If we all stop using words like "black" "white" etc and teach our children that those are bad words then racism will end in a few generations. — dazed
Of course to follow this path, one has to accept that race is an unscientific useless concept. — dazed
Then the problem is assigning values to different cultures. There is no culture that matters more or less than any other.While it's true that genetically there is very little difference between the races, a cultural divide built over many centuries is a very real thing. So words like white, black, asian etc do have a useful meaning. — Nuke
I agree racism is a complex problem but changing your own language use is a step in the right direction — dazed
Ok, but language use seems too easy a way out.
How about we provide totally free education (room and board, books, tuition, everything) to all Black and Indian Americans to use on any kind of education from truck driving school to Phd. This system continues until such time as the wealth gap between whites, blacks and indians is erased. It's paid for primarily by the super rich, those who have benefited most from the rigged system, and those who have the vast majority of the money.
So, erase the wealth gap, at no charge to almost anybody. But we can't do it. We can't even really talk about it. And that's because the reality is...
We don't really give a shit.
Political correctness is a pose. We'll know it's real when the money starts to roll. — Nuke
Racism is part of the human condition. — Echarmion
It may be, now, but were there any pseudo-scientific theories of racial superiority disseminated widely prior to the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade?
If not, do you perhaps mean rather that some more general and symmetric relation of xenophobia is innate? — bongo fury
I doubt that anyway (here), but the kind of racism that I imagine I would find especially hard to bear politely would be the kind that dared to assert my natural inferiority. (And compounded the error to the nth degree by seeing my resultant social subjugation as evidence for the theory.)
So I am especially suspicious of the claim of innateness if it is meant to apply to that kind of racism.
Anyway, perhaps by "human condition" you don't mean innate? — bongo fury
An event occurs, and the immediate conclusion is that it must be because of racism. What if the skin colors of those involved had nothing to do with any of it?
Media loves to frame things to fit a narrative. Media loves outrage, because outrage draws attention. It's all about language, because it so deviously manipulates us. — Tzeentch
What would convince you? Not media, obviously. Statistics? Is there something short of a declaration of white supremacy? — unenlightened
I didn't want to allude some sort of is-ought-fallacy, where racism or xenophobia are (more) acceptable because they are in some way "natural". — Echarmion
I just wanted to point out, partially from personal experience, that not being prejudiced is really hard, — Echarmion
and that there are mental mechanisms (wherever they come from) that introduce and reinforce prejudice, of which racism is a subtype. — Echarmion
Just refusing to say the word "black" won't keep your brain from noticing that "these guys over there look different", and if you don't pay attention, your brain may turn "different" into "dangerous". — Echarmion
If we all stop using words like "black" "white" etc and teach our children that those are bad words then racism will end in a few generations. — dazed
No I know you didn't. You made it clear you want to guard against the innate tendency. I just suspect the tendency isn't innate at all, and that that might be relevant to the question how best to guard against it. — bongo fury
So, do you at least see how, if I were right about the whole innateness hypothesis being (gladly or not) a racism-serving myth, that repeating these psychologisms might be counter-productive? — bongo fury
How do you know that? Do just assume that all racists are proud enough to be open about it? It seems to me that being racist is something one might want to hide because it can get you into trouble, rather like homosexuality can in some places. It would get you banned from this site for instance. It would get a policeman sacked I'm fairly sure, in the UK.Not really.
Somehow racism is poorly hidden, and those racists I have met in my life often had no problem telling me so. — Tzeentch
Why would Morgan Freeman think it is worth our all changing our language for the sake of a few nutters? — unenlightened
"Sir, I am writing you because of your article:"Baltimore police stopped noticing crime after Freddie Gray's death. A wave of killings followed," July 12, 2018. Link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/12/baltimore-police-not-noticing-crime-after-freddie-gray-wave-killings-followed/744741002/
I tried raising your issue on Facebook that hundreds more black lives will probably be lost due to lack of police intervention, as per your article. I was repeatedly banned due to complaints this constitutes hate speech, probably by felonious-minded people. I sincerely request that you compare the current scenario in Minnesota with Baltimore. — ernest meyer
This current 'black vs. white' nonsense does nothing but create racial tensions where there were none. — Tzeentch
Right. So racism isn't created by a legacy of a culture of colour-based slavery justified by a racist narrative of white superiority, followed by years of jim crow laws Klan terrorism and lynching, endless propaganda and jokes against black people and so on. It's created by anti racists. As long as we're clear. — unenlightened
It's so fucking stupid. — StreetlightX
This current 'black vs. white' nonsense does nothing but create racial tensions where there were none.
— Tzeentch
Right. So racism isn't created by a legacy of a culture of colour-based slavery justified by a racist narrative of white superiority, followed by years of jim crow laws Klan terrorism and lynching, endless propaganda and jokes against black people and so on. It's created by anti racists. As long as we're clear. I rather disagree. — unenlightened
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