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[HStallion]

es we all are. many of the examples of racism have a basis in evolutionary behavioural traits.

However we have evolved enough intellect to not let base traits like that define us or control us culturally in other areas so falling back to "it has an evolutionary basis" should never be an acceptable defence IMO

Its not a defense but it helps once you realize that there is a source for a lot of these negative thoughts and reactions. A lot of the people caught up in racism, bigotry, tribalism, etc. don't have such an insight into their own inner workings and often take their thoughts and actions as the way it should always be.

Also there are some process and actions of our bodies and minds that feed into some of these more negative traits, ideas and so on. Mob mentality and things flight or fight for example.

 

[Xe4]

Seeing black people as inherently more dangerous, perceiving guns in their possession when there isn't, viewing them as super humans who are less receptive to pain etc aren't natural. It's very important that we not simply shrug our shoulders and blame these type of things on nature when none of that is tied to nature because then that means we're giving up on trying to change things. Racism isn't a natural phenomenon it's a societal one.

Its impossible to tell at this point whether racism is a natural or a societal construct. I suspect it is some mixture of the two, but that's just me guessing. What is known is that nearly every person of every race is racist in some way or another. I know I am. The goal is to reduce that as much as possible, realize where it's coming from, and not let it affect your interactions with other people.

Also worth noting is just because something is "natural" or ingrained in our psyche doesn't make it ok.

 

[Skellig Gra]

I don't believe in the "everyone is a little bit racist" rationalizations for racism.



That is a nice way of rationalizing racism.

"I'm not racist, I just have a rational fear the things that are unfamiliar to me."

There are black people who are biased against other black people in the same way white people are biased against black people. Is that also natural to you?

I understand where you are coming from but I believe that mentality can be dangerous. We need to educate children and help them understand why they might feel different around someone with different skin color. It's natural to feel weird around something strange, but its not ok to treat people poorly because they are different.

 

[Infinite]

But how did all that come to be in the first place? Surely tribalism of ethnicity. Tribalism of phenotypes.

Specially today racism in America all goes to when white men in power wanted free labor. Things like black people being seen as less than human or less receptive to pain were invented to justify their horrible treatment during slavery and erase the guilt and cognitive dissonance from minds of those complicit and responsible. Things like black people being seen as dangerous comes from the post slavery era where whites feared the former slaves we're going to come back for vengeance or rape white women as payback for the rape and torture they went through.

 

[formasymphonic]

Its not a defense but it helps once you realize that there is a source for a lot of these negative thoughts and reactions. A lot of the people caught up in racism, bigotry, tribalism, etc. don't have such an insight into their own inner workings and often take their thoughts and actions as the way it should always be.

Also there are some process and actions of our bodies and minds that feed into some of these more negative traits, ideas and so on. Mob mentality and things flight or fight for example.

I don't think we are disagreeing, what you are saying is the logical extension of what I am saying. We are now smart enough to understand where those things come from and be able to use that knowledge to overcome them.

 

[injurai]

Specially today racism in America all goes to when white men in power wanted free labor. Things like black people being seen as less than human or less receptive to pain were invented to justify their horrible treatment during slavery and erase the guilt and cognitive dissonance from minds of those complicit and responsible. Things like black people being seen as dangerous comes from the post slavery era where whites feared the former slaves we're going to come back for vengeance or rape white women as payback for the rape and torture they went through.

I'm not saying the justifications are natural. I'm arguing that the gut feeling the drove people to justify themselves must have been natural. Stemming from some degree of tribalism.

 

[xenist]

I wonder if specifically working against the notion that another skin color means they are outside your "tribe" would make any difference.

At least on paper, I suspect most white people in the US would consider "other Americans" their tribe moreso than say, another white person in any other country.

We just need to come around to the reality: we're all part of the same tribe. We've slowly been working towards that since the dawn of civilization anyway.

Sure, I bet if you live alongside people of different races in a common environment they will join your "tribe." If not their entire race at least them personally. That's why I'm a huge proponent of schools that are as widely integrated as possible economically, socially, and racially. A mandatory army service is another good idea.

