I don't 'get' Racism...

[PhiMed]

It has been my observation that people who claim that they've never had a racist thought in their lives are often the most dangerous racists in the world.

 

[The Dark Umbra]

Meh, doesn't seem so hard to get to me. It's the leftovers of a "white man's burden" type of thought that was prevalent back in the day, when the Europeans looked at native Americans and Africans and were all like "lolwut, where's your technology and civilization. We'd better enslave you guys for your own good!"

In general, a lot of people unconsciously compare themselves to any different group they meet, and obviously when comparing, they want to be the better of the two. So, nationalism, racism, holy wars, etc happen.

And you are saying that white people are the only people who are racist wtf? ROFL

Well, traditionally, they've had the most opportunity to do so. They did sort of colonize the whole world.

My second paragraph addressed racism in general, so no need to throw a fit

well then i guess they are better rofl jk

 

[jowo96]

Well it depends on which generation you're talking about, the older generation tends to be more racist because of the racial ignorance of the times and relative lack of education.

These days it's either the really isolated people who are racist because the views of the elders have been carried down.

Part of it is observation, a large number of criminals and less well off people happen to be black because they are the same families that were pushed into the dirt by the racist society of the day.

Media depictions of racial stereotypes do not help nor does pandering to over sensitivity about race because this just makes it hard for people to talk about race and talking about it is how to understand it better.

 

[Jonluw]

Well, the reason racists are racist is that there's more to race than skin-colour.

 

[Altorin]

humans (and almost all creatures) are innately xenophobic.

If someone seems genuinely different from you, and you don't know any better, then human nature is to fear them, and if you fear them, it becomes easier to dislike them for causing you fear, and then if you dislike them, it's just another step until you hate them.

I'd say Humans are actually less "racist" then most other animals. Human beings can LEARN that just because someone is different to them doesn't mean you have to hate them. Other animals aren't so capable. They will "hate" (animals don't really hate, but I'm using the term here for ease) things that are different from them and rarely change.

We won't see a true end to racism until there are no separations at all based on race. Until then, people will hate other people based on their culture, skin color and race because it's what humans do.

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

Spoiler: snip

HOW VERY DARE YOU!
I mean i just don't understand why racism exists, in miy mind there is no logical sense to it.
Think about it, what do you get from being racist, what can you possibly hope to acheive!?

From being a racist? Not much, I'll admit. But it exists because of the very reasons I stated. Religion, especially Christianity, tells us what we should believe, and most Religions believe that those who do not worship the same God(s) as that Religion are heathens and should be destroyed. In essence, this is racism, although technically I guess it'd be theocrism, or whatever. Christianity, in particular, states that God created the Earth and everything on it for use by us Humans, and thus some humans centuries ago played around with the meaning and tried to say that anything that doesn't believe in Christianity (or any "tangible" religion, as in it has at least 500+ pages of nonsense written down on easy-to-read parchment) is therefore NOT human and thus open to exploitation. Colonization of North and Central America was primarily because of this ideal, and it's what caused the Slave Trade.

History is as much a part of our lives as anything. It defines us, whether we want it to or not. Some people look to History to define themselves and/or others, and that History can be over the last few millennia, the last few centuries, or just the last decade or so.

Here, to put it in a more base sense, some people are racist for the same reason some people shout expletives over X-Box Live or post Trollish material on the internet (not counting you anymore, sorry for the meme comment). They do it to feel better about themselves, some by making others feel worse or angry.

Other people are Racist as a defense mechanism. See my comment on why some African-Americans are automatically racist towards Whitey. They do that because they know Whitey fucked them over in the past, so they don't want the same treatment now, even if the only Whiteys they know are perfectly upstanding citizens. The same can go the other way around. Whitey may not want to associate with a Middle-Eastern person simply because of what's been going on in the last decade or so. He has no reason to suspect that this particular person is up to anything bad, but he's cautious all the same.

Racism, in a small way, defines each and every one of us in how we socialize with others. If you can tell me that you've NEVER looked at someone that was different from you and didn't have at least a small bit of apprehension in approaching them, that you've lived your life making EVERYONE you've ever met your friend, and that you can speak on the exact same terms with each and every friend, regardless of race/religion, even going so far as to crack the odd off-colour joke at them without fear of repercussions, and actually manage to do so without repercussions, then congratulations, sir, you are most decidedly not racist.

Yes they are mixing. IN AMERICA. Black people in Africa arent, and when more move to America, they will make them darker again. All while Africa stays the same.

You dont seem to get it. Say I have a cup of water, and some other drink, lets just use beer, now the cup of water fills itself bck up, you pour it into the beeer, the beer is more water less, beer. The water is the same, you poor it again, and keep doing so. Eventually its going to be all water no beer.

You dont see to realise that lots of immigrants move to America, very few people seem eager to move to Africa or China.

