I don't 'get' Racism...

[Sizzle Montyjing]

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?

 

[aba1]

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...

 

[surg3n]

Hopefully we'll see an end to racism within a generation or two. Some of my friends parents are racist, and depending on the intelligence level of my friends, some of that rubs off. But that generation is fading away, good riddence.

The proudest moment in my life was when my son told he he couldn't give a shit what colour a persons skin is, because it makes no difference. He knew at 8 what a lot of adults still don't understand.

 

[Worgen]

I dont get it either, really I blame bad parenting since Ill bet most of it is learned

 

[mew4ever23]

I don't get it either, and honestly, anyone who engages in it is probably not worth associating with.

 

[dyre]

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.

 

[theonewhois3]

The sense of other is a quite strong emotion. Think to the first time you saw an alien or the figure of the grim reaper. Its not a logical thing, it's an entirely emotional thing. As for racists themselves. They grew up in a culture of prejudice and picked it up.

 

[DEAD34345]

It's ignorance, these people aren't racist for any kind of logical reason, but because of a natural fear of things that are different and an unwillingness to actually think about it properly.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I don't understand it either, it just seems really petty. The fact this discussion is happening makes me hope that racism will be just another archaic embarassment in a generation or two.

I can understand having a preference though. For instance, I'm a white guy, and I don't really find black women that attractive, but I do find asian and mediterranean women attractive.

Hating someone because of their skin colour is fucking lunacy though.

 

[FallenTraveler]

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.

 

[Hafnium]

It's not about the colour really, it's about making an "enemy", something people love doing, whether that's ethnicity, religion or sexual preference. The skin-colour is just about the easiest thing to seperate people by, because it's always apparent. So when kids are brought up with this mentality that this enemy-group is inferior, we have more or less the same issues with violence and discrimination.

 

[Internet Kraken]

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?

My thought is how can you not understand why racism exists? It's not hard to comprehend. People have grown up in societies that were full of prejudice and hate and have carried those social trends with them over generations. It's not hard to figure out.

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

He didn't say anything like that.

 

[Rastrelly]

Social factors, historical differences... Racism is actually in-depth of human psychology. Most possible you have never run into required "racism triggers".

 

[Neonit]

there were several researches on that area and if i recall correctly, its natural. its used to protect yourself from "different things".


also, its a lot easier. its easy to blame someone else. "the foreigners ruin our economy" takes first place, dont think, dont work - just blame it on the others... no im not talking about any country in particular, ALL the countries had this problem at some point.


oh yes, and i guess insecurity also plays a role in it.

 

[Senaro]

People want a way to feel superior to others, so they find what makes other people different from themselves and treat them like inferior beings. Skin color is the most noticeable thing, though people also pick out things like hair color, hairstyles, fashion, religion, hobbies, sexuality, etc. It also doesn't help that people try passing this on to their children as well.

 

[Thaluikhain]

It's not the colour of the skin. People usually aren't that obvious, even to themselves.

Once you decide that a group of people are somehow different to your own, you suddenly open up all sorts of possibilities. You can target them without targeting yourself, you can ignore any injustices that they face, you can claim that any action taken to address inequalities are unfair because things are fine they way they are, and so on.

Convincing yourself that a group is lesser than your own seems to be surprisingly easy. Statistically, groups aren't going to be equally represented in various key areas, for example.

 

[Aphex Demon]

I don't understand it myself, at all. Like the actual racist side of things. Admittedly I find racist jokes funny, but they could be about white people (some of the white jokes which I've seen are hilarious). I don't even think racist jokes are racist. Ah I can't explain it.