"There is nothing wrong being racist"

[RJ Dalton]

Well, if you're approaching from a position of moral nihilism, sure, why not?

 

[Jewrean]

I agree with the friend to a certain degree. We are all racist at a certain level anyway even subconsciously people treat others differently if they are faced with the unknown. It is human nature.

The only thing that I disagree with is the right to act on those feelings by mistreating others (note: this includes making people who are different to you feel bad in any way).

The human brain likes to categorize things into groups and put labels on them to better understand the world. Unfortunately even though our brain does this it shouldn't because the world is rarely 'black and white' if you'll forgive the pun.

So long as the person does not act upon those feelings I do not care how they feel about others and neither should any of you.

 

[Yuki_Seele]

Why do people keed saying "were all racist a little bit" Thats fucking idiotic. Thats basicaly saying its fine to be that way? surely anyone should be disapointed with themselves even if they think the thoughts even if they don't act on them.

 

[Rodney Jackson]

Actually it does give a particular opinion of yours. That you think that it is okay to tolerate such a thing. And 'otherwise a decent human being' is pointless. Yes, if you ignore their bad characteristics people might appear to be decent human beings when they're not.

This is pretty much the exact response I expected from you.

Seems to me, it's an opinion made with very little real world experience on the issue.

There are plenty of reasons a person may hold racist views on other cultures etc without them being bad people. We all have our bad points and to condemn people on them without considering everything else they have to offer is incredibly narrow minded and just plain stupid.

It's not ignoring their bad characteristics. It's accepting them as part of who they are. If after that, the good still outweighs the bad. Then you're objectively wrong for writing them off as bad people.

A persons opinion on one thing is not the sum of their character. To say otherwise is to arrogantly and unjustly assume you have the right to judge another human on something as subjective as morality. Providing people don't act on their opinions, they're just that. And of no harm to anyone.

Is the view nice up on that pedestal?

So don't judge people for judging other people... ...got it.

 

[Akimoto]

I have Malay, Indian, Chinese and English friends. I'm racist.

But what makes me different is I am aware of it and I manage it. Yes, certain races do silly things and I'm not very proud of my own race either. But I will not use derogatory words and I adopt a "wait and see" attitude.

Let me suggest something - racism is not a problem, it's a natural attitude we all carry. In psychology it's also known as a schema (heuristics for those familiar with search engines and anti-virus) and it refers to a pattern we fall to immediately when meeting with another race. How we manage is, I believe, what sets us apart from those who act on and treat others unfairly. That's prejudice and that's wrong. For the lack of a better comparison, racism is kinda like branding between two companies i.e Acer and Dell.

I'm racist, I'm aware of it and I manage it in a way to ensure others are not hurt by 'wait and see'.

As for OP's friend, I think he was trying to show off. Racism is not based on foreign/local status, I'm very sure of that.

 

[BanicRhys]

Imo, there's nothing wrong with being racist. It's when you start showing it to people who might be offended that it becomes wrong.

Same goes for sexism, pedophilia, bronyism and all that other stuff. As long as you don't bother anyone with it, there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Rodney Jackson]

Actually it does give a particular opinion of yours. That you think that it is okay to tolerate such a thing. And 'otherwise a decent human being' is pointless. Yes, if you ignore their bad characteristics people might appear to be decent human beings when they're not.

This is pretty much the exact response I expected from you.

Seems to me, it's an opinion made with very little real world experience on the issue.

There are plenty of reasons a person may hold racist views on other cultures etc without them being bad people. We all have our bad points and to condemn people on them without considering everything else they have to offer is incredibly narrow minded and just plain stupid.

It's not ignoring their bad characteristics. It's accepting them as part of who they are. If after that, the good still outweighs the bad. Then you're objectively wrong for writing them off as bad people.

A persons opinion on one thing is not the sum of their character. To say otherwise is to arrogantly and unjustly assume you have the right to judge another human on something as subjective as morality. Providing people don't act on their opinions, they're just that. And of no harm to anyone.

Is the view nice up on that pedestal?

So don't judge people for judging other people... got it.

You know that trick people employ to de-validate a persons view. You know the one, where they reduce what the person said to such a state that it's not really what the person initially said, but more of an ineloquent and disingenuous satire of it.

Yea, fun that isn't it?

Well I think Mortai Gravesend placed it better than I could have -pertaining to how I feel about your views. So no need to copy what they said.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Disown him as a friend. Religion I get. Difference in Politics I can get. But there's literally no reason for being racist.

He's telling about it being his choice? His choice is fucking stupid and you shouldn't be his friend. Someone who is so diluted and ignorant to things like this should be left to live alone.

Someone I know pulls something like that around me, I disown him. Luckily enough, I'm pretty sure the majority of my friends are pretty smart.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Imo, there's nothing wrong with being racist. It's when you start showing it to people who might be offended that it becomes wrong.

Same goes for sexism, pedophilia, bronyism and all that other stuff. As long as you don't bother anyone with it, there's nothing wrong with it.

There is something wrong with it, it just not an actual problem until you act on it.

Ignoring a key feature to someone's personality? Perhaps you can be fine with it, but it's stupid to say "Well, that's who I am, better get used to it".

 

[Dagda Mor]

Racism itself I can tolerate,so long as I don't have to listen to it for very long.However,being racist says certain things about this man's character that extend beyond the issue at hand.Just leave the guy and never look back.

 

[Rodney Jackson]

snip

Shot in the dark here, but have you ever watched American History X?

Regardless of whether or not you have, your arguments seems oddly circular in how you attack him for making judgment calls whilst simultaneously making your own judgments. He's judging others for being tolerant of racism -blatant racism, and not your average personal prejudices-, but being racist or choosing to look past ones racism still involves the act of judging others to some capacity. Hence why I stick to my earlier claim. Call it the twisting of arguments if you will but I'm really not seeing any straw men at ploy here.

Now you got all snippy with me for trying to summarize your viewpoint which at the time was confusing to me, but I think the issue is that you are looking at this on a smaller threshold than what Mortai is. What you're describing are people's personal prejudices. And if that is truly the case that what you've been saying is 100% true. Those things are part of all of us and mostly can't be helped.

No need to get snotty about it.

But you must be extremely tone deaf to not see what is at fault with the OP's friend's statements. I can only assume you're exercising your best empathy and therefore don't want to toss the guy under the bus. Good for you. And for all we know this may not be as bad as it sounds. But with what were given, I don't think many others would agree.