# Are you a racist? Warning signs **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519 "2014-07-07T08:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/141 "2014-07-07T23:57:11Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > I’ll tell you how it works…you say something that you know some people won’t like and you take my name to make yourself look better. While you’re busy puffing out your chest and being a tough guy, maybe you could take a minute and look at your own opinions, like the “it’s normal for dads to be racist if their daughters date a black guy” stuff. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/142 "2014-07-07T23:59:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What valid scientific findings? Are you talking about some hypothetical (e.g. “fantasy”) scientific findings? I’m saying _every time_, in the present and in the past, that someone has said “black people are inherently genetically less intelligent”, this was based on poor science, poor evidence, and was a racist claim. Every single time. Can you identify a single time, just one, in which someone has said “black people are inherently genetically less intelligent” (or some variation) and it was a reasonable conclusion based on “valid scientific findings”? If not, then why is it wrong to call these claims “racist”? _Every_ time means just that. So the statement must _always_ be true. A square has 4 sides, every time. A triangle has 180 degrees, every time. That’s true for all squares and triangles you and I have ever seen or have not seen. Squares and triangles that have been in existence, are in existence or will be in existence. You overstate your case to your case. Some guy could reveal such study tomorrow. Some illuminating study might be underway right now. And as you well know, science is usually cumulative. Even Newton felt his work was possible due to work by scientists who came before him. So, one study now might be inconclusive, another tomorrow might reveal more, and so on. To answer your last line, it is wrong to call all these claims racist because you have no proof that they all are. You can assume that they are, and you might be fairly safe in that assumption. But to wave your hand and decree all of them to be racist is wrong because it lacks evidence. Surely you hold that before someone is to be labeled with such a strong word that it is incumbent upon you to have pretty good evidenced, no? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/143 "2014-07-08T00:01:31Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Even if Obama had been elected with 100% of the vote, it wouldn’t prove racism was gone (maybe he was running against Satan in this alternate universe?). I can name at least one hundred people I’ve met in person who believe exactly that: that Obama was running against Satan. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/144 "2014-07-08T00:02:34Z")
I think you’re a deluded racist, but I also think **faithfool** ’s declaration that she’s never made a comment about a race (good, bad or indifferent) is ridiculous. I’m not hiding behind you. People are replying far too fast to this thread. I’m responding to \*\*chicagowhitesox8675309 \*\*or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/145 "2014-07-08T00:02:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Exactly. If someday a gene is found that’s related to intelligence and race then there will be some scientific evidence on which to form conclusions. But no such gene has been found and no such evidence exists. So the people who are theorizing about such a gene are starting from their belief that black people are inherently less intelligent and then guessing there’s scientific evidence somewhere out there to support their belief. That’s not science - it’s racist pseudoscience. So, you feel that even looking into the subject is racist. Tell me, are there otter things that MDs and research PhDs should deem off limits lest they found themselves slapped with an ugly label from you. No such gene has been found. And to look for such a gene is racist. What a nice neat little impenetrable shield of ignorance you’re trying to erect. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/146 "2014-07-08T00:07:32Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > _Every_ time means just that. So the statement must _always_ be true. A square has 4 sides, every time. A triangle has 180 degrees, every time. That’s true for all squares and triangles you and I have ever seen or have not seen. Squares and triangles that have been in existence, are in existence or will be in existence. You overstate your case to your case. Some guy could reveal such study tomorrow. Some illuminating study might be underway right now. And as you well know, science is usually cumulative. Even Newton felt his work was possible due to work by scientists who came before him. So, one study now might be inconclusive, another tomorrow might reveal more, and so on. So what does this have to do with anything I’ve said? There have been no reasonable, good, etc., claims. Saying these things is racist. > [@](#): > > To answer your last line, it is wrong to call all these claims racist because you have no proof that they all are. “Proof”? What are you talking about? If I find a piece of paper on the ground in which someone wrote “black people are inherently genetically less intelligent than white people”, I don’t need any more “proof” that this is a racist claim. I don’t need to wonder about who wrote it, or why – it’s a racist