler and says, "What's my name?"
"Bill."
And Bill serves the ball.

Notes:

This could have turned out badly for "Bill." The other players could have piled on; for example, "Shut up and serve."
Or they could have expressed disapproval of the prejudiced heckler; for example, "Knock it off, Art."
Or the other players may have been giving Bill the chance to show that he could handle the situation.

How about the PE teacher? He was a public employee. He acted, or didn't act, in the name of the people of the school district. Would it have been better if he had said, "Art, see me in my office after the game"?

The above example shows characteristic elements of disability discrimination.

1. A member of the stigmatized disabled.
2. A malicious targeter.
3. A person (teacher, host, leader, officer, etc.) in some sense responsible for public order.
4. Bystanders, audience, witnesses.

It is probably evident that No. 2 is not uninvolved. But what about the rest?
Suppose that "Bill," instead of being the only disabled person in the game, was the only racial minority in the game; and that Art had used the n-word? If this had been a race discrimination incident rather than a disability discrimination incident, would we think it was OK for the teacher and the bystanders to stand by and do nothing?

Qui tacet contire videtur. He who stands by remains silent is seen to consent.

Disability Discrimination Is a Social Problem Which Can Be Cured the Way Jim Crow Was Cured

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

They have chosen [violence] even when it was merely likely to promote their social standing. - Heather Horn

A human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is, is a human being by definition only. - James Agee

The stigmatized person is outside of society, and this means that nothing works anymore.

It is as if the Civil Rights Revolution never happened.

The point of the Civil Rights Act, . . . was to smash that [Jim Crow] social system. - Matthew Yglesias

What follows are observations, interspersed with comments (treated as "anonymous" even when they aren't) found on other weblogs:

Heather Horn - Most humans, [Sönke] Neitzel and [Harald] Welzer suggest, are capable of brutality: it's just a question of what the social setting they are put in encourages. ...
They have chosen [violence] even when it was merely likely to promote their social standing. ...
[Neitzel and Welzer's book] Soldaten argues that German soldiers were not in fact different types of humans than we are. They weren't "bad for society" because they were insufficiently human, in other words; they became bad for humanity because of the society they were living in.

Sarah Marie Love commented on the comments to her post: Hi guys, thnaks for all your great comments. Sorry I havn't replied to you all. I gave up writing my blog after serious depression, but hope to carry it on now I'm recovering. Writing is such a big deal for me, especially when I am feeling inspired and in need of an outlet. I hope you are all well and everything is going your way in life. Never give up on life or feel intimidated by other people, after all they are the ones with the problem, not you.

Bob Wright: I think that, though we're not naturally racist, we're naturally "groupist." Evolution seems to have inclined us to readily define whole groups of people as the enemy, after which we can find their suffering, even death, very easy to countenance and even facilitate.
But when it comes to defining this enemy--defining the "out group"--people are very flexible. The out group can be defined by its language, its religion, its skin color, its jersey color. (And jersey color can trump skin color--just watch a brawl between one racially integrated sports team and another.) It all depends on which group we consider (rightly or wrongly) in some sense threatening to our interests.

[The first of several comments from Sarah Marie Love's post above] Anonymous - Hi Sarah just read your amazing article on your life. I was born with a cleft lip and palate and so my mother gave me away because she didn't know how to take care of me. But I was adopted by a great family when I was not even a few months old. And they took the time to get me a good doctor to fix my cleft lip and i had to undergo many surgical producers growing up. I was constantly tease time and time again in elementary school. I would cry many nights and talk to my mother about why god made me like this. And my mother would always tell me that god has a reason for everything. So i wish you the best and everything. 

Joe Fassler - James Agee's great depression essay: "And a human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is, is a human being by definition only, having much more in common with the bedbug, the tapeworm, the cancer, and the scavengers of the deep sea."

Anonymous - i am 14 years old and i was born with a cleft lip (i know it's palate, but my friends call it lip for short). contrary to karen, i was never bullied, and i have never had any problems. i currently have a very pretty girlfriend named lauren. we forget about it and we joke around with it also, im always open to discussion about it any time. have thoughts fill up their heads "dont be embarrased, dont be afraid". its ok, we are humans too, and if you know how to take jokes and hard comments, you can have fun with your life. :) and <3 to all those young children with cleft lips out there. 

Summary

• Heather Horn suggested that most humans are capable of brutality if the social setting they are in encourages it. "They have chosen [violence] even when it was merely likely to promote their social standing."
• Sarah Marie Love mentions "serious depression" in passing and counsels: "Never give up on life or feel intimidated by other people, after all they are the ones with the problem, not you."
• Bob Wright suggests a social tendency to cast those not in our group as enemies: "Evolution seems to have inclined us to readily define whole groups of people as the enemy, after which we can find their suffering, even death, very easy to countenance and even facilitate."
• The first anonymous commenter said, "I was constantly tease time and time again in elementary school. I would cry many nights and talk to my mother about why god made me like this."
• James Agee had sharp words for "a human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is."
• The second anonymous commenter counseled "'dont be embarrased, dont be afraid'. its ok, we are humans too, and if you know how to take jokes and hard comments, you can have fun with your life.

"I don't care if it harelips the Governor," above, describes an omnipresent social pathology that the "Governor," in this hypothetical case, can't get away from. To choose words from the preceding summary, he will be subject to "brutality," "violence" "intimida[tion]," "suffering," "teas[ing]," "cry many nights," "embarrass[ment]," "jokes," and "hard comments."

