Is being a racist really a big deal?

[Shootandkill]

I've done the forums things before on other sites and usually somewhere along the lines somebody will try to label me a racist. Over the years I've grown to accept it (dont really think I am though). I've never hurt somebody over race, hell I still hold a door open for somebody other than my race, I treat them absolutely the same irl but I am a lot more wary of some races compared to others. I guess what it stems down to is being a realist that acknowledges some races are prone to violence, drugs, and general mayhem. Don't really know what I'm trying to get out of this but I'm tired of others thinking racist people are bad. There is many degrees of racism, please don't lump all of us together and dismiss an individual so easily because he/she doesn't think like you.

This is due to the environment the people grew up in. It has nothing to do with race. It just so happens that black people make up a large portion of the ghetto population. I'm black. I've never committed an act of violence, I've never done drugs or drank alcohol (though I've been offered on several occasions), and I've never broken the law. It's obvious that you are ignorant to other races or else you'd be able to see that not every black person is a violent criminal.

Also, I realize this post is centralized around discrimination of black people, but that's the most prominent form of racism in the U.S. (except maybe middle eastern people, which is still wrong.)

[N-7]

I'm not racist, I just think some countries' cultures, sometimes because of strong ties to the religious, has led to a distasteful development.

... And also due to strong ties between dictators ruling these countries and western countries.

[Venant]

I consider it extremely disadvantageous that White children have to deal with so many more distractions than Asian children, specifically Chinese. It is no secret that many Chinese parents are insanely strict, basically they breed their children to go to Ivy League colleges. Their culture gives them a massive advantage when it comes to getting into a good school. Eventually, wont these people flooding into our Ivy League institutions mean that we are producing armies of Ivy League educated drones while the Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison of the future cannot avail himself of an Ivy league background because being a visionary/genius often means operating outside of the box/system, which often runs counter to having really good marks on paper.

[brirrspliff]

I guess what it stems down to is being a realist that acknowledges some races are prone to violence, drugs, and general mayhem.

first off, you really sound racist. maybe you are, maybe it's only your way to generate a discussion.

but let me tell you this: there is no special gene in "races" that gives them special intellectual and/or psychological attributes like being violent, addicted or just stupid. look at what happened in germany during the second world war; extremely racist, violent and utterly stupid behavior against people of another "race" (let's call it ethnicity from here one, as there really is only one race: humans).

now do you consider germans, or even europeans for that matter, "prone to violence, drugs, and general mayhem."?

the answer always lies in the circumstances of the bigger picture. political reasons, religious reasons, need for ressources... humans are able to do bad things, but this surely is not a matter of their ethnicity.

[Psilar]

I think we're all very slightly racist by nature; we'd prefer more to be around people that look and act like us.

For example, let's say you took 4 people (2 men, 2 women) of each of the 'major' racial groups (white, black, Arabian, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Native America), and showed them 100 pictures of people of both genders, of all ages and races, and then asked them for every picture, if they would like to befriend or be around that person. I bet you if they collected the data, every person would have approved of more pictures of people of their own race.

Studies like this have been done. Your assumptions are correct.

[seta-san]

LOL, Really!?! Yes because the African American, Latino, Native American, Chinese and all others have had their foot on the white man since America was discovered. I mean I remember way back when a white person had to sit in back of the bus or have its own restroom. Oh wait?? 1968, huh? That's barely a generation (every 25 years) of having Jim Crow laws which made it hard to impossible to vote, and outright apartheid in southern states. Even people today such as when Condoleeza Rice spoke at Republican Convention mentioned segregated south and bombing of Birmingham church bombings.

If you really think that affirmitive action is just letting say any minority into a job or college you are very, very ignorant. If you think 25 years is enough for affirmitive action well that is your opinion but again when someone, like Condi Rice who just 5 years ago was Secretary of State knows what it is like to live in a segregated times then that doesn't seem too far away for me.

i'd actually argue that affirmative action holds blacks and Hispanics down and creates the overly strict Asian households. It tells blacks and Hispanics that they don't have to work as hard for good result... and when the good result(college/job) comes they often find themselves in over their head... they've been set-up for failure. Likewise, the slack that is given to the blacks and Hispanics has to be picked up somewhere. That's where the Asians come in who have to have perfect resumes in to get into good colleges (4.0 average + extra-curricular activities). Affirmative action least affects white people who are in the middle who neither are given extra slack not are the ones who are expected to pickup the extra slack.

---------- Post added 2013-01-28 at 02:32 PM ----------

actually yes, Europeans are always rioting. They even kill over soccer games.

