I don't 'get' Racism...
- Thread starter Sizzle Montyjing
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I think its more down to the 'pack' mentality that we humans often fall into in times of hardship. Its the 'us' and 'them' attitude. Racism is just another way of projecting the 'them' onto another group of people that we dont belong to. It could be the big nose clan versus the big ears clan, who have never liked each other due to a petty feud long forgotten. It could be different football supporters (milwall vs whoever).
Unfortunately i do not think we will ever get rid of it. Our leaders and charismatics will often use the 'us vs them' argument to gain popularity and support. Its a lot easier to blame someone else for your problems than to look at yourself and admit you are at fault.
The convenient thing about racism is that the 'them' are a different colour so are easily identifiable. And you will always know who your group are because they have the same skin colour as you.
Racism is a tool that is used to obtain power and influence by the charismatics in this life. Its too potent a tool to disappear entirely.
Its a shame really. Especially when there are other much more interesting ways to split a population. Skiers vs snowboarders (who are clearly tossers by the way) for example.
Unfortunately i do not think we will ever get rid of it. Our leaders and charismatics will often use the 'us vs them' argument to gain popularity and support. Its a lot easier to blame someone else for your problems than to look at yourself and admit you are at fault.
The convenient thing about racism is that the 'them' are a different colour so are easily identifiable. And you will always know who your group are because they have the same skin colour as you.
Racism is a tool that is used to obtain power and influence by the charismatics in this life. Its too potent a tool to disappear entirely.
Its a shame really. Especially when there are other much more interesting ways to split a population. Skiers vs snowboarders (who are clearly tossers by the way) for example.
What you said really. It's only bad that people who are european and/or white in modern day get a "Racist label" by simply being white european. Most racism, and this is from a few of my arab friends, is directed at whites by non-whites. Most white europeans do not care about race, or rather the vast majority doesnt. Only bit who are racists, are usually people from small shitty inbred hillbilly villages who look like neanderthals with their eye's too close or far apart and with a few missing fingers.dyre said:
But the word racism is usually tacked on, on things that may not be racist like "immigration policies". For example if you are against immigration in a case where your country cant take in more as it doesnt benefit those who come or those who already are here. Then you are labeled as a xenophobic racist Hitler-type.
Urkh, what im getting at, modern day europeans are judged by others as if they were their imperialist ancestors.
Sadly this is also false. We are all the same species "Humans". There are different sub-categories, "Races". They all have their traits and differences that make living in their original habitat easier, like skin-colour or different bonestructure.Sizzle Montyjing said:
You can compare dogs to humanity. Dogs (or wolves rather) are a species and within said species there are different races. Simple.
The definition of racism these days is so broad no wonder you are confused....Sizzle Montyjing said:
People dislike and fear what is different from the norm. A friend of mine once caught a crow and painted it in seagull colors. You know what happened? It's flock tor it to shreds when it tried to return.Sizzle Montyjing said:
Also, different races have different mannerisms. For instance, I personally can't stand how apologetic most Japanese people are. I don't hate them as a people, but I do hate some things about how they act, or certain things about their society and culture.
Racism is just discrimination, and discrimination is just liking one thing more than another.
Also, I'm not racist, I have a black dog and a color T.V...
Racism, despite being STUPID, is favored by natural selection. When our hunting-gathering ancestors ran into a tribe or family group that wasn't their own, it meant competition over territory, resources, and females. And the easiest way to tell who was and wasn't in their tribe or group was their inherited appearance, race. I think that, combined with stupid human psychology making people think one bad egg in any group means the whole group is bad, is why.Sizzle Montyjing said:
Similar to how sexism makes sense in nature, but is useless in modern society (mostly).
It's because cultural groups tend to be from the same region and therefore of the same race. Now the world has a lot more migration, but when groups migrate, those families tend to stick with other families from their homeland, and that's why we have racial subcultures that develop separately from the majority culture. The families of American blacks have a different history and tradition passed down to their kids than that of American whites or native Americans, etc.
So cultural problems are attributed to race. Survivalist cultures in areas with fewer resources tend to breed more violent and base individuals. Think of Africa. Really horrible stuff happens there every day because of the historical, educational, and geographical factors that play into Africans' lives all the time. The violence that results from cultural/regional problems is blamed on "black people being too unevolved to know any better" or "violent monkeys" or similar attributions to race.
However, for example, South Africa has recently seen a lot of blacks acquire wealth and a lot of whites lose it due to post-apartheid policies. Those now-poor whites have become violent and ignorant while the now-rich blacks have become cultured and educated. It goes to show that race isn't the problem, but instead wealth is.
So, I would argue that it's not really ignorance. People aren't pulling this stuff out of their butt. There ARE differences between racial groups (and differences mean inequalities). But only because those racial groups have separate cultures. It's just mistaking correlation for causation, when the causes of wide-spread behavioral problems is cultural and not racial/biological. Most cultures just happen to be grouped roughly by race.
