Poll: I am racist.
- Thread starter Florion
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Racism is quite easy to understand.
Racism is kind of like a hangover from our tribal days, it's an ingrained fear of the 'other' which exists in all of us subconsciously as a safety mechanism. In tribal society, if you were in tribe A and you saw tribe B who looked a little different coming over the hill... well, it payed to be on your guard in that situation. They may be coming over to play tiddly-winks or they may be coming to start a war. So that whole automatic thing where your psychological defenses go up when you see people who look different approach... that's a perfectly natural, normal thing, and in this sense, everyone is a little bit racist. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's nothing to be particularly proud of, either. It just is what it is. As soon as you realise that that Tribe B just wants to play croquet, or that the guy at the back of the bus with the different skin colour is really quite a nice old chap, then the guard drops somewhat and social interaction returns to normal.
Most other data can be ignored completely. More blacks being in prison says more about the way black people have been treated and had their societies shaped by invading forces and racist policies throughout history, than it does about a black person's "genetic" ability to stay out of prison. Jews and Asians scoring higher on the IQ test than whites tells you more about IQ tests and the structure of learning and cultural imperatives in Jewish/Asian societies than it does about Jews and Asians on a racial/genetic level. Social factors are what causes these differences, not racial factors. Sure, the social factors may be race-determined (people, listening to their inner subconscious fear thing mentioned earlier, may not want to mix with the "other" race, so they draw up rules to make it so that the other race doesn't get their bit of the pie) but it's the social rule that determins the racial rule, not the other way around. Genetic differences between humans are so muddled that "race" alone is genuinely not a useful factor for determining anything at all about the way humans think or act. And this, above everything else, is why making race-based policies is stupid. "Race" in the traditional sense doesn't really exist in any clearly defined way, on a pure biological, scientific level, apart from superficial things like skin colour and hair texture (and even that's not 100%). Racism may or may not be morally wrong depending on your morals, but it is definitely scientifically wrong. That's why the Nazi scientists never actually found anything out in all their years of study. Their "scientific discoveries" were thrown in the dustbin as soon as the Allies took over, not because they were immoral but because they were incorrect.
For more information about race and genetics: http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/
Racism is kind of like a hangover from our tribal days, it's an ingrained fear of the 'other' which exists in all of us subconsciously as a safety mechanism. In tribal society, if you were in tribe A and you saw tribe B who looked a little different coming over the hill... well, it payed to be on your guard in that situation. They may be coming over to play tiddly-winks or they may be coming to start a war. So that whole automatic thing where your psychological defenses go up when you see people who look different approach... that's a perfectly natural, normal thing, and in this sense, everyone is a little bit racist. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's nothing to be particularly proud of, either. It just is what it is. As soon as you realise that that Tribe B just wants to play croquet, or that the guy at the back of the bus with the different skin colour is really quite a nice old chap, then the guard drops somewhat and social interaction returns to normal.
Most other data can be ignored completely. More blacks being in prison says more about the way black people have been treated and had their societies shaped by invading forces and racist policies throughout history, than it does about a black person's "genetic" ability to stay out of prison. Jews and Asians scoring higher on the IQ test than whites tells you more about IQ tests and the structure of learning and cultural imperatives in Jewish/Asian societies than it does about Jews and Asians on a racial/genetic level. Social factors are what causes these differences, not racial factors. Sure, the social factors may be race-determined (people, listening to their inner subconscious fear thing mentioned earlier, may not want to mix with the "other" race, so they draw up rules to make it so that the other race doesn't get their bit of the pie) but it's the social rule that determins the racial rule, not the other way around. Genetic differences between humans are so muddled that "race" alone is genuinely not a useful factor for determining anything at all about the way humans think or act. And this, above everything else, is why making race-based policies is stupid. "Race" in the traditional sense doesn't really exist in any clearly defined way, on a pure biological, scientific level, apart from superficial things like skin colour and hair texture (and even that's not 100%). Racism may or may not be morally wrong depending on your morals, but it is definitely scientifically wrong. That's why the Nazi scientists never actually found anything out in all their years of study. Their "scientific discoveries" were thrown in the dustbin as soon as the Allies took over, not because they were immoral but because they were incorrect.
For more information about race and genetics: http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/
I voted yes for the lulz, but I'm not anything(ist). If you haven't done anything to me personally then I have nothing against you implied or otherwise. I'm not even more or less nervous around blacks than other races. This is probably due to my mixed decent and that I have equally associated with all races on their own level (language barriers permitting). I went to a particularly diverse school system and found I didn't fit in with any group in particular over another. I associate my general acceptance with my circumstances.
