At NPQ, we’ve been digging into narrative: tracking the trends, observing our practice, and hearing from readers—particularly around race, a core design factor in the US and the world. So, a recent article proposing thinking of bigotry as a public health problem caught our attention. In it, Ronald W. Pies, professor of bioethics and humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University, applies the core criteria for a public health frame—that something is both harmful and contagious—to explore a new approach to dealing with the increase in bigotry in the US.
He anchors the piece with the October 27th shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where the shooter was described as a “virulent anti-Semite.” Pies notes, “In biology, ‘virulence’ refers to the degree of pathology.” He cites research that finds a correlation between “explicit racial bias among whites and rates of circulatory disease-related death.” (It makes sense: hardened heart.)
Importantly, he distinguishes between explicit and implicit racial bias, which is welcomed in a time when the preferred, even automatic, frame is implicit. “Explicit bias refers to consciously held prejudice that is sometimes overtly expressed; implicit bias is subconscious and detected only indirectly.”
[For more on this story by CYNDI SUAREZ, go to https://nonprofitquarterly.org...blic-health-concern/]
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