I don't 'get' Racism...

[Scarim Coral]

Racism is just a different form of hate, plain and simple. I would think racism had been carry on due to back to the olden day where people live in social status like high class, lower class etc and how rich people treat those who aren't so rich and the person ethnic background is link to that. So in another word discrimination.

 

[Richardplex]

I'm going with dislike of the culture associated with a race, and the stereotypes. Illegal immigration probably adds to it. But applying logic to racism, which is in itself illogical, is illogical really.

 

[Nudu]

People think a lot of things that make no sense. Racism is based on the same tribe mentality as patriotism. I'm sure you have loyalty to some arbitary social construct too. You want some football team that you don't play on to win just because it's part of your group, right? Racism has the same basis.

 

[Kinokohatake]

It's sheer stupidity is what it is. Last night I was called a "white *****" by one of my neighbors. Skin color doesn't matter to me at all, what matters is character.

 

[spartan231490]

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?

Racism isn't logical, you can't "get it." There is a great big world out there filled with ignorant people who believe in stupid shit. This is just another example of that.

 

[darkonnis]

I understand it and practice it and have never encountered anyone who to some degree did not.

I had a whole contradictory paragraph, which i've just deleted because i agreed and disagreed with all of it. Suffice to say, this is a correct statement and i'd agree with it

 

[Kair]

It's scapegoating and grouping. Both are a product of human instinct.

 

[EHKOS]

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)

 

[Fenra]

Oh I know why it came about (heck we were taught about it at school repeatedly, but grew up in a very mixed culture area) and I understand why remnants of it still hang about, archaic notions and stuff like that, but what I personally don't understand is that with all people tend to talk of society and civilisation moving forward things like this still persist.

If we were all truely as enlightened and moving forward as people would like you to think then why does stuff like this still exist? Though I guess thankfully stuff like it is becoming less and less prevelant and these days it a case of "a few bad apples spoiling the barrel".

Still I've always seen it simply as this, we are all one race, human.

 

[Simple Bluff]

I once heard this conversation in Northern Ireland between a father and his kid:
Father: *Pointing at a housing district* "Tell me, who lives there?"
Kid: "Catholics."
F: "And what are they...?"
K: "Scumbags."

Didn't this shit end ten years ago?

 

[Davey Woo]

It all comes from way back when the 'civilised' white man 'found' the 'uncivilised' black man and taught him how to live etc. Since then it's been drilled into SOME peoples heads that white people are superior to black people. (At least that's the case with white on black racism.

Racism in general comes from some people thinking it's necessary to conform, and being different (in any way) obviously doesn't conform, so naturally some people will discriminate against the people who're different.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

I understand it like this:

It's a basic and primitive instinct, mainly fear, of the "different" of the "unknown". Imagine the first white people meeting the first black people. To them, it was like meeting aliens. Sure, we know that the only difference between white, black, yellow, and blue people is the skin color, but back then, they didn't know that. So I think of it as a basic instinct engraved in our DNA from our distant grandads.

But nowadays I don't really see the point. A person can be crazy and stupid in all the variations of the rainbow, so racism just seems stupid to me.

 

[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.

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

 

[Jakub324]

I think most of it comes from bad experience with one group, e.g. thugs on a street corner, and then people are unwilling to be open tow entire ethic group for fear of it happening again. I don't know, I'm just guessing.

 

[electric_warrior]

Originally, I think, fear of the unknown and unfamiliar, the different, helped to protect us. Fearing and being distrustful of outsiders probably was a good thing once, but its an anachronism that should have died out a long time ago.

 

[USSR]

I leave you to Morgan Freeman..

<youtube=z2d2SzRZvsQ>

 

[Neverhoodian]

There's a variety of potential reasons, and it can vary from person to person. Some people are very insecure and frightened of perceived differences. It's easier to notice physical differences, so they use this observation to insulate themselves. This is particularly true in times of crises, as people may try to single out an easily identifiable scapegoat to blame their problems on.

Geopolitical events is another factor. For example, it's common during times of war to vilify the enemy in order to make the prospect of fighting them more palatable. An easy approach is to attack their race and culture as cruder or simply inferior to your own. While such sentiments may die down after the end of hostilities, lingering animosity often remains that can even reignite conflict on some occasions.

Finally there's the issue of the perpetuation of ignorance. People who are raised by racist parents are far more likely to develop similar racist tendencies themselves.

 

[emion]

I don't 'get' Racism...

good for you, I really mean it. GOOD FOR YOU O.O one less asshole in this world ;P