[Stir]

Studies like this have been done. Your assumptions are correct.

True. But it begs the question, again, of Tribe.
Let's say your entire sample size comes from a single village. For some odd reason, scientists have collected babies from all across the world, and raised those children together, so that racial numbers were completely equal. Now assume that there's two other villages that were treated the same. All those children grew up wearing a distinct village-specific colour in their attire. Let's say village A had red, village B had blue, and village C had yellow.
My hypothesis is that people from a certain village will be more likely to want to form bonds of friendship with someone who had more of their specific village colour in their attire than of the others. People from village A would be more likely to wish to form friendships with someone who wore red as their predominant colour. Likewise, people from village A would feel more empathy towards someone wearing red.

According to my hypothesis, race wouldn't matter. Tribe would.

[/COLOR]actually yes, Europeans are always rioting. They even kill over soccer games.

We've got a history of thousands of years of tribal warfare over resources. Unity came in the form of kingdoms, but those kingdoms used to be relatively small (with some exceptions) and even then, clan warfare was a predominant part of our cultures. Cultures. Tribal warfare is something we grow up in; the symptoms have more or less changed, but the basic premise has not.
Europe is still a very tribal place, with a predominantly tribal culture.

[Cybran]

actually yes, Europeans are always rioting. They even kill over soccer games.

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi694.htm

"Hang your electricity. If you want to make your fortune, invent something to help these fool Europeans kill each other more quickly!"

Maxim took the advice. By 1885 he'd invented the first single-barrel machine gun. This "Maxim Gun" fired 666 rounds a minute, and it changed warfare. The Russo-Japanese War was a storm warning of the slaughter we'd see a decade later in WW-I.

European nationalism has hurt europeans more than any other group of people.

[wow2011]

It is natural for humanity to group based on observable pattern. It's an evolutionary trait that helped animals to survive in general. Everyone is a racist (unless he/she is a genetic mutation that cannot discern differences between people) and there is a spectrum to it. This is why we need to educate ourselves to not be ignorant and thinking a certain DNA strand has violence and mayhem built into it (unless proven by scientific studies that shows the exact DNA sequence(s) that cause this).

I think what you are observing has more to do with culture than race. For example, if I end up in some "race" gangster area, I would be worried if I see anyone of that race with gangter signs. That person could be my own race and I would still be worried. I think you should learn to discern the differences between race and culture.

[Shon237]

You think it should be acceptable to give preferential admission to a weaker student just because they fit a certain ethnic profile? Really? Do you really believe that?

Yes!! They did when George Bush was admitted to Yale and Harvard Business School. Again my point is you are such a hypocrit and so ingnorant its sad. Affirmitive Action happens everyday with white people. Its called being a legacy or my dad/uncle was in this social club so I'll hire his son.

If our President had the slightest sense of irony, he might have paused to ask himself, "Wait a minute. How did I get into Yale?" It wasn't because of any academic achievement: his high school record was ordinary. It wasn't because of his life experience--prosperous family, fancy prep school--which was all too familiar at Yale. It wasn't his SAT scores: 566 verbal and 640 math.

They may not have had an explicit point system at Yale in 1964, but Bush clearly got in because of affirmative action. Affirmative action for the son and grandson of alumni. Affirmative action for a member of a politically influential family. Affirmative action for a boy from a fancy prep school. These forms of affirmative action still go on.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Harvard accepts 40% of applicants who are children of alumni but only 11% of applicants generally. And this kind of affirmative action makes the student body less diverse, not more so. George W. Bush, in fact, may be the most spectacular affirmative-action success story of all time. Until 1994, when he was 48 years old and got elected Governor of Texas, his life was almost empty of accomplishments.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/...irm.action.tm/

Also another study by the National Bureau of Economic Research says "Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback." So again people are prejudging on name and what that ethnicity/race may bring. I guess some people call this racism. So again to give minorities the opportunities, not free jobs or education is important. Sine the U.S. was pretty much a white and more specific white man dominated society up until 1970's many white men hold positions of power or influence. Well if you are going to hire people that look, talk and come from same background then we wil pretty much be a "lily white" society.

http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

[TIMTIMf3]

If you ask me, no, being a racist is no big deal. It's up to themselves how they think about other people and I respect that.
That's the world I want to live in, I wish people would respect other peoples choices.