What does that have to do with what I was saying? Are you trying to make a point that, somewhere down the line, everyone in America is going to have the same skin color because everyone's going to ONLY engage in mixed breeding for the next ten or twenty generations???

Yes, America has the crock pot boiling with all kinds of ingredients within it, but that doesn't mean the carrots and the steak are suddenly going to mix and become starrots! The carrots may end up tasting like steak or vice versa, but that's about it. It's going to require a LOT of mixed breeding over many generations for America to become anything close to what you're talking about. Now, right now here in California, I believe we have more Hispanic people than anything else, so it's becoming more common to hear Spanish than English when walking down the road. Is this a bad thing? Depends on who you're asking. Is America going to become an all-Spanish-Speaking country? Not without a fight, I can tell you that much.

For the record, Racism isn't just about skin color. It's about heritage, where your family comes from. White people aren't just Racists towards black people or Asian people. We're racist towards our own as well. Look at Hitler. Bone white skin, subjugating the Jewish, who are also predominantly white. You also have the Middle-Upper Class either directly making fun of or enjoying a joke at the expense of the Lower Class, REGARDLESS of skin color, and let's not forget just how popular self-racism is in comedy, what with all the Blue Collar/Redneck and Stereotypical Black/Hispanic Comedians out there.

Even in the unlikely event that America becomes "watered down" as you put it - which I might add is a somewhat racist comment in itself - there will still be racism, it's just going to take on a different form.

 

[Altorin]

*snip*

wow. I just don't even know what to say to all that. That's just sort of left me without words, so I applaud you, not because I agree with you, because I don't, but because few people can just rob me of all words.

 

[odeed]

Pretty straight-foward, i just don't understand racism.
Why are people Racist?
What is it about the colour of you're skin that makes you 'better' than others?
I just can't put my finger on it, why is there racism in the world?
To me it doesn't make any logical sense.
So, what are your thoughts on this?

Back in the far flung past of europe, the white people found african people and thought "Hey, they look different, I don't like that, therefore they are lower than I" and racism was born. Now, there is much debate as to whether this was intentional, as at the time the africans were in their tribal state, and could have been seen as "barabaric" by the whites.

This process has continued with every tint and shade of skin pigment up to this very day.

TL;DR: People are assholes who feel the need to be better than others, so why not use a visible indicator to "prove" it.

You don't honestly think that racism was "born" by white Europeans, do you? It has been around since the beginning of man, tribes would fight each other for no other reason than the other was different. Racism is a terrible, terrible thing, but like it or not, it is hardwired into our DNA to be afraid of different cultures than our own.

 

[Sandernista]

Back in the far flung past of europe, the white people found african people and thought "Hey, they look different, I don't like that, therefore they are lower than I" and racism was born.

It's not all that far flung, actually. Originally Europe, Africa and the Middle East got on well, until the Crusades happened, and then people started being more intolerant and violent towards those with different beliefs, and then it turned to racism after that.

It's all part of the same fear - xenophobia - fear of the strange or unknown.

But yea, I don't get it either.

It started long before then. People in Europe have been hating on each other since the Roman empire.

 

[Scow2]

I figure it's not the color of our skin anymore it's what we've done. White people have taken native american's land, bombed the shit out of an asian country, invaded a middle eastern country for it's resources and taken a large amount of african americans from their homes and forced them to work for us for years. At first, sure, you look different and there are more of us, we must be better. But now that we've learned to be more tolerant I think individual grudges still hold even if the leader of a country has forgiven it. I as a white person am ashamed at what we've done, but I did not participate in it nor was I even born when it happened and I don't feel I deserve the hate that some black people give me. (I live near Detroit)

Thank you for demonstrating Racism so clearly:
It wasn't "White People" taking land from "Native Americans" and bombing the shit out of "An Asian country" and invaded a "Middle Eastern Country for its resources" and taken a large amount of ...wait, what?

"African-Americans?" You can't take "African Americans" out of Africa, unless you can trace his roots to somewhere in America. Otherwise, he's just an African.

Sorry, had to rant about that.

And, you just demonstrated why we have racism: You automatically associate with, and consider yourself a member of a group consisting ofevery person on earth with mild skin pigmentation, or otherwise demonstrates ancestors from Indo-European regions. Why?

Instead, what happened was British, French, and Spanish Colonists displaced and killed indigenous populations as they moved their own communities overseas. There is no relation of that event to the second: Military Forces under the command of United States Government(lead by President Franklin Roosevelt(Selected by general consensus of inhabitants of the United States) and later Harry Truman) and other "Allied" Governments invading and bombing civilian and military targets affiliated with the ruling Empire of Japan, in retaliation for a pre-empted assault against United States military holdings in the Pacific, as well as forcible displacement of American Citizens with immediate and apparent identification of former affiliation with the Empire of Japan.

Likewise, military forces primarily under the control of the United States Government, at the descision of President George W. Bush, invaded and overthrew the reigning governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, targeting individuals and military forces affiliated with those governments (I won't even begin to try and argue the reasons why).