 

[HStallion]

Sure, I bet if you live alongside people of different races in a common environment they will join your "tribe." If not their entire race at least them personally. That's why I'm a huge proponent of schools that are as widely integrated as possible economically, socially, and racially. A mandatory army service is another good idea.

I don't know if we should rely on a bonding experience that sometimes requires you to kill other people as a major foundation for togetherness. You do bond in such situations, intensely so, but often at the cost of distancing or alienating a whole other group of people in your's and others minds. Fully support the pre school idea though and in general pre school is excellent for kids all around.

 

[Khaz]

Not surprised at all, it makes perfect sense really. Our ancestors would have been afraid of the unknown and be conditioned to stick to things that felt safe. As enlightened as we may be there are things that are out of our control sometimes.

It's less about being afraid of the unknown and more about protecting your own genetic heritage. It's one thing to be afraid of what's dwelling in the darkness, but even another human being, with whom you can communicate and who shows no sign of aggression, you will still be more wary if they look different than you.

Being afraid of the dark ≠ being afraid of the blacks

It's why you have very strong empathy for your nuclear family, then a bit less about your extended family, then a bit less about your community, then etc. It's all about the gene. The problem is we can't know what gene people have, so we drop to the next best approximation of closeness, which is visual appearance, followed by culture.

This sense can be quite easily fooled though. It was shown your ability to distinguish different people within an ethnicity (aka "nothing looks more like a Chinese than another Chinese") was not natural, but is obtained during upbringing. An individual will be more likely to distinguish two people from a different ethnicity if they grew up along people from this ethnicity. A little white dude growing up in China will have no problem telling two Chinese apart, and may even have more trouble with differentiating white people.

Similarly, an adopted child will love their parents and family just as much as a biological child, even if the child and parents have a very different genetic background.

Our will to protect ourselves and the people who are close to us is ingrained very deeply in our being. We, as social animals, extend this link to our community and it's only natural to be wary, or just care less, about people who objectively look different than the people we grew up with. However we are also intelligent animals, capable of introspection and projection, and it's our duty to educate ourselves and our community about how the survival and well-being of all human-beings is beneficial for the whole human species. We evolved to accept to care about more than ourselves and extended this care to our family, and community. We should be able to extend this care to the whole human species.

 

[PdotMichael]

I don't believe in the "everyone is a little bit racist" rationalizations for racism.



That is a nice way of rationalizing racism.

"I'm not racist, I just have a rational fear the things that are unfamiliar to me."

There are black people who are biased against other black people in the same way white people are biased against black people. Is that also natural to you?

Racism is already an active act of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination.
So you can't be a "little bit racist" but you are just plain racist.

 

[Infinite]

I'm not saying the justifications are natural. I'm arguing that the gut feeling the drove people to justify themselves must have been natural. Stemming from some degree of tribalism.

Not really. I said in that same post that the justifications of slavery came from the need to erase the guilt of slavery which wouldn't be necessary if the capitalistic desire to have free labor wasn't there. You can say they were single out as slaves due to tribalism or you can say they were singled out because they we're simply easy to conquer and round up.

 

[AIDSBot]

Deep down i am racist and evil and I have a problem I'm tired of judging people I need help this is serious I love you help me

 

[Skellig Gra]

It's less about being afraid of the unknown and more about protecting your own genetic heritage. It's one thing to be afraid of what's dwelling in the darkness, but even another human being, with whom you can communicate and who shows no sign of aggression, you will still be more wary if they look different than you.

Being afraid of the dark ≠ being afraid of the blacks

It's why you have very strong empathy for your nuclear family, then a bit less about your extended family, then a bit less about your community, then etc. It's all about the gene. The problem is we can't know what gene people have, so we drop to the next best approximation of closeness, which is visual appearance, followed by culture.

This sense can be quite easily fooled though. It was shown your ability to distinguish different people within an ethnicity (aka "nothing looks more like a Chinese than another Chinese") was not natural, but is obtained during upbringing. An individual will be more likely to distinguish two people from a different ethnicity if they grew up along people from this ethnicity. A little white dude growing up in China will have no problem telling two Chinese apart, and may even have more trouble with differentiating white people.

