Tweeting Under the Influence

TUI can be exacerbated on social media sites, such as Twitter, when your own reactive thoughts are posted to the world before you've had a chance to rethink them and, once posted, you can't take them back.  I think this story on Jezebel exemplifies this.  The story talks about reactions on Twitter to some of the casting choices for the book-made-movie The Hunger Games.  There were very intense negative reactions to Cinna and Rue being played by black actors.  They were all TatUI (Thinking and tweeting Under the Influence).  I would like to think that if any of those people had taken the time to step back and look at their words before they posted them, they would have tweeted differently.  But maybe not...where would they have been socialized to question their own thoughts and opinions?

What aspect of socialization would have taught them that initial instincts can be wrong?  I fear that we socialize just the opposite.  We socialize members of our society to "trust their instincts"...and when those instincts are wrong?  George Zimmerman's instincts told him that Trayvon Martin was 'up to no good' so he followed him and shot him to death.  Trayvon was walking home from the convenience store.  Whether Trayvon attacked George (without a weapon), validating his claim of self-defense is for the authorities to figure out....but what seems pretty clear to me is that George was TUI.  His instincts were formed by the dominance of media depictions of criminals as black.  And George was never socialized to think outside of that dominant depiction.  How do we change this?!  How do we break the TUI cycle?

What is TUI?

I've just finished reading Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity by Brenda J. Allen and at the end of the book Allen challenges the reader to create and implement an action plan for communicating the reader's favorite concept from the book.  I've decided to write a blog about what Allen calls TUI or thinking under the influence.  The concept of TUI refers to the unquestioned assumptions and subconscious prejudices that affect our reactive thoughts.  These assumptions and prejudices are formed by the dominant ideologies around us.  To combat TUI, Allen suggests mindfulness.  We have to remember that our first impressions aren't based on societal truths, but rather on socially constructed norms that can be very inaccurate and/or misleading.  

Here's my first TUI story:

I'll admit I was a bit surprised that the custodian for my office on campus was white.  But was really surprised that the same custodian drives an Escalade.  I was TUI.  Dominant ideology socialized me to think that all custodians were working class or poor and that someone of that class could not afford an Escalade.  I assumed I knew this person's social class just because I knew what their job was.  And I assumed that the make and model of the car meant this person was in a different social class as well.  When the truth of the matter is that knowing the job and the car, I don't know the social class and shouldn't assume that I do.