What, exactly, is racism?
- Thread starter Gato_Solo
- Start date
markjs
Banned
Well one distinction I see is that there is a lot of misuse of the word racism. Most of the time, what I see going on isn't racism, but rather prejudice. Racism implies, I am white, therefore I am superior. Personally I do not have racism. But I will confess, (and I think anyone who is honest with themselves would agree), that to some extent I am prejudiced. Prejudiced based on my experiences. How could I not be? When I meet a black person if they sound "white" for lack of a better descriptive word, I get an immedicate sense of "well he's one of us". But when I meet one who comes at me with a bunch of ghetto slang I am on my guard. In my use of the word prejudice I am not meaning blindly prejudiced, because I have experiences which I base my pre-formed opinions on, and while I may be wrong about most ghetto talking black people I would rather be safe than sorry, because I come from som BAD neigborhoods where you just don't trust anyone not of your kind. So yes there is a lot of prejudice, but I think actual racism is much rarer than one would think the way that word is so freely and incorrectly thrown around.
Prejudices are also often based in generalizations which are most often based in factual trends. It's not very PC, but it's a scientific fact that black children are physically more adept at an earlier age, on average, than white children. It's no accident that professional sports are dominated by African Americans. It is also true that Asians develop language skills on average quicker and more easily than white children or black children. It's no accident that they are known to be acidemically more adept. We caucasians are somewhere right in the middle. None of these tendencies is an absolute, and it's not even neccessarily such a large divide, but stereotypes, don't spring out of the imagination, and sterotypes are just another way to say prejudice. Prejudice has gotten a bad rap as a word, because it is often a negative thing, but if you touch an electric fence, five times and get shocked four times, you might, if your smart, have a prejudice (pre-judgement), about electric fences, and be very wary of touching them. Our prejudices can be negative and devisive, but they can also protect us.
In the case of the black teens beating the white boy, if they look into the precedent, at hate crimes committed by whites, and find that white people who committed a similar crime, got similar treatment, then there is no "racism" (prejudice), but if the other crimes that set precedent indicate that whites were treated differently, then of course it's wrong. Unfortunately I think that white society, has so much guilt over slavery, that they fear calling this type of crime a hate crime and charging it with hate crime law, when clearly it's every bit as much a hate crime as it would be if it was five KKK members and a black boy.
Prejudices are also often based in generalizations which are most often based in factual trends. It's not very PC, but it's a scientific fact that black children are physically more adept at an earlier age, on average, than white children. It's no accident that professional sports are dominated by African Americans. It is also true that Asians develop language skills on average quicker and more easily than white children or black children. It's no accident that they are known to be acidemically more adept. We caucasians are somewhere right in the middle. None of these tendencies is an absolute, and it's not even neccessarily such a large divide, but stereotypes, don't spring out of the imagination, and sterotypes are just another way to say prejudice. Prejudice has gotten a bad rap as a word, because it is often a negative thing, but if you touch an electric fence, five times and get shocked four times, you might, if your smart, have a prejudice (pre-judgement), about electric fences, and be very wary of touching them. Our prejudices can be negative and devisive, but they can also protect us.
In the case of the black teens beating the white boy, if they look into the precedent, at hate crimes committed by whites, and find that white people who committed a similar crime, got similar treatment, then there is no "racism" (prejudice), but if the other crimes that set precedent indicate that whites were treated differently, then of course it's wrong. Unfortunately I think that white society, has so much guilt over slavery, that they fear calling this type of crime a hate crime and charging it with hate crime law, when clearly it's every bit as much a hate crime as it would be if it was five KKK members and a black boy.
2minkey
bootlicker
let's cite some references. no "common sense" explanation because then yer right there with the "hang-em-high" armband-istas around here. show me the money.
markjs
Banned
You know damn well that this is a forbidden topic and it's hard to find the research, because it's all but illegal knowlege, but I did find an excellent article describing a lot about differing racial charcteristics.
Glayde Whitney said:
Source.
Gato_Solo
Out-freaking-standing OTC member
Its about acts more than definitions. As for conflicted, this was an attempt to open up a discussion, rather than to upset egos.