Similarly, an adopted child will love their parents and family just as much as a biological child, even if the child and parents have a very different genetic background.

Our will to protect ourselves and the people who are close to us is ingrained very deeply in our being. We, as social animals, extend this link to our community and it's only natural to be wary, or just care less, about people who objectively look different than the people we grew up with. However we are also intelligent animals, capable of introspection and projection, and it's our duty to educate ourselves and our community about how the survival and well-being of all human-beings is beneficial for the whole human species. We evolved to accept to care about more than ourselves and extended this care to our family, and community. We should be able to extend this care to the whole human species.

Well said

 

[theignoramus]

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

Explains the trigger happy police in America.

 

[User 73706]

Pretty sure these were white people of all ages.

Past, present and future police officers.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

I think it's important for us to know that our brains work by a series of non-rational processes, which we then rationalize using executive function. Being aware of these things is a big part of the battle. Knowing that your first reactions can't be trusted in many situations is a good thing.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel. This is just another thing that I can throw on to the pile. The pile of "stupid things my brain does. Do not trust."

 

[HStallion]

I don't think we are disagreeing, what you are saying is the logical extension of what I am saying. We are now smart enough to understand where those things come from and be able to use that knowledge to overcome them.

Ahh my bad. Sometimes I can't tell on here whether someone is agreeing with me or not.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel. This is just another thing that I can throw on to the pile. The pile of "stupid things my brain does. Do not trust."

There is a huge list of things our brains make us do and think they are totally counteractive to this whole living a healthy happy life. Then again there are also things like placebos curing people so its all about how you use the grey matter I guess.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Explains the trigger happy police in America.

Yep. That info has been documented before.
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/03/black-boys-older.aspx
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-a0035663.pdf

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

I'm not feeling the "tribalism" excuses going on in here. Kids don't run away from kids a different color than them.

For many of us, racism is trained behavior from our politicians trapping non-white people in hellish scenarios and communities knowing that they're going to then behave in a way that scares people from nicer communities. We have a lifetime of news coverage showing us repeated imagery to warp us.

 

[Infinite]

I'm not feeling the "tribalism" excuses going on in here. Kids don't run away from kids a different color than them.

For many of us, racism is trained behavior from our politicians trapping non-white people in hellish scenarios and communities knowing that they're going to then behave in a way that scares people from nicer communities. We have a lifetime of news coverage showing us repeated imagery to warp us.

Yup not to mention spotty at best portrayals of black people in media for years.

 

[digdug2k]

I'm not a strong believer in the "everyone is a racist" camp, which always leads me to try and go read these articles to see what the numbers actually say. I don't even go to read because I think its bullshit. I'm sure they found something. I'm just curious whats a "significant response" in this context mean. Did everyone react the same? What was the deviation? etc.

These articles have no fucking numbers in their abstracts though! Just the same quotes you see in the article. How can summarize results without reporting any fucking actual numbers? At least a few of them are free so you can actually look at the graphs and shit, but god, psychology and biology are awful sciences.

 

[Mr Waluigi]

First, we need to understand the difference between racism and racialism. Racialism is merely the notion that humanity can be divided into different races, each with their particular attributes. Racism takes it one step further in Bigotryville by adding that such attributes create a racial hierarchy: certain races are objectively better than others, and vice-versa.

Can we consider an innate reaction to people of other ethnicity, created by cultural and social context, to be "racism"?
You also have to consider the above-mentionned cultural and social context. Being "colorblind" is much easier in certain cultures than in some others.

If we see [note: by "see" i also mean "hear about", as this is in a social context] someone with a gun comitting a crime, we become wary of people carrying guns, consciously or not, even though a gun by itself is harmless if no one is using it. If we see a dog attacking a person, we become wary of dogs. If we see certain manners characterizing a dangerous person, we become wary of people with such manners. And if we see a black person comitting a crime or being put on trial for it, we become wary of black people.
Is this ridiculous? Yes, but it is human nature. It is extremely easy to manipulate thanks to certain aspects such as skin color making it easier to separate humans into groups, and although it is a very malleable part of the mind, we tend to be fed specific images and notions on a daily basis thanks to TV, commercials, our own community...