And I count myself lucky. There are more important things to worry about; Like vidjeogames.
Excuse my poor grammar. I'ma feelin' lazy.
(Wait, I take that back. I am racist against Brazilians (in online settings only). For some reason BRs are always the douche-bag n00bs on any MMORPG I ever play. I have no flipping clue why this is. Even the decent ones I befriended admitted to this phenomena and were at a loss to explain why.)
And I count myself lucky. There are more important things to worry about; Like vidjeogames.
Excuse my poor grammar. I'ma feelin' lazy.
(Wait, I take that back. I am racist against Brazilians (in online settings only). For some reason BRs are always the douche-bag n00bs on any MMORPG I ever play. I have no flipping clue why this is. Even the decent ones I befriended admitted to this phenomena and were at a loss to explain why.)
I like to think of myself as not being racist in the slightest, and I do my best to act that way. However, due to the way we have knowlenge of what racism is and who has generally been discrimminated against, I think we are all slightly racist in that we treat different races slightly differently at first. Ie we know black people have historically been the target of racism, so we are more careful not to accidently say somthing that they would find offensive when we are around them. Ideally the concept of racism wouldn't exist, which means we wouldn't even take notice that people from different races look different. It would be the same as hair or eye colour then. Unfortunately the memories of racism mean that extremely low level racism is going to linger for a long time yet.
Because, at least in America, it's on our minds. Glen Beck called the president a racist, for pity's sake. We should talk about this.G1eet said:
For my part, I was vehemently anti-racist in high school, but then I went to uni and saw black people acting like thugs, playing their music loudly, carrying on in public and it got to me. I knew it wasn't all black people, maybe not even a majority, but every ten people of color who are decent human beings, I felt my anger transfixed by the one with his pants around his knees.
Oh, and white people who act that way piss me off, too, but that wasn't new.
It sounds to me like you're more xenophobic rather than racist.Florion said:
I'm slightly xenophobic too, I feel awkward and uncomfortable around people who are different from me, maybe because I've not experienced much diversity growing up.
I don't think it's racism, because it's not a mental, thought out hatred, it's just more of a physical 'gut' feeling and almost a subconscious social awkwardness, which I know is wrong (prejudging people because of their appearance), but it's very difficult to control... a bit like my arachnophobia.
I think all humans are naturally xenophobic, it's probably a throwback self-preservation mechanism from out tribal days, but I believe xenophobia is different from racism.
Actually I think that that's pretty normal, I do think that everyone's a little bit racist. As long as you don't let it affect the way you act too much, and as long as you are for equal rights and all that I think it's fine.
Seeing as how I'm biracial, being racist towards Caucasians and African Americans is difficult. I'm not racist in any way shape or form, subconscious racism is in the same category as all the other cultural stereotypes, and I've spent my entire life resisting those. I have black friends, white friends, Mexican friends, middle eastern friends, Indian friends, the only race that I don't have a friend in is
Asian, but I don't know any Asian people
Asian, but I don't know any Asian people
I'm racist against the human race.
OT: I know I'm racist, but not to a point of bigotry. I'm wary of black people and brown (read: hispanic) people, even though the latter are my own. It's just two groups whose common members around here do more harm than good.
Also, as a minority, I think your fourth option is bullshit. While yes, everyone is a little racist, no one should be allowed to seriously call another race by a derogatory term. Jokes are fine, but blatant racism is wrong for anyone.
OT: I know I'm racist, but not to a point of bigotry. I'm wary of black people and brown (read: hispanic) people, even though the latter are my own. It's just two groups whose common members around here do more harm than good.
Also, as a minority, I think your fourth option is bullshit. While yes, everyone is a little racist, no one should be allowed to seriously call another race by a derogatory term. Jokes are fine, but blatant racism is wrong for anyone.
once apon a time i said (and pointed at th sky)i see you ,it was silent inside the house(it's always silent at 10 pm) and i constantaly heard trucks and cars which usually sound a bit like ufo's from afar but then i heard ringing (not phone ringing more like after a bomb ringing) and it's perfectely ok to distrust other races by nature i distrust most poor philipenos because i don't know why i do *irony*
Everyone's racist deep down, it just depends on whether you want to show it or not. You gotta control it.
Of course I'm racist, I have always had a mistrust of black people. It's more of a mistrust of black people in their twenties or lower because a lot of them try to act like black people are naturally really 'cool'* and try to be 'gangsta' or whatever. Of course, I'm not openly racist.
*Cool in the sense that they think they are 'the shit'.
*Cool in the sense that they think they are 'the shit'.