On a recent tv law and order type show, one of the characters expressed a definition of “prejudice” which was succinct and accurate.
Should have written it down. :smack: Something like “bias against an uncontrollable human condition” but much better.
The phrase could be applied to many types of prejudice, not just racial.
The words racist is bandied about on the net and in conversation often incorrectly so I’ve been looking for the One Definition to Rule Them All. 
I’m guessing you’re talking about how people incorrectly use racism when they really mean bigotry in relation to anti-muslim sentiment, it doesn’t make sense but there seems little point in fighting it.
True, its usually bigotry.
The thread asking whether disliking asian women was racist reminded me I’ve not found a succinct definition.
The sort of thing which annoys me is when a minority group gets some support or makes a statement, others cry its racist. For example, positive discrimination in favour of a minority.
Racism is an attitude/act imposed by a group in power upon people whom they define by physical characteristics eg. being dark skinned.
A powerless minority cannot act in a racist manner because their influence is nil.
It doesn’t have to be imposed by group in power.
My definition, is something like:
Ascribing traits (positive or negative) to an individual based purely upon a supposition held to that individual’s ‘racial group’.
Mmm…so in the apartheid days, if a black South African said white men are notoriously unreliable and won’t work - that would be a racist comment? Remembering that the black population couldn’t vote and this particular man might be murdered by white police for his words.
Yes, and since this apparently wasn’t an actual question but a rhetorical call to debate you should have started it in Great Debates instead.
Yes. Your added context is irrelevant to the definition. If you look at the what was said, it’s racial prejudice. It doesn’t matter if the speaker lives in a society where the white man is racist to them. Mutual racism is not uncommon.
And murdering is a lot more work than it looks like on TV.
Fair enough but I wasn’t looking for a debate. I genuinely want to find a good definition of prejudice - racial or otherwise. It must be reasonable to test definitions offered.
Plus, because the phrase I heard was on an American television show, I had the impression (from the actor) that there was a commonly accepted definition. University level but well enough known.
Nationalism - is the belief that (your) country is superior to some others.
Racism - the belief that your race is superior to some other race.
Sexism - the belief that your sex is superior to the other.
The “your” is logical, but some people with inferiority complexes may ascribe the attributes to a competing group.
Then, a racist comment is one that reinforces the belief of superiority - or erroneously emphasizes the differences to reinforce the point of view. Racist actions are actions taken based on the belief of one race’s superiority over another in some or all characteristics.
Contempt before investigation
I roll my eyes every time someone says this. The “balance of power” definition of racism was invented specifically to make it impossible for minorities to be racist, and to excuse what would otherwise be racist attitudes/actions on their part. Any intellectually honest definition of racism recognizes that people of any color can (and do) harbor bigoted attitudes.
It’s using one’s race to judge a person before you have sufficient information to do so. It’s connotation is negative. You know, a combination of the dictionary definitions of both words. It’s not idiomatic.
So when half a dozen homies beat the shit out of someone specifically because the victim is white, and the don’t like crackers, that is not acting in racist manner, because the homies are a powerless minority?
It’s extraordinary that anybody can believe this, much less accept it.
Who gets to decide what a minority is, and whether it is powerless. Hitler hated non-Aryans because they held all the power and rendered the Aryans minority powerless.
Does that mean that you accept that Hitler wasn’t racist?
Mmm…we might have to agree to disagree. So far as I can tell all the definitions of “racism” invoke the fundamental point that it stems from those in a position of power.
A powerless racial group may preach bigoted and biased views but those opinions cannot be racist because the harm flowing from them is nil. Bigotry - yes.
Racism is quite a specific word, a powerful word, and it worries me that some people misunderstand it.
I regularly come across positive discrimination actions being described as “racism” by those who don’t like it. Seems wrong thinking to me. Substitute unfair, bias, preference, etc fine but lets not slip off the rails with inflammatory language.
So when half a dozen homies beat the shit out of someone specifically because the victim is white, and they don’t like crackers, no harm flows from that act?
That is utter nonsense of course. No group is powerless and no group lacks the capability to cause harm.
When you can point me to a group that is utterly powerless and utterly incapable of causing harm based upon their prejudice, your definition of racism mighht have some utility. Burt until you can do that, it quite clearly adds nothing to the standard definitions because… there is no such thing as a powerless minority.
While Blacks in the US may have *less *power than Whites as a group, they are in no sense powerless, they are perfectly capable of killing, intimidating and refusing employment to people based upon racial prejudice.
Ergo their bigoted views on race are racist, even by your definition.
Here’s one that doesn’t:
1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination
Here’s another:
the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior:
And another:
the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others
abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief
By “misunderstand it”, do you mean “fail to share my somewhat idiosyncratic opinion of what it means”?
I wouldn’t call it “idiosyncratic.” I call it self-serving. That definition is used, almost without exception, by certain minorities who like the idea that they themselves can’t possibly be racist, and have contrived a definition of “racism” that supports this belief.
No, that is way too narrow. If I don’t want my kid to have to compete with all those “smart Asian kids” in school X, and send him to school Y instead, I’m being racist even though I think the other race is superior.
The simple definition is assigning characteristics to someone based solely on his race. Now, we might quibble about whether those characteristics have to be behavior rather than physical, but that’s all there is to it.
You missed the next line, then:
I suppose the next issue is whether the “differences” are meant to be mean and petty or complimentary - backhanded compliments. Even ascribing “good at math” to a race (or a sex, I’ve heard that too) may seem like a compliment, but at it’s heart it’s a put-down; you’re not good because you work at it, you’re good because all Asians are good at math, all blacks have natural rythm or large penises and good singing voices (obviously never watched American Idol tryouts), all Natives are good at tracking game, whatever stupid racial/sexist/nationalist belief excuses your personal lack of talent or ability or perseverance…
“Oppressed” minorities who exhibit racial prejudice don’t do anything for their cause. Among other damage, they simply reinforce the majority opinion, “see they don’t want to integrate with us anyway.”
I see that definition (prejudice + power = sexism or racism) quite frequently in certain arguments online.
Any attempt to question their narrative on power (for instance, claiming that women make up more than 50% of the population and about 54% of the votes, therefore they are the group in power, or cutting the scope down to personal levels of interaction between people of different races) ends in more redefining until they become dismissive and quit the discussion.
Once that definition is brought out, I have never seen anyone change their minds or continue a discussion reasonably for very long at all.