For most people (today anyway), this translates to developping certain ignorant notions of other human beings, consciously or not, that discriminates them (positively or negatively). For people who are in a much more tense social context, or who are simply easy to scare, or who were raised with such ideas in the first place, it can lead into "full-blown" racism - conscious hate of the other, sometimes culminating in verbal or corporeal violence.

And racism is a relatively recent notion, and such an effect does not apply only to race, unfortunately, but also to everything that ever makes a group stand out from the so-called "norm" - religion, politics, height, weight, tone of voice, smell, gender, sex, social status... It's not "everybody(?) is a racist(?)" as much as it is "everybody is xenophobic".

Xenophobia is not truly a danger, because it is a consequence and a cause that has directed a large amount of choices historically and that has helped us survive. It is embedded in the human psyche, as much as every other constant in human history. Only a very cultured, spiritual, detached state of mind can make one discard subconscious xenophobia but that's a door that's not open for most people. Even groups that pride themselves on being egalitarian have had to make a difference between "them" and "the others", denigrating "the others" in that way.
For America (for example) to get rid of its subtle "racism" against blacks (again, for example), it would need to:
1) wait a while until the era of blacks being extremely oppressed becomes just a bad memory
2) let blacks be on the same level as whites in everything
3) stop cultivating a "melting pot" ideal but rather cultivate a "common identity" ideal
Those 3 are already extremely difficult changes to just make happen. Having an egalitarian, socialist society is ridiculously hard, because such changes have to happen naturally yet nature would rather evolve in the opposite direction as cultures get bigger and pride becomes stronger, and the few times people attempted to make it happen anyway... well, let's say communism hasn't had much luck.

 

[Catvoca]

I'm not feeling the "tribalism" excuses going on in here. Kids don't run away from kids a different color than them.

For many of us, racism is trained behavior from our politicians trapping non-white people in hellish scenarios and communities knowing that they're going to then behave in a way that scares people from nicer communities. We have a lifetime of news coverage showing us repeated imagery to warp us.

Yeah, I totally agree. I think the majority of modern racism comes from learned attributes. We've been conditioned to think in certain ways, from the way we've been raised or from the media we consume. White Americans thinking young black kids are playing with guns doesn't come from tribalism, that's something they've obviously picked up from the media.

 

[The Adder]

I guess it depends how you define racism. Is hardcore racism like Hitler or something natural? No. But humans definitely fear the unknown and are more comfortable with things that are familiar to them.

The subconcious assumption that a particular different skin color is more dangerous and likely to be armed than other different skin colors, for example, is not an inborn trait.

 

[injurai]

I'm not feeling the "tribalism" excuses going on in here. Kids don't run away from kids a different color than them.

For many of us, racism is trained behavior from our politicians trapping non-white people in hellish scenarios and communities knowing that they're going to then behave in a way that scares people from nicer communities. We have a lifetime of news coverage showing us repeated imagery to warp us.

Nobody is using tribalism as an excuse for racism.

People are trying to pinpoint what initially kickstarted racial justification. As pointed out by infinite it could be traced to simply taking advantage of a less powerful population. But clearly there is some sense of superiority that people are able to develop. People are ignorant to the world around them and justify what they see. They ally themselves along their own self-interest. Nobody is saying that tribalism isn't learned either. It's trying to go back to boundary layer where one human characteristic gave way to the one we now call racism. Sure tribalism might not be the only thing that gave way to it, but it's one amongst a number of malingering traits that humans have somehow developed.

Yeah, racism in its modern form is certainly taught. This short circuits the method in which it originally formed. But tracing it all the way back, racism itself stemmed from other behaviors and ways of thinking.

 

[BeesEight]

I'm not feeling the "tribalism" excuses going on in here. Kids don't run away from kids a different color than them.