claim. It’s always been a racist claim, and it’s still a racist claim. There’s no way, in the present day or in the past, to make this claim and have it _not_ be a racist claim. Just like there’s no way to say “Jews are inherently greedy and untrustworthy” and have it not be an anti-Semitic claim. > [@](#): > > You can assume that they are, and you might be fairly safe in that assumption. But to wave your hand and decree all of them to be racist is wrong because it lacks evidence. I’m talking about the claim. There’s no evidence at all except for the words used in the claim. It doesn’t matter who makes the claim, or why the claim is made – these certain claims are racist. It’s racist to say “blacks are inherently genetically less intelligent” – it’s bigoted to say “Jews are inherently genetically untrustworthy” – it’s bigoted to say “Asians are inherently genetically less creative”. These are all racist/bigoted things to say. Since I’m only talking about the claim, no evidence is needed except for the words used in the claim. > [@](#): > > Surely you hold that before someone is to be labeled with such a strong word that it is incumbent upon you to have pretty good evidenced, no? Again ( **how many fucking times do I have to fucking say this!!!** ) – I’m not labeling anyone at all. I’m labeling claims ( **goddamnit!** ), not people. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/147 "2014-07-08T00:09:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think you’re in luck. Not luck. Rather, “his heart is blessed.” ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/148 "2014-07-08T00:18:19Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I think you’re a deluded racist, but I also think **faithfool** ’s declaration that she’s never made a comment about a race (good, bad or indifferent) is ridiculous. I’m not hiding behind you. > > People are replying far too fast to this thread. I’m responding to \*\*chicagowhitesox8675309 \*\*or whatever. No commentary on my actual reply to you then? Well, all righty. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/149 "2014-07-08T00:20:11Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > So what does this have to do with anything I’ve said? There have been no reasonable, good, etc., claims. Saying these things is racist. > > “Proof”? What are you talking about? If I find a piece of paper on the ground in which someone wrote “black people are inherently genetically less intelligent than white people”, I don’t need any more “proof” that this is a racist claim. I don’t need to wonder about who wrote it, or why – it’s a racist claim. It’s always been a racist claim, and it’s still a racist claim. There’s no way, in the present day or in the past, to make this claim and have it _not_ be a racist claim. Just like there’s no way to say “Jews are inherently greedy and untrustworthy” and have it not be an anti-Semitic claim. Would you agree that as imperfect our ability to measure intelligence that it is fantastically superior to our ability to measure greed and untrustworthiness? So, your comparison is quite inapt. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’m talking about the claim. There’s no evidence at all except for the words used in the claim. It doesn’t matter who makes the claim, or why the claim is made – these certain claims are racist. It’s racist to say “blacks are inherently genetically less intelligent” – it’s bigoted to say “Jews are inherently genetically untrustworthy” – it’s bigoted to say “Asians are inherently genetically less creative”. These are all racist/bigoted things to say. Since I’m only talking about the claim, no evidence is needed except for the words used in the claim. So, if there are two notes with those words found a thousand miles apart, one is discovered to have been written by a member of the KKK and the other was written by a very well respected Black brain researcher, you don’t care to digest that extra information? It matters not? In the human quest for knowledge and understanding can no person have a non-racist reason for wanting to find out how the races stack up against each other as far as intelligence? How about this. How about if the note said, “it appears that blacks are inherently genetically less intelligent”? Meaning that the research he’s looked at so far in his study seems to indicate that to be the case. In the end, the full research will either support that or nullify it. Still racist? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/150 "2014-07-08T00:22:16Z")
Gotta run. More later, if necessary. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/151 "2014-07-08T00:23:17Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > While you’re busy puffing out your chest and being a tough guy, maybe you could take a minute and look at your own opinions, like the “it’s normal for dads to be racist if their daughters date a black guy” stuff. Your another one who likes to change words around…I said, that fathers will raise an eyebrow if they had daughters who dated somebody from a opposite race. I guess what I mean there is, I don’t think a guy is racist because of this. it’s going to be a shock for any father that I know of. Apparently not you guys. It’s a normal reaction for any father if this happens. You just got be able to get over it. I swear, I would love to see you face if your daughter bought home a black guy or a white guy depending on your race. I’m sure you would be very even keeled over this. This whole thing that Marley bought up was from a different thread too. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/152 "2014-07-08T00:42:09Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > Your another one who likes to change words around…I said, that fathers will raise an eyebrow if they had daughters who dated somebody from a opposite race. I guess what I mean there is, I don’t think a guy is racist because of this. it’s going to be a shock for any father that I know of. Apparently not you guys. It’s a normal reaction for any father if this happens. You just got be able to get over it. You’re describing a negative response to a situation based on nothing more than the race of one of the participants. HOW IS THAT ANYTHING OTHER THAN RACIST? ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/153 "2014-07-08T00:56:35Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > You’re describing a negative response to a situation based on nothing more than the race of one of the participants. HOW IS THAT ANYTHING OTHER THAN RACIST? I remember several years ago, a white girl bought home a black guy, the next day her garage was burned down. Now I think that’s racist. Now a dad feeling not so happy with his kid bringing home somebody from a different race isn’t so much. I guess it still is racist but if the dad can get over it, then that’s a different story. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/154 "2014-07-08T01:25:01Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > I guess it still is racist but if the dad can get over it, then that’s a different story. > [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > I guess it still is racist > [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > it still is racist Yes. Yes, it is. Glad we’re all on the same page now. . ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/155 "2014-07-08T01:25:35Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > No commentary on my actual reply to you then? Well, all righty. :rolleyes: I’m a coward. Haven’t you heard? Yes, your magical upbringing made it so that you never made a generalization, nor repeated one you heard, because of course you never heard one, whether good, bad, or indifferent, about a race. You have no opinion about Caucasians perhaps having Nearderthal DNA mixed in. You couldn’t have ever felt anything, because that would be a comment about a race, which you have never ever made. East Asians having epicanthic folds about the eyes is nothing you’d ever notice, because you are better than everyone else. Sub-Saharan Africans and sickle-cell anemia? Nope. Not on **faithfool** ’s watch. Or, the other possibility is your overreaching smugness is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/156 "2014-07-08T01:27:58Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > I remember several years ago, a white girl bought home a black guy, the next day her garage was burned down. Now I think that’s racist. Now a dad feeling not so happy with his kid bringing home somebody from a different race isn’t so much. I guess it still is racist but if the dad can get over it, then that’s a different story. When I was a kid, I once got busted for shoplifting a candy bar. Around that same time, Henry Hill was involved in stealing nearly six million dollars in the infamous Lufthansa heist. Somehow, I’ve never had problem processing the idea that both actions were accurately described as “theft.” ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/157 "2014-07-08T01:31:01Z")
Holy fuck, **Miller** is Henry Hill? Why wasn’t I informed? ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/158 "2014-07-08T01:37:48Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > When I was a kid, I once got busted for shoplifting a candy bar. > > Around that same time, Henry Hill was involved in stealing nearly six million dollars in the infamous Lufthansa heist. > > Somehow, I’ve never had problem processing the idea that both actions were accurately described as “theft.” Your telling me the difference between a candybar and 6 million dollars is the same? If you think these two types of theft are the same then your the one who is closed minded. Your making light of my reasoning on types of racism but get it through your skull, there is a difference. ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/159 "2014-07-08T01:39:35Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I’m a coward. Haven’t you heard? > > Yes, your magical upbringing made it so that you never made a generalization, nor repeated one you heard, because of course you never heard one, whether good, bad, or indifferent, about a race. > > You have no opinion about Caucasians perhaps having Nearderthal DNA mixed in. You couldn’t have ever felt anything, because that would be a comment about a race, which you have never ever made. > > East Asians having epicanthic folds about the eyes is nothing you’d ever notice, because you are better than everyone else. > > Sub-Saharan Africans and sickle-cell anemia? Nope. Not on **faithfool** ’s watch. > > Or, the other possibility is your overreaching smugness is ridiculous. I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea what your talking about. ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519/160 "2014-07-08T01:40:42Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Yes. Yes, it is. Glad we’re all on the same page now. > > . I’m not on the same page as you. Your on the same page as the rest of your color blind pals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-racist-warning-signs/692519.md?page=9)