The Mind Parasite has Arrived in the German Student Population

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

My former German teacher once mentioned something like trends start in the USA and take about 5 to 10 years to spread to Europe. The internet might have speed up that time, but in general, yeah, many things start in the USA. Which is why I focus more on the US than on Germany. Less on the “now” and more on the “will be”.

And for quite some time, I have been unnerved by the tendency to make racism socially acceptable. To use skin color as a relevant defining characteristic, just with inverted consequences. Because, yeah, some people might feel virtuous (care moral foundation) or make money by denigrating White people. But in the end, you are just giving ammunition to White supremacy racists by agreeing that skin color is a defining characteristic. They agree on that … that they disagree on the implications is secondary.

Still, that’s what is done today (perhaps because activists need something to fight for, and winning is the death of activism), and it’s spreading.

I recently had my first written exam in a German university in which a student wanted to assess skin color to check for “privilege”. The question was regarding other relevant variables when accessing the usability or effectiveness of a VR-game intervention for children during a medical procedure to distract them from pain. The student wrote (roughly translated):

Skin color, given that “white” children are usually the privileged children, and might have more prior experience with the technology.

Racism is racism, no matter which skin color it is directed at. And yeah, that mind virus (to quote Gad Saad) has arrive in Germany.

And yeah, it might have been a Troll answer. But still, somewhere in his mind that student thought this answer was a good idea. And even if there were a relationship between skin color and socio-economic status in Germany (I would like to see the data), why not just ask for prior experience with the (i.e. VR) technology? Why simply assume “privilege” based on skin color?

I mean, there were some exams that were badly written, PhD Comics Style (here or here), but that answer … that was … something different.