For many of us, racism is trained behavior from our politicians trapping non-white people in hellish scenarios and communities knowing that they're going to then behave in a way that scares people from nicer communities. We have a lifetime of news coverage showing us repeated imagery to warp us.

Agreed.

I can't recall any papers exploring this sort of tribalism explanation in psychological research. Far too much of modern racism is easily coded in the the societal expectations and stereotypes we're raised in then appealing to some sort of "gene" responsible for this.

I think there's also an underplaying of older generational beliefs. I know the oldest members of my family can say some appallingly racist things that they don't even realize because they lived in another time where such stereotypes and beliefs were common. That sort of casual discrimination can easily disseminate amongst the younger individuals if there's no contradiction to their beliefs.

I feel this rationalization that it's simply natural to fear and hate outsiders is an attempt to explain through pseudoscience - once again - problematic social beliefs so people don't have to address them. Children don't display these "natural reactions" people like to blindly appeal to in regards to negative responses for minorities but they sure seem to demonstrate them later after growing up.

Kids, in fact, show a consistent acceptance of black, gay, muslim or whatever individuals at very young ages.

 

[xenist]

I don't know if we should rely on a bonding experience that sometimes requires you to kill other people as a major foundation for togetherness. You do bond in such situations, intensely so, but often at the cost of distancing or alienating a whole other group of people in your's and others minds. Fully support the pre school idea though and in general pre school is excellent for kids all around.

Mandatory army service means a less adventurous application of the military.

 

[injurai]

Agreed.

I can't recall any papers exploring this sort of tribalism explanation in psychological research. Far too much of modern racism is easily coded in the the societal expectations and stereotypes we're raised in then appealing to some sort of "gene" responsible for this.

I think there's also an underplaying of older generational beliefs. I know the oldest members of my family can say some appallingly racist things that they don't even realize because they lived in another time where such stereotypes and beliefs were common. That sort of casual discrimination can easily disseminate amongst the younger individuals if there's no contradiction to their beliefs.

I feel this rationalization that it's simply natural to fear and hate outsiders is an attempt to explain through pseudoscience - once again - problematic social beliefs so people don't have to address them. Children don't display these "natural reactions" people like to blindly appeal to in regards to negative responses for minorities but they sure seem to demonstrate them later after growing up.

Kids, in fact, show a consistent acceptance of black, gay, muslim or whatever individuals at very young ages.

What necessitates tribalism needing to come from a gene? It in many ways is as learned as racism. Two kids from any part of the world will simply just play with each other. It's only when they build up a stronger understanding of their differences do they start to see each other as different. If they have ties to different groups with competing interest they will find themselves tribally locked. Once race became a social construct it simply drops into already existing tribal mentalities as a new differentiator between people.

 

[HStallion]

Mandatory army service means a less adventurous application of the military.

That has nothing to do with how people react to the things faced in the armed service and what they learn based off of that. You might bond great with those other people be they a different color skin, religion, gender or whatever, but it could also bias you against another group of people you happen to be fighting when they kill those people you bonded so strongly with or have left you horribly maimed.

This is also hoping your government is actually just and reasonable and doesn't decide they really want to go to war or are forced into one. Israel has mandatory military service and because of their location and situation it doesn't really equate to less action in the field.

 

[Stereogatari]

I enjoy social interactions with people of my own race more than people from other races. I find women from my own race more attractive than women of other races.

Is this racist? I don't think my race is objectively superior or anything like that, I just like my culture and ethnicity. That's pretty normal isn't it?

 

[Tesseract]

yes everyone is racist, sexist, so on

the science is in

 

[blackw0lf]

We are psychologically hardwired to make categorizations and snap judgments. In fact it's a psychological necessity. Without that we couldn't make decisions as fast as we need to. So implicit racism is essentially inevitable. The trick to overcoming it is to be aware of your own biases and judgments, and intentionally seek out that which will challenge it.

