# Is Being Opposed to Interracial Relations Necessarilly Racist **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 13, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735 "2011-05-13T01:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/81 "2011-05-14T00:38:27Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Not desiring to be in an interracial relationship is not necessarily racist. But disapproving of the actions of those who are in such relationships is clearly racist, and actively opposing them is hateful. At one time I opposed them because I thought the people in such relationships would have a hard time as would the children of such unions. When I realized how silly my reasoning was on the subject I changed my mind. Not that I remember what prompted me to change my mind. I certainly never actively opposed such relationships but I don’t think I was being racist in my disapproval. I was very misguided though. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/82 "2011-05-14T00:41:44Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese\_American\_history](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American_history) > > Anti-Chinese movement That still pales in comparison with the Blacks’ experience. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/83 "2011-05-14T00:46:27Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > That still pales in comparison with the Blacks’ experience. Largely because there were more blacks, and most Chinese and other Asians came in after the slavery period. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/84 "2011-05-14T00:56:16Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Largely because there were more blacks, and most Chinese and other Asians came in after the slavery period. Never mind the sheer ignorance of that statement. Your challenge was to show lynchings “on the same scale as blacks” from one poster and “examples of Asians being the object of lynchings on a scale anywhere near that of blacks” from another. Your response showed nothing of the sort. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/85 "2011-05-14T00:56:26Z")
1. Maybe, maybe not. 2. Yes. 3. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/86 "2011-05-14T01:18:49Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese\_American\_history](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American_history) > > Anti-Chinese movement You ever read about how the Irish were once treated especially in the Northeast. > **[12 Anti-Irish Cartoons for St. Patrick's Day](https://celebjihad.com/blog/12-anti-irish-cartoons-for-st-patricks-day)** > > Immigrants often get a bad rap in the West. For the most part, it’s undeserved. A few bad apples (like myself) blow up a bus, behead a cartoonist, or set an unchaste woman on fire, and everyone overreacts and screams for deportations. It’s... They are full Caucasians now just like me. Cool. What does all this have to do with crude oil prices in the Middle East today? What does it have to do with anything for that matter. We won’t know unless you articulate much better. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/87 "2011-05-14T01:45:43Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Largely because there were more blacks, and most Chinese and other Asians came in after the slavery period. Gee. It’s as if the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Thais, and other Asians were not treated as chattel and their personhood denied as a matter of law. It is at a minimum naive to suggest that the oppression (however genuine) suffered by persons of Asian descent, as a group, comes close to that suffered by African-Americans. If you have an iota of the integrity, you will admit that. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/88 "2011-05-14T01:55:59Z")
I see this thread veering far off course with the burgeoning “who’s the bigger victim” game between Asians and Blacks, and I hope it doesn’t get totally derailed because there are certainly some interesting things to be discussed on the subject of race and attraction. I find the following statement to be absurd: > [@MrDibble](#): > > let me elaborate. If your reason is that you don’t find people of a particular race attractive, you’re a racist. As soon as you start putting people into groups based on what they look like, (as opposed to what they’ve done) you’re a racist, IMO. There’s a vast semantic difference between saying “I \*haven’t \*found a Black/Asian/White person I find attractive enough to be in a relationship with” and “I _don’t_ find Black/… people attractive enough to be in a relationship with” Human beings are visual creatures. We _do_ group things, and people, by what they look like, this is just a fact. And attraction has a lot to do with visual things. Not finding someone physically/sexually attractive doesn’t mean you dislike them as a person, nor does it mean that you make any assumptions about what kind of person they are based on how they look. A racist is someone who makes judgments about someone’s character based upon their looks (as those looks pertain to a certain racial group.) But this has nothing to do with physical attraction. You are attracted physically to someone’s looks, not his/her character. Now, in my own experience, I have personally never met any man who would rule out a woman being physically attractive because of her race. I think that even the most strident neo-Nazi would probably fuck a hot black chick (if he was certain that nobody else would know.) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/89 "2011-05-14T02:06:33Z")