So cultural problems are attributed to race. Survivalist cultures in areas with fewer resources tend to breed more violent and base individuals. Think of Africa. Really horrible stuff happens there every day because of the historical, educational, and geographical factors that play into Africans' lives all the time. The violence that results from cultural/regional problems is blamed on "black people being too unevolved to know any better" or "violent monkeys" or similar attributions to race.
However, for example, South Africa has recently seen a lot of blacks acquire wealth and a lot of whites lose it due to post-apartheid policies. Those now-poor whites have become violent and ignorant while the now-rich blacks have become cultured and educated. It goes to show that race isn't the problem, but instead wealth is.
So, I would argue that it's not really ignorance. People aren't pulling this stuff out of their butt. There ARE differences between racial groups (and differences mean inequalities). But only because those racial groups have separate cultures. It's just mistaking correlation for causation, when the causes of wide-spread behavioral problems is cultural and not racial/biological. Most cultures just happen to be grouped roughly by race.
Can't tell if Troll or just very stupid.
Seriously, though, Racism is all about History and our preconceived notions of peoples based off said History, aka Stereotypes, with a little Religious under/overtones thrown in for good measure.
Why are white people racist towards black people and vice versa? Slave Trade. Pure-bred Africans, living in the plains of Africa with none of the "necessities" of life that we take for granted - like, oh say, plumbing, electricity, and the like - were considered "inferior" because of this, and because Christians believed everything God put on this Earth is theirs for the taking, someone decided that because Africans didn't "look" like them, that they "weren't human" and thus could be used as slaves. So, yeah, some white people may still have it hard-wired into their minds from years of inbreeding that African-Americans are still inferior, and most African-Americans fear that there are more people like that than there really are, so it's just easier to adopt the "guilty until proven innocent" doctrine.
I could probably go into a long, LONG rant over why Whitey is racist towards every nationality and ethnicity under the sun, and probably go into some detail over why everyone hates Whitey, but suffice it to say that my beginning statement says it all. Most Stereotypes have at least SOME kernels of truth hidden within based off of certain events in History, but their overblown nature makes them difficult to accept. Religion is also a BIG instigator of a LOT of racism, far more than skin color could ever, EVER hope to come close to.
Seriously, though, Racism is all about History and our preconceived notions of peoples based off said History, aka Stereotypes, with a little Religious under/overtones thrown in for good measure.
Why are white people racist towards black people and vice versa? Slave Trade. Pure-bred Africans, living in the plains of Africa with none of the "necessities" of life that we take for granted - like, oh say, plumbing, electricity, and the like - were considered "inferior" because of this, and because Christians believed everything God put on this Earth is theirs for the taking, someone decided that because Africans didn't "look" like them, that they "weren't human" and thus could be used as slaves. So, yeah, some white people may still have it hard-wired into their minds from years of inbreeding that African-Americans are still inferior, and most African-Americans fear that there are more people like that than there really are, so it's just easier to adopt the "guilty until proven innocent" doctrine.
I could probably go into a long, LONG rant over why Whitey is racist towards every nationality and ethnicity under the sun, and probably go into some detail over why everyone hates Whitey, but suffice it to say that my beginning statement says it all. Most Stereotypes have at least SOME kernels of truth hidden within based off of certain events in History, but their overblown nature makes them difficult to accept. Religion is also a BIG instigator of a LOT of racism, far more than skin color could ever, EVER hope to come close to.
Yeah, yeah, that's all very interesting but...Poptart Invasion said:
YOU'RE FRIEND DID WHAT!?
Seriously!?!?
Who does that shizzle?
You must be joking/ lying.
HOW VERY DARE YOU!zerobudgetgamer said:
I mean i just don't understand why racism exists, in miy mind there is no logical sense to it.
Think about it, what do you get from being racist, what can you possibly hope to acheive!?
White people aren't the only ones who can be racist. Chinese people are horribly racist for instance, many blacks are racists towards whites or mexicans and vice verse. It's not the remains of any particular historical age per se, and more a result of a lack of familiarity breeding exclusion and distrust.dyre said:
Nationalism and holy wars scarcely spring out from the earth. Usually the fervor for these things is the product of propaganda.
People are racist for the same reason people are sexist or any other irrational belief, xenophobia. It's actually a fairly interesting bit of human evolution and psychology. You see, people that do not have the same appearance (or whatever other criteria happens to be used), are not part of "the group". Because of this, they are obviously inferior and must be shown their inferiority.Sizzle Montyjing said:
That's the basic premise behind it, really. We as a species evolved as an extremely strong tribal species. You were either a member of the tribe or a mortal enemy. Eventually, as humanity advanced and the "tribe" became larger and larger, the sense of tribal bonds changed, creating racial, gender, and socio-economic barriers between "tribes", which created whichever -ism you want to discuss.
But why do we feel that?Agayek said:
Why do we feel that difference is bad?
Maybe we're not so different from the animals...
Oh because black people in the states aren't already becoming less African looking due to mixing with European genes. Oh, yes and what exactly will cause the white people to disappear? Will they catch The Black?! Dear God no!!!this isnt my name said:
You might want to open your eyes because if you can't see that so called "black"* Americans and "black" Africans often look very little alike, usually due to breeding with people of other cultures, then you are either blind or just completely ignorant. This is evidence of racial mixing.