On the final statement... Instead of "white people" taking and enslaving "Black People", it was a case of Citizens of European Governments, working on personal and national interests, capturing and enslaving (or paying local inhabitants to capture and enslave) local inhabitants of specific ethnic identifications living on the African Continent.

Being ashamed of "What White People have done" is a demonstration of racism against white people, as though it was the color of their skin that compelled those people to commit such acts.

 

[Patrick Hayes]

Racism is a non-existent parody of hatred. Racism doesn't exist because it's humans finding reasons to hate other humans, which if I remember correctly is once race as a whole. Therefore, the proper term is "species-ism" a term invented on the spot to explain hatred based on subspecies specific traits. Therefore, anyone who says something is racist is just as stupid as a person who claims to be a racist. Now, if you want to be a racist, I suggest you spout your vitriol at those filthy Quarian starbacks.

 

[Patrick Hayes]

Racism is a non-existent parody of hatred. Racism doesn't exist because it's humans finding reasons to hate other humans, which if I remember correctly is once race as a whole. Therefore, the proper term is "species-ism" a term invented on the spot to explain hatred based on subspecies specific traits. Therefore, anyone who says something is racist is just as stupid as a person who claims to be a racist. Now, if you want to be a racist, I suggest you spout your vitriol at those filthy Quarian starbacks.

 

[Patrick Hayes]

X

 

[cobra_ky]

*snip*

I know an awful lot of non-white people who are intelligent enough to understand the difference between causation and correlation. The fact that you, as a white person, can't grasp that seemingly simple distinction doesn't really serve your case well.

 

[Scow2]

*Racist Spiel that makes the KKK blush*

You, sir, are wrong! All it takes is one "Healthy" black person proven intellectually superior to one "Healthy" white person, or one "Healthy" white person proven physically more fit than one "Healthy" black person, to completely blow your argument to pieces. I can name quite a few cases to both ends.

Yes, yes you are very racist. I can find many black people intellectually superior to you. While there may be genetic traits, they aren't all clumped together: The gene that determines skin pigmentation has No effect on the gene that governs synapse. Your argument is undermined by the wealth of resources present in Europe (And present, but initially harder to find in America) that drive invention and innovation.

And... actually, Western Civilization got its start from Egypt... which is in Africa.

Geography and geo-politics played a bigger role in advancement of the assorted cultures far more than race ever will.

 

[Keepeas]

me niether to be honest I really just don't get it. The only reason I think it continues is because its brought into the limelight so much and I find people tend to fall into stereostypes to further cement it. But really at the end of the day its so silly...

You know, when I was in first grade I told one of my parents that I wished that the black girl in my class would just die/go away. But it wasn't because she was black, no definitely not. It was because she was retarded, not actually retarded..but as dumb as a rock.

It's pretty much impossible for me to be racist, I have friends and family of all different races AND my dad is Mexican, making me half-Mexican.

I was intelligence-ist, I have a hatred toward stupid people(racists, homophobes and other intolerant people are in the stupid category).
I have grown to be more tolerant of people of different intelligence levels, but some hate still presides.

Now, the intelligence across different ethnic groups has been studied and African-Americans (Im from America btw) consistently fall short compared to the rest.
Which leads me to believe that some portion of current generation racism stems from the gap in "intelligence".
You might then point out that the gap was caused by past racism, and you would be correct.
That means that racism in the past is indirectly effecting the way children of today view others, because of the visible racial separation of class seen today.

I just wanted to let my thoughts down on text. Weather anyone agree with me I don't really care.
If anyone disagrees or wants to point out a flaw in my logic, I would like to hear about it.

 

[Cakes]

Religion, especially Christianity, tells us what we should believe, and most Religions believe that those who do not worship the same God(s) as that Religion are heathens and should be destroyed.

I'm interested in what you think "most religions" is, because this isn't true at all. Quit making shit up.

 

[Dracowrath]

I always thought it was based in the natural fear or dislike of things which are different. People automatically judge and look down on people who are different, racism is one form of that that's been taken to extremes.

 

[SillyBear]

Religion, especially Christianity, tells us what we should believe, and most Religions believe that those who do not worship the same God(s) as that Religion are heathens and should be destroyed.

I'm interested in what you think "most religions" is, because this isn't true at all. Quit making shit up.

You've been on these forums since 2009, I thought you'd be used to this by now?

 

[LokiArchetype]

Simple.

'In Group' vs 'Out Group'

Humans form social groups. You view people in your group more favorably than people outside your group and give them preferential treatment. Racism is what happens when the group identity involves skin color.

Experiments have shown this applies even if you're randomly assigned to that group and your group identity is meaningless and will cease to exist at the conclusion of the study.

*cue The More You Know Star*

Also, saying you don't understand racism is like saying you don't understand hate, wrath, greed, or apathy. Humans are irrational beings.