awesomebillfromdawsonville said:
Decent argument, but the only thing I'd dispute is that racism is dead in the US or in the first world altogether. It's a lot more subtle, but that ugly monster is still lurking around. I work in construction and witness it every day in our very own USA. Take another first world country like Japan, of which is highly xenophobic, and you'll see that this evil beast lives on in the hearts of men and women worldwide, regardless of demographics.
I think the idea of subtle or unintentional racism is simply an effort to keep it around as a "monster in the closet" so nothing overt has to be shown to justify the existance of certain movements, positions, and attitudes. I haven't been to your construction site of course, but I'd also say that a lot of things people think are racist actually aren't. Given the way that sub-cultures break down, someone can be against someone for being part of say a black subculture and acting that part, without being against them specifically because they are black and nothing else. It's sort of like when Bill Cosby talks about the problems, and education. If your act like an ignorant moron with a chip on your shoulder, it doesn't mean someone is racist for treating you like one. When you look at how much of black America takes a "git rich or die trying" attitude and feeling that there is something wrong with working, "bowing down" and becoming educated, and other things, it's not surprising that people react to those attitudes and how they behave. Racism is an excuse used to avoid the simple issue that minority groups, like Black Americans in many cases, have a lot of growing up to do. It's not racism when someone brings the problems upon themselves due to their own behavior....
Look at say comics discussions and if someone brings up a character like say "Storm" or "The Black Panther" one of the first complaints a lot of blacks will make is that they don't "act black". That right there, and the very fact that such an attitude exists on a massive scale represents the largest part of the problem. The problem is that it comes from willful ignorance, not due to a lack of oppertunity.
I myself did mention that racism exists, but it's a tiny fringe. A few neo-nazis, or skinheads out on the fringes of society are pretty much irrelevent. They have no real power, they don't make policies. People who are revealed to have such attitudes are socially ostricized. Being viewed as a racist is such a bad thing it's used both as a political weapon even when everyone realizes it's not true, and is something that people will go to huge lengths to avoid even the slightest association with.
I mentioned the far east and middle east as exceptions. I'm not sure if Japan can even properly be considered a country, never mind a first world one other than perhaps in extremely diplomatic terms. I can't think of a word that properly defines what it is.
Understand that Japan is under constant occupation and has been since World War II. Despite the economic rivalry that has happened, Japan more or less exists at the will of the US and it has an odd mix of gratitude and resentment over this. Japan is pretty much occupied by massive amounts of US troops and acts as our primary staging area for the Far East. While we play the game of being guests, it's really not a purely consentual relationship and anyone with half a brain knows it. We won't leave if simply asked because we need that foothold into that part of the world. We allow Japan to maintain a military (the SSDF) as a token gesture given the nature of their culture, but it's vastly outgunned just by the forces we have there all the time, and every once in a while you hear some rumbling about how we might take Japan's toys away from them for misbehaving.
Despite how that might sound the "gratitude" part of it comes into it largely because if we weren't there, Japan would have been wiped out long ago. I'm not talking about by the allies during World War II, but by nations like China and Korea. Japan did not treat it's neighbors well, even long before World War II. During World War II while people talk about Nazi atrocities only a few people her in the US seem to remember things like "Unit 731" (I think I have the number right, there were several similar units, but that was the especially nasty one) as well as experiments like the ones that inspired the Korean Manga "Island" (where there were photos and such in the back, along with notes about the historical incidents that inspired the story). The US might be Japan's occupiers, but we're also it's bodyguards. If we weren't there things would probably cease to be cordial with their neighbors and I think a lot of the surrounding nations would literally tear them to pieces. Japan isn't a military world power anymore, and their SSDF isn't going to have a prayer against China (which is becoming one) and North Korea (which is another big military nation) would doubtlessly both love to pay them a visit.
As a result I can't really consider Japan an independant nation, because despite the freedom and goverment allow, they are pretty much under a very polite occupation with no sign of it ever ending. It's not a territory of the US because at the same time we don't allow them quite that level of autonomy in a lot of matters, while occasionally allowing them to give us economic headaches. It's really a messed up kind of relationship.
Japan is all kinds of xenophobic on a lot of levels, bordering on xenocidal actually, which is contrasted by their odd relationship with America and the whole love/hate vibe there. I have a hard time using them as an example to base much on, because they are simply in a unique position at the moment.
