European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse The Page principle prejudice Likely is a matter of presence Clarence Page m maybe the old song a everybody needs somebody to love a was wrong. A lot of us also need somebody to not love too. The truth of that statement is revealed in a Clever Little Survey made Public by its sponsors the american jewish committee that offers a rare and revealing window into the twisted world of the prejudiced. Conducted by the general social Survey a project of the National science foundation the Survey asked a scientific sampling of americans what they thought about a list of ethnic groups a list that included a Little known group called winians Are Little known because they done to exist. The Only smaller ethnic group joked the researchers is leprechauns. The use of non existent groups is an opinion collectors trick dating Back at least to the 1940s As a Way to determine How Many of the people who Are giving answers Are really paying attention or just trying to be compliant. As it turned out 39 percent of the 3,000 people surveyed gave the non existent winians a rating and a guess what a it turned out to be one of the Low est ratings of any group in the Survey a dismal average of 4.12 on a social scale of 1 to 9. Its a Good thing winians Don t exist or they get asked out much except perhaps by other winians. Tom w. Smith author of the report figures the respondents who got fooled a must have figured the winians must be some obscure Little foreign sounding group that can to be doing All that Well so they were ranked near the right. Besides you know those winians. Give Mem an Inch and the next thing you know they re going to want to move into your neighbourhood put their kids in your schools mama your daughter and before you know it there go your property values. David Singer american jewish committee research director called the negative reaction to a non existent group a a surprising but not unprecedented. More curious Singer noted was How Many More americans were willing to offer an opinion of a nonexistent group than citizens of the former soviet Union were when the acc conducted similar research there. A i suppose that says something about our National character a Singer said a although in a not sure maybe it Only confirms that americans Are More willing to express an opinion about anything and everything regardless of whether it actually exists. Bias against non existent minorities May pose a serious exception to what 1 Call the Page principle of prejudice which holds that prejudice is largely a matter of presence. I first came up with this theory while visiting an army buddy in Rural South Dakota More than 20 years ago when i was certain that my Mere arrival in the state single hand edly raised its african american population by a Good 20 or 25 percent and that i might find myself leaving much faster than i came. As it turned out i was treated so Well by my friends relatives and neighbors that for a few fleeting moments at least i thought i had stumbled across a racial Utopia. Then somebody brought up the subject of indians. Then i began to hear All the negative stereotypes i was accustomed to hearing attributed to Blacks Back fast suddenly being attributed to indians in the West. Quot since then i have seen the principle confirmed in innumerable locations from attacks against vietnamese boat people in Texas fishing villages to the recent terrorism against turkish immigrants in Germany. A your Page principle is largely Correct according to our studies a Singer agreed. A prejudice can be very Complex. For example we found that non jews who have the most daily Contact with jews and live in areas with the largest jewish populations showed higher likelihood of expressing positive feelings toward jews Overall but not on the question of whether jews were gaining too much influence. To that question a disproportionate number switched attitudes and said so who knows maybe it was not the possibility that the winians were not doing too Well that concerned the surveys respondents but rather the Opo site possibility that they might actually do better than the rest of us. Maybe they might even pose a threat to non i Sian dominance. Next thing you know they might be demanding classes in Wisian studies. Maybe that is if they existed and thus had something to study. Maybe i need to develop another Page principle of prejudice different is automatically suspect. Just ask the winians. On a hopeful note acc researchers found that prejudice diminishes Between groups that Are working for a common purpose. We saw that with Blacks jews and White ethnic catholics in the civil rights movement and with various rival ethnic groups in Africa who came together to overthrow colonialism. It is Only when the common purpose has passed that the various groups begin to turn on each other. So there May be Hope. Non winians might yet be Able to work with the winians. If Only those winians did no tall look alike. Tribune Modia Sonvico airlines could Start improving by attending to woes everyone who flies is complaining about airlines. In be never heard such widespread dissatisfaction. Flight has become such an unpleasant experience that the thought of it enters into the plans people make about whether to go. Flying is uncomfortable inconvenient expensive and generally irritating. The airlines have a worse problem than they think. It Isnit just the recession. American airlines one of the relatively Good ones has just changed its fares. The airline Calls it a restructuring a but understanding air fares is comparable to knowing How to make out your own income tax. The average person can to do it. There Are so Many restrictions and limitations it takes a full time travel air Cut to find the Best Deal. Travel agents Cost everyone Money. The airlines have to play Footsie with them even recommending them in their advertising but it costs the airlines 10 percent of the ticket Price. If people did no to need agents the airlines would get the full ticket Price. Obviously the travel agents fee is added to the ticket Price so we All pay. Airlines Are in trouble and they re doing everything they can to get out of trouble. Everything except improve their service. They re Good with All the cosmetic stuff. The ticket clerks and the flight Crews Are polite and solicitous always reciting by Rote the lines that executives have decided will convey a Friendly image. Ill Swap the Sweet talk for a Little legroom. The airlines seem to feel that As Long As the flight attendants Tell us that if there a anything they can do to make or trip More comfortable please done to hesitate to Call on them that they have fulfilled their obligation to their passengers. The fact that the trim Young women in the aisles Are too Busy to give anyone individual attention does no to matter to airline management. Airline announcements Are just some of Many irritants within the Power of airlines to change. Most Small or Middle sized cities Are served by just one airline. A thank you for flying Delta is a ridiculous announcement if Delta is the Only airline that flies there. On a recent United airlines flight we were loaded on Board when the Pilot came on the intercom. A a we re waiting for baggage from another flight and should be taking off in 10 minutes a he announced. A thank you for your patience a he said to a plan Load of people who weren to patient at All. Within a few minutes the men with the flashlights and toolboxes came aboard and started working on the Cabin door that close. Honesty or accuracy is not a Quality you find very often in airline announcements. Not Only Are announcements often not True but there must be a better Way for airlines to convey that obligatory seat Belt and carry on baggage information. Maybe they need new writers. I flew to Germany last month and at our hotel a Friend who met us asked a How was your flight a a a that a a dumb question Quot i snapped. A it was terrible of soon thereafter i had to get to Penn state University in state College a. It is 195 air Miles from new York City. To get there i had to Fly us air to Pittsburgh 319 air Miles from new York wait an hour and 10 minutes change planes and Fly 125 Miles Back East to state College. That a a total of 444 Miles for a 195-mile trip. On my return i flew from state College South to Baltimore 127 Miles changed planes with another one hour Layover and flew North 200 Miles to new York. A thank you for flying us air a she said. At the Airport i met the great Joe Paterno the Penn state football coach. I said a no wonder you be been Here 41 years. Its too hard to it All makes you wonder Why greyhound Isnit doing better. Tribune Media service Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes reporter May 31. 1992 sunday b Page 9