Gato_Solo
Out-freaking-standing OTC member
I know this is the place to start and carry on arguments but it just seems like this guy picks things out of the blue that seem like good argument topics, and starts it. I just think that's juvenile... but if that's the purpose of this forum, cool.
Since you're rather new here, I'll let that 'juvenile' go. Other than that, if you have something to say, say it, rather than try to judge my topics and how I pick them...
2minkey
bootlicker
yeah that shit's right out of the 19th century. but if you want to believe, hey, knock yerself out. try googling "eugenics." hitler loved that shit...
Actually I agree that different races have different aptitudes. It not rocket science, there are different races because humans evolved to survive better in different environments.
For example, temperature resistance is something I see quite often around here. White people or at least whiter than most tend to be comfortable with low temperatures but keep sweating on spring and summers. While people with more colour tend to froze if the temp ever goes below 20ºC but manage to be quite comfortable in temperatures above 35ºC.
Call it bullshit, but that's what I've seen.
For example, temperature resistance is something I see quite often around here. White people or at least whiter than most tend to be comfortable with low temperatures but keep sweating on spring and summers. While people with more colour tend to froze if the temp ever goes below 20ºC but manage to be quite comfortable in temperatures above 35ºC.
Call it bullshit, but that's what I've seen.
Gato_Solo
Out-freaking-standing OTC member
Interesting but, so far, none of this is really racism. We all have our ideas as to what actions are, and are not, racist. For me, the story of the six youths in Jena, LA stinks of racism. The story of the kid from Cincinatti also, but to a much lesser degree. I, personally, do not find the Beverly Hillbillies racist in format, but there are some who may...which is why they are included.
SouthernN'Proud
Southern Discomfort
Every bit as much as The Jeffersons, Good Times, and the myriad of "blackxploitation" films of the bygone era. Every fucking bit.
markjs
Banned
No that article is backed by what little science has been done on it. Different races, different strengths, it doesn't make anyone better because of race, just different. But you know damn well that the laws of "political correctness" make this a forbidden area of research. Did you even read the article? To assume that racial differences do not exist, is ignorant, even if it is encoraged.
SouthernN'Proud
Southern Discomfort
True enough, but it seems to have become the Great American Taboo. Most people are far more comfortable talking about baby-raping pedophillic scum than in engaging in any level of discussion about racial differences. Not superiority, just differences.
Need I point out the obvious fact that the vast majority of the charges of racism in such discussions originate from one particular faction? Too bad, I just did...
By opening dialogue, it snowballed into the walking-on-broken-glass environment of today. Not to say that said dialogue should not have been opened...it most certainly was decades if not centuries overdue. But the pendulum has swung, and something is going to make it swing back eventually. I don't know what, and I don't want to know.
IMO, this is one of maybe a dozen "issues" (for lack of better word) that will never be perfectly resolved to everyone's satisfaction. No matter where the marble comes to rest, some will say it's too much and others will say it's not enough. The human animal will never overcome its most basest of primal instincts, and I firmly believe (without a link or a wikipedia load of horseshit to appease the whiners) that in the overwhelming majority of people racial preference is a base instinct. Men are different from women. Blacks are different from whites are different from Orientals are different from Native Americans are different from Aborigenes. Flowers are different from trees. I maintain that the ideal arrangement is acceptance of and tolerence for these differences on all sides, and a healthy dose of pride in your own tempered with respect for the rest. And we as a society are a far cry from that balance. Maybe farther than we were in the 1960s truth be told.
The gulf between discrimination & prejudice is rather wide.
Father Luck said:
Different is good.
We may all be equal without being the same.
BlurOfSerenity
New Member
when i was in 10th grade, my english teacher (who was probably the best teacher i've ever had, to date) asked us if we were racist. naturally, we were all like, "no way!". he told us we were probably wrong, and we all balked, but by the end of that class and the explanation of several hypothetical scenarios he threw at us for our pondering, we saw what he meant, whether we agreed with him or not.
it was an eye-opening expereince.
it was an eye-opening expereince.
That's cause it's being used as an exit. You may want to move.