“Racism can be aversive, where a person consciously or subconsciously avoids a racial group (e.g., gated communities, sexual and romantic avoidance, etc.), and racism can be symbolic, where a person holds negative evaluations of a racial group (e.g., stereotypes, double standards, etc.). However, because the label ‘racism’ can hold such social stigma in modern America, we found that white people often ignore or discount their internalized prejudices and react strongly to any inference that they hold such beliefs.

This is what is known as ‘white fragility’: white people in North American society enjoy environments insulated from racial disadvantages, which fosters an expectation among white people of racial comfort while lowering their ability to tolerate racial stress. In our research, we saw that white fragility prevented people from confronting their latent prejudices. This cognitive dissonance also meant that subjects would often amplify their responses expressing positive statements toward minorities in an effort to satiate their self-concept of ‘not being racist.’ [...] Many respondents were reacting to their own racism not out of concern about how they may be contributing to structural oppression, but rather to protect their own social status.”

– Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America