It also means removing some of the stigma of racism so that people are more willing to look inside at their own racist tendencies.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

The dissonance between asserting your intelligence and falling back on the biologically unavoidable nature of your racism tho

 

[HStallion]

The dissonance between asserting your intelligence and falling back on the biologically unavoidable nature of your racism tho

Problem is a lot of people are not very smart, let alone self critical in a constructive manner. Most just think what they think and assume that's its their way or the highway.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Even if everyone is not racist, everyone most definitely has inherent biases and stereotypes. For some it may be race, for others it may be something else.

 

[LudicrousSpeed]

It's almost impossible to end up as not being racist when you've been raised in a racist culture. People have been steeped in racism in ways they haven't really considered.

It takes education to recognize those faults, and it takes the will to try to rectify them. Instead, it seems most people want to define "racist" away as something that only applies to Klan members, which is how we've got this current culture where actual racism is more socially acceptable than the label of "racist".

 

[Nostremitus]

This is easily the most alarming part. Fucking hell.

That conditioning...

For decades almost everything in the media from movies to music videos depicted black people as thugs.

Seeing guns associated with black people is a conditioned response.

IMO a lot of animosity should be aimed at Hollywood and the music industry for programming Society.

 

[SURGEdude]

I guess it depends how you define racism. Is hardcore racism like Hitler or something natural? No. But humans definitely fear the unknown and are more comfortable with things that are familiar to them.

This is pretty much where I stand too.

I think the best way to combat that isn't trying to rewire our instincts but instead to make the unfamiliar familiar through education and multicultural interaction. That's a major reason why segregation and self-segregation can be blamed for so many of the problems we have interacting with one another.

 

[TalonJH]

That conditioning...

For decades almost everything in the media from movies to music videos depicted black people as thugs.

Seeing guns associated with black people is a conditioned response.

IMO a lot of animosity should be aimed at Hollywood and the music industry for programming Society.

I agree to a point but the problem predates Hollywood. Blacks have always been seen as violent, savage or criminal along with some other minorities. The specifics of seeing the gun(when there is none) instead of any other weapon are what is a product of Hollywood and society. They would have still thought the person to be more dangerous.

 

[Abstrusity]

This is pretty much where I stand too.

I think the best way to combat that isn't trying to rewire our instincts but instead to make the unfamiliar familiar through education and multicultural interaction. That's a major reason why segregation and self-segregation can be blamed for so many of the problems we have interacting with one another.

Just so long as it doesn't go too far: To combat segregation in the what, 70s? We were busing kids from one school to another. If you moved the african american kids to a predominantly white school, there weren't many issues. If you did the opposite, though, we ended up with white flight. It's one of the reasons former booming places, like Chicago and Detroit, became...well, shadows of what they once were. It's what created the hard right bloc in the bible belt. It CAUSES self-segregation, which only galvanizes racist blocs anyway.

 

[SURGEdude]

Just so long as it doesn't go too far: To combat segregation in the what, 70s? We were busing kids from one school to another. If you moved the african american kids to a predominantly white school, there weren't many issues. If you did the opposite, though, we ended up with white flight. It's one of the reasons former booming places, like Chicago and Detroit, became...well, shadows of what they once were. It's what created the hard right bloc in the bible belt. It CAUSES self-segregation, which only galvanizes racist blocs anyway.

You're totally right that it has to be done carefully. I generally think an approach which incentivizes rather than forces people to interact is prefered, and results in less unintended consequences like in your example which fueled white flight.

 

[kirblar]

My philosophy on the broad subject:

I think many people have strong gut reactions on encountering certain people who are different to them - a pure animalistic response; an Other who My People should be protected from; I think there's a stage where it's a pure emotional response without any justifiable foundation.

The problems - racism, sexism, homophobia, anything like that - come from people who seek to justify that emotional response in itself, rather than recognising it for what it is and permitting your brain to overrule it.

(I think this stretches further when you couch it in terms of 'challenging a belief', too; the same principle applies; many people will place more faith in a belief - because if they genuinely wholeheartedly believe it they can't countenance that belief being incorrect - than in the rational explanation of what they're encountering)

When I was starting Kindergarten, I was scared absolutely shitless of one of the teachers on my first day. She was the first black person I had ever seen in person, having grown up in white-bread Indiana before that. It took a decent chunk of tine for that kneejerk response to go away, but it was definitely gone by the time I moved to Chicago in first grade.