Qin - they later became collectively known as the “Chinese exclusion acts” after the fact but were never actually named that. Do some research. Asia, as you probably know, is a big country. Start another thread so we don’t derail this one even further. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/90 "2011-05-14T02:07:50Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I see this thread veering far off course with the burgeoning “who’s the bigger victim” game between Asians and Blacks, and I hope it doesn’t get totally derailed because there are certainly some interesting things to be discussed on the subject of race and attraction. > > I find the following statement to be absurd: > > Human beings are visual creatures. We _do_ group things, and people, by what they look like, this is just a fact. And attraction has a lot to do with visual things. > > Not finding someone physically/sexually attractive doesn’t mean you dislike them as a person, nor does it mean that you make any assumptions about what kind of person they are based on how they look. > > A racist is someone who makes judgments about someone’s character based upon their looks (as those looks pertain to a certain racial group.) But this has nothing to do with physical attraction. You are attracted physically to someone’s looks, not his/her character. > > Now, in my own experience, I have personally never met any man who would rule out a woman being physically attractive because of her race. I think that even the most strident neo-Nazi would probably fuck a hot black chick (if he was certain that nobody else would know.) I’ve seen a neo-Nazi (or at least a German fascist) who had an Indonesian girlfriend and who said his Korean friends understood his “political views” better than his white fellows, ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/91 "2011-05-14T02:54:35Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Asia, as you probably know, is a big country. If I WERE to have a sig… ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/92 "2011-05-14T03:14:04Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > I’ve seen a neo-Nazi (or at least a German fascist) who had an Indonesian girlfriend and who said his Korean friends understood his “political views” better than his white fellows, What is a German Facist? By the way, you’re totally wrong about “Asians”, even in America. Why don’t you clarify to say people who are 1.5-2 generation Chinese and Korean descent? ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/93 "2011-05-14T04:04:49Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The Thais would take offense at such a notion, too. No one said Thais and Japanese were the SAME, they were said to be the same RACE, which through the American kalleidescope, THEY ARE. (I agree that race isn’t often a very useful construct, but these comments taking exception to the previous post that brought this up are willfully coy IMO, you knew exactly what he meant.) ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/94 "2011-05-14T04:13:33Z")
BTW, this thread should really only be about situation (1), because 2 and 3 are undeniably racist to any decent person. About (1), I can IMAGINE a person that this was true who was not a racist, but I think in general the people that I have heard say statements like (1), try to explain it away with pathetic excuses to cover their latent racism, even if they have not fully accepted that side of themselves. “I’m not attracted to black girls” means that their RACE is what you find unattractive, because obviously black people come in all types of body types, hair styles, skin tones, etc etc etc. Surely everyone can find someone of every race they are attracted to. So either “I’m not attracted to x group” is lazy short hand for, I generally don’t find them attractive but I would be open to the possibility, or more likely (imo) just casual racism. Personally when I was single I had learned to stop pursuing white girls, because I never had much success with them. I always found it easier to relate to, and not get rejected by, asian and black women. I think over the years this kind of dulled my attraction to white girls a bit, but at any point if I was single and a white girl pursued ME I certainly would have been open to it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/95 "2011-05-14T04:53:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t follow. Would you go through a horribly traumatic blind date with a black guy? I would consider it, because it would have a much higher chance of working out. Blind dates are scary, so I’m not going to put myself through that in a situation where there’s so unlikely to be a payoff. I don’t think that’s racist. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/96 "2011-05-14T05:08:59Z")
If you have to ask, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/97 "2011-05-14T05:54:06Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Being hypervigilent on the question of whether a given couple is interracial or not, and when they are, generously deigning to “withhold judgment” until the couple’s behavior can be observed, strikes me as a bit racist in itself. Assuming that human relationships are ever simple and straightforward seems quite disingenuous to me. Also, assuming that I’m “hyper-vigilant” about anything. I’m responding to the topic. Having an opinion about the topic of the thread is what a discussion forum is all about. Assuming that someone’s expressed opinion is an _obsession_ strikes me as straw-man construction. If the topic was “Do you like people who like cats?” and I expressed an opinion about cat-likers, would that make me “hyper-vigilant” about cat-lovers? Would you expect that the first thing I ask, when meeting a new person, is their attitude towards cats? No, because that would be insane. But you think it’s perfectly reasonable to accuse me of racism because I have a negative opinion about people who fetishise people of different races? You’re going to need more straw. For the record, my opinion about racism in relationships is a small sub-set of my general guidelines on deciding who I like and who I don’t. I don’t like racists, and I don’t like plenty of other things. People who hate cats? Can’t stand them. People with chips on their shoulders? I find them extremely irritating. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/98 "2011-05-14T06:24:33Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > If you read your second paragraph, it \*can \*come across like “some of my best friends are black” meme. > > I’m wired that I find Asians more sexually attractive for \*me \*than say blondes, and blondes moreso than redheads. That is not some creepy fetish - it’s simply what I like or the way I’m wired. Thank god, as a society, we’re getting to where there is acceptance that some people are physically attracted to only members of their own gender. That used to be illegal, immoral, an affront to society, etc. and called out some of the worst in bigotry. > > Now if someone says “I like Asian women because they are docile, subservient and shag like a minx” that’s a racial stereotype (and waaaaaaaay off base if my 25 years in Asia is anything to go by and shows an amaziing level of ignorance). And for anyone to pre-judge and put me in this “Asian fetish” camp because I’ve been married to a Shagnhaiese for nearly 2 decades, is projecting their own racist bias. > > Again, I go back to “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is normal but “Gentlemen Prefer Asians” is a creepy fetish. Nice double standard. I never said that a white (I’m assuming) male being attracted to Asian women is always creepy, and you seem determined to act like I _did_ say that. What I said - and hopefully we can agree on this and move on with our lives - is that it _can be_ creepy. On occasion. Not “always” - I never said that and I never implied it. Now, again, _I’m_ being called racist because I disapprove of people who treat some people differently based on race. Nice double standard. If you _don’t_ treat some people differently based on race, then you have no reason to fear my disapproval. (I wish more people in real life feared my disapproval, but sadly it seems a very ineffective threat. Oh well.) Some of my best friends _are_ black. And some are Asian. And I have seen those friends objectified and depersonalised by people who were desperate to fuck them based purely on their races. I find that sort of behaviour extremely unpleasant, and anyone who acts like that has pretty much spoiled their chances of being friends with me. And that’s the entire extent of my power over anyone else. I don’t want to ban interracial relationships, and I think that when they’re based on seeing the other person as a human being and not as a racial stereotype, interracial relationships are in general a good thing (taking into account that _any_ relationship may or may not be a good thing depending on the actual individuals involved.) ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/99 "2011-05-14T06:29:00Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > let me elaborate. If your reason is that you don’t find people of a particular race attractive, you’re a racist. As soon as you start putting people into groups based on what they look like, (as opposed to what they’ve done) you’re a racist, IMO. There’s a vast semantic difference between saying “I \*haven’t \*found a Black/Asian/White person I find attractive enough to be in a relationship with” and “I _don’t_ find Black/… people attractive enough to be in a relationship with” > > However, if your reason is that you don’t want the hassle because other people would frown on it, then you’re not a racist. Just a coward. Now _that_ I can agree with. Well said, Mr D. ---
**Author:** ![Xenocrates](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f14d63/32.png) [@Xenocrates](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xenocrates)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735/100 "2011-05-14T11:51:30Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > let me elaborate. If your reason is that you don’t find people of a particular race attractive, you’re a racist. As soon as you start putting people into groups based on what they look like, (as opposed to what they’ve done) you’re a racist, IMO. If that’s all it takes to be a racist, then being a racist isn’t bad. In fact, NOT being a racist probably qualifies you for some pretty serious psychological/neurological disorder. If you want racism to be a bad thing, your requirements are gonna have to get a whole lot stricter. Anyway, I think the OP may have left out a category exemplified by my father. He doesn’t disapprove of interracial relationships per se, but he does believe that they are much less likely than intraracial marriages to work out (largely due to cultural differences). He believes this based on anecdotal evidence from people who were in such marriages. Setting aside the issue of whether that is good enough evidence to make his belief rational, it doesn’t seem racist since it has nothing to do with the superiority of some race. Yet he is opposed in the sense that he advised me to not do it. Not sure if that qualifies as “opposed though.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-opposed-to-interracial-relations-necessarilly-racist/581735.md?page=6)