I’m not that racist, but there is a piece of my head that is. I call it the lizard brain.
Whenever I see a black guy with a white woman my lizard brain screams “That’s wrong!”, but the rest of my brain, and my soul even, yells “why?!” Come on lizard brain, don’t be stupid. Nature loves a mutt.
I agree.
What’s the debate?
It’s a discussion. At least that is my intent, A lot of people say that they are not racist, but I disagree. White, yellow, black, red, I wonder if every human has the same bullshit thoughts I do.
In a nutshell, let’s talk about race.
I agree that everyone is a little racist. Every car accident my mom has been in (none her fault) have involved a Vietnamese driver with a limited grasp of the english language. Its easy for her to attribute their race to their driving ability. But realistically, she lives in a city with more Vietnamese immigrants than any other city in the US.
Point is, its often negative experiences that color our prejudices.
I bet there are a bunch of Vietnamese guys in that town, sitting around and sharing stories over some beer and banh-mi about this crazy white lady who can’t fucking drive. 
I think we all have racist instincts. What makes us a racist is if we don’t realize that those instincts are irrational.
My lizard brain doesn’t mind interracial couples. I’m sure I do something similar, but nothing comes to mind.
I’ve certainly got an inner racist muttering crap to my inner child. The thing is that my inner adult has to explain that such is wrong and not to treat people that way and do things right. Rationality is the way to deal with the world.
Human beings sort the world out by differences. It is the way our mind works. Obvious differences seem easy, but skin color has nothing to do with why we want to divide the world into beneficial/not beneficial. However our inner color coder wants to take the lazy way out.
I think it is a false presumption that everyone is racist, even a little bit. Perhaps many people are, but not all.
I am the product of one white and one mixed-race, self-identified black parent. I don’t have any visceral negative thoughts when I see a person of any race, nor mixed-race couples or biracial kids.
I guess I’m racist, in that I immediately notice interracial couples. I get a little excited when I see a white man with a black woman, because I don’t see that as much as I do a black man with a white woman, (I’m attracted to a lot of black females).
I use to think black men scared me a little. Like if I were walking alone and a black man was walking in my direction, but then I realized that I’m not afraid of black men. I’m afraid of “thug” clothing. It doesn’t matter what race you are, if you dress like a “thug”, I get a little more cautious. If you don’t dress like a “thug”, I’m at ease.
Edit: I don’t care what people think of me… Bernie Mac was a cool guy. But he WAS scary looking.
To me it’s more like, everyone was born and raised and socialized in a culture with some sort of attitude towards human identity differences, be they called race or tribe or nationality or gender or whatever, and some of that influence (for the better or the worse or the merely quirky) persists however much we work at overcoming or reshaping it.
Pam: The mochachino ones are the cutest! And I guess he’d be half gay too. Can you say, “best dancer ever!?”
Stranger
Racism is a willfull act not a random thought.
Don’t blame it on the ‘lizard brain,’ or on instinct. Racism is learned.
If by racist, you mean a belief that one particular race is inherently superior to another, then, no, not everybody is a racist.
If by racist, you mean hold predudicial beliefs towards someone based solely on their race (whatever that means), then, yes, everyone had predudicial beliefs. Thats how we have learned to interact. We make snap decisions about someone based on irrelevant clues we pick up, skin color, clothes, hair style, body shape, etc… Those beliefs generally change as we learn more about a stranger, but if you meet some new, you are going to going to make decisions on how you are going to interact with them. If all you know is what you can see, then that is what you are going to base those decisions on.
Compare racist with sexist. When you see a 20-something blond young lady in a Mustang Convertible do you have the same thoughts as you would when you see a 20-something dude on a skateboard? Does that make you sexist? Or are you just facing the facts that every large-busted blond young lady that you have met has behaved very differnetly from the pimple-faced nerds on a skateboards that you went to high school with? Why would this encounter be any different? Having those thoughts do not make you sexist.
Now, if you later learn that the young lady actually has a PhD in Economics and a Masters in Business and is CEO of both a major corporation a non-profit that provides health care and education to third-world minorities, but think “what a waste; she really should be at home making some man satisfied by raising his kids and keeping his house, and leave these other things to the men, who will obviously do a better job”, then, you are a sexist.
Racism and Prejudice are not the same thing.
excavating (for a mind)
A little bit racist?
Obviously you haven’t considered the Republicans and libertarians.
A saucy puppet show!
That’s conveniently naive. I hope it helps you sleep at night.
Whether you think the “us and them” mode of thought is genetic or learned, it is part of the human condition. I started this thread to examine that. Nobody’s perfect. You included. There is something running around in the back of your brain that ain’t exactly “politically correct”. I don’t know what your personal one is, but I’m assuming your human, so I know it is there.
If you deny that, well, that’s how racism persists.
I think the genetic part of thought is us vs them, or friends vs strangers. When you throw black vs white, it is learned.