For people who grow up in monochromatic areas their whole lives- I wonder if they just simply never get forced to confront and overcome that kneejerk reaction.

Just so long as it doesn't go too far: To combat segregation in the what, 70s? We were busing kids from one school to another. If you moved the african american kids to a predominantly white school, there weren't many issues. If you did the opposite, though, we ended up with white flight. It's one of the reasons former booming places, like Chicago and Detroit, became...well, shadows of what they once were. It's what created the hard right bloc in the bible belt. It CAUSES self-segregation, which only galvanizes racist blocs anyway.

I believe I saw a study linked recently on twitter that indicated busing had failed to actually improve outcomes (likely in large part for the reasons you mention there.) You can swap up school composition, but that doesn't do anything to actually affect the vast baggage socioeconomic differences that the kids are bringing through the door with them.

 

[CJVaughn]

What is it called when you just hate all races equally?

 

[Infinite]

What is it called when you just hate all races equally?

A shitpost

 

[EGM1966]

Well yeah. Given our evolutionary path and group social dynamics there's the obvious propensity to various non-intellect governed responses which can easily from root f racism.

The path out of this trip is to be aware of it and utilise your intellect and self control to override then completely negate such instinctive drives.

You really do have to be self aware and conscious f how the brain and reasoning and insect actually works.

Or more succinctly:

I think it's important for us to know that our brains work by a series of non-rational processes, which we then rationalize using executive function. Being aware of these things is a big part of the battle. Knowing that your first reactions can't be trusted in many situations is a good thing.

 

[Lego Boss]

I'm going to say that l am racist and l am aware of it. When l see a black guy smoking weed walking down the street l think of gin and juice by Snoop Dogg, so l'm automatically equating him with being a gangster.

I'm not afraid to say that l make judgements based in race or nationality. I'm not proud of it, l'm not ashamed of it, but l am keenly aware of it.

I try to live by the credo that whennl meet and talk to someone l will make my own mind up about them, but prior to this l draw on my cultural knowledge (which is imperfect), to classify people. I believe that's racism but in my mind it is a shortcut (lazy) as it may be to understanding a complex world.

Be interested to hear what others think on the matter.

 

[Vicetrailia]

I enjoy social interactions with people of my own race more than people from other races. I find women from my own race more attractive than women of other races.

Is this racist? I don't think my race is objectively superior or anything like that, I just like my culture and ethnicity. That's pretty normal isn't it?

It's not my identity. But I grew up around all types of people.

 

[3AD101]

The term is certainly thrown about way more than it used too.

 

[mclem]

When I was starting Kindergarten, I was scared absolutely shitless of one of the teachers on my first day. She was the first black person I had ever seen in person, having grown up in white-bread Indiana before that. It took a decent chunk of tine for that kneejerk response to go away, but it was definitely gone by the time I moved to Chicago in first grade.

I suspect that Floella Benjamin did an awful lot more for race relations than may have been immediately apparent; She was a kids TV host back when I was young, when TV was pretty heavily white, and was probably the first black person a lot of kids saw.

For the generation a little before me - so my sisters, I would imagine - that same role would have been filled significantly by Derek Griffiths.

I'm not overly familiar with US kids telly, of course, but I don't recall having heard of anyone similar over there as of the 80's or so. I know Sesame Street has a few diverse role models, which is a good thing, but my perception as an outsider is that they don't seem to have become quite as iconic as those I'm recalling from here in the UK.

 

[Nostremitus]

I agree to a point but the problem predates Hollywood. Blacks have always been seen as violent, savage or criminal along with some other minorities. The specifics of seeing the gun(when there is none) instead of any other weapon are what is a product of Hollywood and society. They would have still thought the person to be more dangerous.

That's a valid point. It just feels that without that depiction we would have moved much farther as a society. A lot of what's happening right now seems to be a result of that.