I'm not quite sure how clear I have to make this point since you clearly don't understand the idea of how people would eventually become one big mixture. We don't move in beside someone of a different culture and palette swap. You see, there is such a thing as sex and when two people have sex, they can produce offspring which will contain half the genes of one parent and half of the other. Therefore, the resultant child will become a mixture of the two. Black people, white people and asian people are all capable of having sex with each other (and trust me, they do this A LOT) so obviously you end up with descendants who are a mixture of races. In fact, a large portion of the black American populace are this way already. Ever heard the term "white girls dipped in chocolate"? An example right there of the kind of thing I'm talking about.
There is no such thing as diluting of race, at least not in any country not run by a dictator. You can not replace one race with another, every race/culture is a compilation of other ones that came before it and future races and cultures will be a mixture of those we have now (I'm not quite sure how long I have to labour this point). This ignorance on basic biological historical fundamentals baffles me. If your that bothered that one day your country won't be the same as it was when you were young, then perhaps you should move to another planet because that's how this one works. Stuff changes, it evolves. If you aren't prepared to evolve with it, you'll be left behind and become the very neanderthal you fear we'll be.
*Black is such a ridiculously vague term that could be applied to so many people from so many countries with so many different shades and facial and body types that calling them one race is just as silly as those who claim that Islam represent one and only one culture.
Logic? LOGIC?! You're looking for logic? Here? At this hour?Sizzle Montyjing said:
Surely, you jest.
But in all seriousness, there is no logic to it. No proper justification can be made.
Well, if the holocaust was anything to learn from, rasism, sexism, etc. seems to be caused by ignorance or blame. Germans were having a bad time after world war one, so they used jewish people as a scapegoat, which led to WW2 and the attempt at assimilating the jews.
As for day to day rasism, I'd say that's ignorance. Possibly started by people making racist jokes, or not really knowing about other races or sexes much, starts getting people to dehumanize them.
But that's just what I've taken from movies and history lessons...
As for day to day rasism, I'd say that's ignorance. Possibly started by people making racist jokes, or not really knowing about other races or sexes much, starts getting people to dehumanize them.
But that's just what I've taken from movies and history lessons...
First off, we're not any different from animals. Anyone that tells you otherwise is naive to the point of stupidity or lying through their teeth. We are just as much a slave to our instincts and evolved behaviors as every other animal.Sizzle Montyjing said:
Second, I already explained why we feel that way. Early man developed an incredibly strong sense of "tribe" and "not-tribe" as a survival mechanism. To the best of our knowledge, it was common for tribes to massacre each other with little-to-no warning. Trusting strangers was the quickest way to get yourself killed. Because of that, outsiders were shunned and were never welcomed as part of the tribe.
That exclusivity evolved alongside our society and eventually gave way to most of the segregation and discrimination you can still see today.
From being a racist? Not much, I'll admit. But it exists because of the very reasons I stated. Religion, especially Christianity, tells us what we should believe, and most Religions believe that those who do not worship the same God(s) as that Religion are heathens and should be destroyed. In essence, this is racism, although technically I guess it'd be theocrism, or whatever. Christianity, in particular, states that God created the Earth and everything on it for use by us Humans, and thus some humans centuries ago played around with the meaning and tried to say that anything that doesn't believe in Christianity (or any "tangible" religion, as in it has at least 500+ pages of nonsense written down on easy-to-read parchment) is therefore NOT human and thus open to exploitation. Colonization of North and Central America was primarily because of this ideal, and it's what caused the Slave Trade.Sizzle Montyjing said:
History is as much a part of our lives as anything. It defines us, whether we want it to or not. Some people look to History to define themselves and/or others, and that History can be over the last few millennia, the last few centuries, or just the last decade or so.
Here, to put it in a more base sense, some people are racist for the same reason some people shout expletives over X-Box Live or post Trollish material on the internet (not counting you anymore, sorry for the meme comment). They do it to feel better about themselves, some by making others feel worse or angry.
Other people are Racist as a defense mechanism. See my comment on why some African-Americans are automatically racist towards Whitey. They do that because they know Whitey fucked them over in the past, so they don't want the same treatment now, even if the only Whiteys they know are perfectly upstanding citizens. The same can go the other way around. Whitey may not want to associate with a Middle-Eastern person simply because of what's been going on in the last decade or so. He has no reason to suspect that this particular person is up to anything bad, but he's cautious all the same.
Racism, in a small way, defines each and every one of us in how we socialize with others. If you can tell me that you've NEVER looked at someone that was different from you and didn't have at least a small bit of apprehension in approaching them, that you've lived your life making EVERYONE you've ever met your friend, and that you can speak on the exact same terms with each and every friend, regardless of race/religion, even going so far as to crack the odd off-colour joke at them without fear of repercussions, and actually manage to do so without repercussions, then congratulations, sir, you are most decidedly not racist.
You cannot disagree, however, that we are more advanced than animals, and we are slightly less a slave to our instinicts than other creatures.Agayek said:
We really are, for we can overcome our instincts, we can resist these and change them.