[Shon237]

i'd actually argue that affirmative action holds blacks and Hispanics down and creates the overly strict Asian households. It tells blacks and Hispanics that they don't have to work as hard for good result... and when the good result(college/job) comes they often find themselves in over their head... they've been set-up for failure. Likewise, the slack that is given to the blacks and Hispanics has to be picked up somewhere. That's where the Asians come in who have to have perfect resumes in to get into good colleges (4.0 average + extra-curricular activities). Affirmative action least affects white people who are in the middle who neither are given extra slack not are the ones who are expected to pickup the extra slack.

---------- Post added 2013-01-28 at 02:32 PM ----------

actually yes, Europeans are always rioting. They even kill over soccer games.

Wow so since black and hispanics don't work hard the Asians feel its their duty to pick up the slack??? Alrighty then.

I dont think how say African-Americans or Latino's education and employment have any affect on another ethnicity thrives or declines. I don't know how u correlate the two together. Also, while I'm not a sociolgy expert I can safely say that the ethnic groups of African Americans or Hispanics have been held back more because of socioeconmic issues more than they think they are entitled. I could even go to say a white kid, well any kid in suburbia but lets stay on the lines of race for arguements sake think they are more entitled than some poor kid in the inner city, rural country.

As far as your sterotype of Asians or what/who Hispanics and African Americans are, well I think I know which side of the fence you are on.

[Ebildays]

i'd actually argue that affirmative action holds blacks and Hispanics down and creates the overly strict Asian households. It tells blacks and Hispanics that they don't have to work as hard for good result... and when the good result(college/job) comes they often find themselves in over their head... they've been set-up for failure. Likewise, the slack that is given to the blacks and Hispanics has to be picked up somewhere. That's where the Asians come in who have to have perfect resumes in to get into good colleges (4.0 average + extra-curricular activities). Affirmative action least affects white people who are in the middle who neither are given extra slack not are the ones who are expected to pickup the extra slack.

You are not taking in account that a lot of inner city schools which have mostly black and Hispanic student are behind the schools in better areas. It is not that they don't work hard it is that while they did work hard it was on studies that were not up to grade.

[TheyCallMeTarzan]

I really don't care as long as you keep it to yourself. You can bet your ass that every single member on this forum has ugly traits, but we hide it differently, and most people are good at it. We are all prejudiced to different things, and that's part if being human. There's an evolutionary reason to it, even. Just don't be an ass, then you can think what you like.

[oxymoronic]

This is due to the environment the people grew up in. It has nothing to do with race. It just so happens that black people make up a large portion of the ghetto population. I'm black. I've never committed an act of violence, I've never done drugs or drank alcohol (though I've been offered on several occasions), and I've never broken the law. It's obvious that you are ignorant to other races or else you'd be able to see that not every black person is a violent criminal.

Also, I realize this post is centralized around discrimination of black people, but that's the most prominent form of racism in the U.S. (except maybe middle eastern people, which is still wrong.)

Wish people would stop thinking this. Rich black people do more crime than rich white people - check the stats

[wow2011]

Wish people would stop thinking this. Rich black people do more crime than rich white people - check the stats

You mean rich gangsters like rappers and sports player who grew up from ghettos?

Lots of rappers/bballers were hoodlums before they got rich. Some of them got clean and some of them "stayed real" and make money with their gangsterness. Either way, if you want a fair comparison, compare the culture they grew up in.

[oxymoronic]

You mean rich gangsters like rappers and sports player who grew up from ghettos?

Lots of rappers/bballers were hoodlums before they got rich. Some of them got clean and some of them "stayed real" and make money with their gangsterness. Either way, if you want a fair comparison, compare the culture they grew up in.

hmm, i guess i could agree - most of those players did come from rough backgrounds

[thaimeson]

I'm not sure why this thread hasn't been pulled yet, but while it's up, I guess I'll contribute.
Racism is a bad thing. It's a terrible thing. People that your ideology are the same people that tell their kids to hurry up and stay close whenever someone of colour is walking behind them. The same people that give sideways glances at you and treat you, upon first meeting you, as if you're a ticking time-bomb. It hurts more than you could possibly know. Every single time, without fail. And it's just ridiculous.

[Themius]

If you ask me, no, being a racist is no big deal. It's up to themselves how they think about other people and I respect that.
That's the world I want to live in, I wish people would respect other peoples choices.

Hmm nah... I don't think bigotry should be respected at all. It's pure ignorance.

[Spectral]

If you ask me, no, being a racist is no big deal. It's up to themselves how they think about other people and I respect that.
That's the world I want to live in, I wish people would respect other peoples choices.

What a weird thing. You think other people's choices should be respected, but not necessarily other people if they have the "wrong" skin color.