A Procrustean bed is an unfalsifiable hypothesis; every new datum can be interpreted as proof, even if it is counter to the last “proof.” It is the hallmark of a pseudoscience.

The most prevalent example of a Procrustean bed at the moment is man-made global warming.
Now, new research illustrates what a Procrustean bed “white racism” is. Science Daily reports:

White people — including children as young as 10 — may avoid talking about race so as not to appear prejudiced, according to new research. But that approach often backfires as blacks tend to view this “colorblind” approach as evidence of prejudice, especially when race is clearly relevant.

How is racism inferred? When a white person talks about race, or when a white person doesn’t talk about race.

So is there any way for a white person — including everyone who does not subscribe to a doctrine of racial inequality or racial hatred — in this society to be insulated from being called a racist? No. If a white person considers racism odious, and in that belief he purges his life of every vestige of things that can be (mis)interpreted as racism, and that act is itself interpreted as proof of underlying racism, then there is nothing he can do but accept that, regardless of his beliefs, in this present political environment he will be called a racist by virtue of the color of his skin.1

Incidentally, it is custom to accept readily that any time a white person is labeled a racist, he is a racist, has always been a racist, and forevermore will be a racist. Who would disagree? (Ooh! Ooh! I know … a “racist”!)


Note

1. My apologies. I know that there is a term for a belief that makes such a sweeping generalization based on skin color. It’s on the tip of my tongue; I just can’t remember it right now.