Worse, for the "Governor" a stigmatizing disability means what Goffman, above, calls a "spoiled identity." He is outside of society, and this means that nothing works anymore. For him, it is as if the Civil Rights Revolution never happened. Here in twenty-first century America, he is still in a Jim Crow situation.


In a recent article Matthew Yglesias describes the way an earlier pathological social system was "smashed":

But instead of voting, African-Americans were disenfranchised via a systematic campaign of terrorist violence. The same campaign that gave us the Jim Crow social system. The point of the Civil Rights Act, including its provisions regulating private businesses, was to smash that social system. And it succeeded. It succeeded enormously. The amazing thing about retrospective opposition to the Civil Rights Act is that we know that it worked. It didn't lead to social and economic cataclysm.

Sociologists and Psychologists on Disability Stigma

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Quotes from the body of the post:

the shame usually associated with a disability

their struggles to develop feelings of self-worth by rejecting the shame of social stigma

There's a very real and abiding pain that comes from knowing your childhood has damaged you in significant ways.

Those in power have the capacity to define the rules of goodness or propriety or morality—to decide or define values, good and evil.

We also learned that some of our (majority group) subjects identified these "rare" groups, minorities, as different or even dangerous. Dangerous groups need to be identified or distinguishable. Our subjects' responses suggested that minorities needed to be made distinctive so that their actions could be monitored. (Emphasis added.)

A minority is weak because they don't have the power to defend themselves

A majority is powerful because they have the law on their side

Joseph Burgo - Challenging the Anti-Shame Zeitgeist:

Andrew Solomon's powerful new book Far From the Tree is the most recent expression of this anti-shame zeitgeist. He details the often heroic efforts of parents to make sure their children don't suffer from the shame usually associated with a disability or sexual difference. He describes gay men and women, little people, deaf and blind people, transgendered individuals, and other groups who insist that their difference is not a disability or defect. Instead, they view their condition as an equal alternative to "normal," and nothing to be ashamed of. Solomon writes with passion and empathy about their struggles to develop feelings of self-worth by rejecting the shame of social stigma and embracing pride. . . .
I am not saying that people with disabilities ought to feel shame, or that I consider it a good thing that they do. I am saying that they inevitably will. It's more a biological kind of shame than a social one, arising from the awareness that typical, expectable development has gone awry. A secure, affluent society such as ours -- and devoted parents with the means to do so -- can marshal their resources to substantially mitigate that shame, but will never fully erase it. . . .
My profession promotes the use of cognitive-behavioral techniques and affirmations to combat shame. . . . There's a very real and abiding pain that comes from knowing your childhood has damaged you in significant ways. (Emphasis added.)

A note: It often seems as if "stigma" is prejudicial discrimination treated by sociologists as inevitable. Before the civil rights revolution, sociology texts often treated being black, Jewish, etc., as inevitably bearing stigma. Burgo is an example of this when he says "people with disabilities . . . inevitably will [feel shame]" above. As Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy wrote, "a brute fact does not dictate the proper human response to it. That is a matter of choice—constrained, to be sure, but a choice nonetheless."

It is worth considering "My profession promotes the use of cognitive-behavioral techniques and affirmations to combat shame." Those of us who are conditioned by the expectation that the disabled should be humble and apologetic could use practice in responding with dignity to disparaging remarks.

Psychology Professor William D. Crano's The Rules of Influence argues:

Those in power have the capacity to define the rules of goodness or propriety or morality—to decide or define values, good and evil. . . . Although the distinctions we've considered so far—number, power, and power's capacity to define virtue or morality—have been used in theories designed to distinguish majorities from minorities, they might not be distinctions that people actually use when thinking about these kinds of groups. How can we tell? We asked them. (Pages 36-37)

We'll try to ignore, for the time being, the amoral sociologism of "power defines morality" (a euphemism for "might makes right") and look at some of the answers Dr. Crano published:

A minority is an exploited group because they are singled out for unequal treatment, which is a negative thing. (Page 38)
A minority is usually misunderstood because people don't know the discrimination they have to deal with, which is a negative thing. (Page 39)

Crano comments on these responses:

The most frequent . . . descriptions used reflected power or status, and number. . . . However, distinctiveness . . . also entered in, as did personal or demographic features. . . . An interesting distinction related to power . . . had to do with whether the group was a target of other people's actions or the initiator of actions. Majorities initiate action; minorities are on the receiving end. . . .
We also learned that some of our (majority group) subjects identified these "rare" groups, minorities, as different or even dangerous. Dangerous groups need to be identified or distinguishable. Our subjects' responses suggested that minorities needed to be made distinctive so that their actions could be monitored. (Pages 39-40)

Further passages in The Rules of Influence which seem to equate power with virtue:

A minority is weak because they don't have the power to defend themselves, which is a negative thing. (Page 40)
A majority is able to do great things because it has the resources to get things done which is a positive thing. (Page 41)
A majority is powerful because they have the law on their side, which is a positive thing. (Page 41)

There's not a lot to be said about this at the moment, except: Politically, all are created equal. Socially, it's more a matter of King Lear's "who's in, who's out."

It could also be noted that both Ph.Ds quoted exhibited a certain fatalism, and perhaps a tendency to intellectualize away the ethical problem posed by a discriminatory society. Our society aspires to liberty and justice for all. It doesn't have to continue the discrimination implied by Molly Ivins' remark at the beginning of this post.