Is beeing raceist the same thing it was 50 years ago or has it envoled into a part of our everyday lives?
Thor
Ummm…what?
Uh…
C. envoled
Hmm, I think what Thorlifur is trying to say is either…
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Everyone is racist and hasn’t improved in 50 years.
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or
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Is a racist today the same as a racist 50 years ago?
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IMO, as long as there are ignorant people living, there will always be racism in the world.
Thorleifur’s grasp of the English language is somewhat suspect. My guess as to what he was asking:
What is the meaning of the phrase, “The whole nine yards”?
sheeeeesh - you guys don’t give a person a break, do you?
I think Thor has a valid question - has the problem of racism truly gotten better or have we just learned to live with it. Along the same lines, have we simply pushed racism under the surface (as opposed to the blatant racism of the past), or is it truly a thing of the past?
perhaps I am just niave in thinking that this question deserves just as much consideration as questions such as “how to give better oral sex” and “are UFO’s real”.
not quite sure why it’s in the pit though…
Thorleifur-Please rephrase and clarify question.
Living in Iceland… I wonder what Thor. could possibly know of racism and if he is able to form a opinion of its state in the world.
I think it depends on your defintion. If you consider it bigotry and hate, then anyone can agree that comparisons of today and 50 years ago are absurd. If you consider it just the admission of noticing differing races and posibly allowing your steroetypes to effect your actions, then I guess racism is still common, but still uncomparable to 50 years ago. But until races all have the same social status and finacial status (and conversely criminal status) stereotyping will be common and understandable, and acceptable IMHO. However stereotyping based solely on skin color is ignorant, but that combined with context can be important in avoiding dangerous situations.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is
yours to draw…
Omniscient; BAG
“Living in Iceland… I wonder what Thor. could possibly know of racism and if he is able to form a opinion of its state in the world”
What the heck does that have to do with anything? Are you suggesting that because Thor lives in Iceland he has neither the right nor the ability to comment on/question world affairs? Granted, he may not have the same take on racism as an African American living in Mississippi. Then again, chances are neither do you. I am sure he is just as “able” to form an opinion as any other informed person is.
Besides, it looked to me like he was asking a question, not making a specific comment.
Thor. lives in a homogonous society. How can he know the first thing about racism. If your defintion of informed is what he sees on TV, then his opinions are useless.
I didn’t say he is informed. I meant that living in Iceland does not automatically mean he is ignorant and therefore his opinion is useless. Not knowing Thor or how informed he is, I am in no position to judge whether or not he is able to comment on world isues such as racism. I have no clue where he gets his information…do you?
I do not think it is fair at all to imply that just because he lives in Iceland he doesn’t have the right to ask questions about racism.
Where do you get your views about racism? Is it from first-hand experience, or is much of it from what you have read/seen on TV or what other people have told you?
Omniscient:
I’ll refrain from comments, and will only ask you one question, Omni:
Is having first hand, personal experience, of any question/topic, the only qualifier that allows a person to have an opinion about said topic?
ct
Maybe we should answer the topic header “Is raceism justafiable?” (sic)
Of course racism is justifiable - if you’re a racist. Sheesh.
Louie: What I’m asking is: Through the experience of the past 50 years has the human race in some or all respects learned from past mistakes or has modernism through it’s “how cares” attitude made us blind towards moral issues such as racism.
I think Yepitsme hit the nerve when talking about what I do and don’t know.
Iceland gets ever more multicultural by every year that passes and I feel like racism is getting more and more common. Therefore I raised the question.
Also having lived in Germany, Spain, France, England and Danmark I think I am fully qualified to participate in or start a disscussion on every topic I feel like, national or international…
Thor
I may not be envolved, but I certainly hope I am involved and evolved. I don’t know if raceism is justafiable, but do know that racism is not justifiable. Do I have a “how cares” attitude? Who cares?
Have racist attitudes deteriorated significantly over the past 50 years? Yes. Do we still have a long way to go? Yes. Does racism work in both directions? Definitely.
Racism and sexism are alive and well on the Howard Stern show. Have you seen his Black Jeopardy skits? Strip Jeopardy? The theme of Howard’s show seems to be: let’s laugh at dumb blacks and naked women.
Why do blacks and women go on his show and do that stuff? I have no idea.
Thorleifur, on 7-2-99 you asked: Is being racist the same thing it was 50 years ago, or has it evolved into a part of our everday lives?
I’m not sure if I am interpreting the intent of your question correctly, so please correct me if I have misunderstood. I read this as asking whether or not racism is more frequently seen or more acceptable today than it was 50 years ago. I think the question, as it stands, can be interpreted in several different ways, so if I miss the point please let me know and perhaps we can come to a clearer understanding of what comparison you are looking for.
Also, a persons experiences in racism will differ from one part of the world to another and from one period of time to another. I can only speak from my experiences in my part of the world during the period from about 1963 until the present. This doesn’t go back 50 years, but does cover an era of great social upheaval due to the Civil Rights Movement in the US at that time. I have lived in the southeastern US all of my life, so have seen the changes from those early days up to this time.
I would have to say that in this part of the world racism was much more common and considered an acceptable attitude than it is today. The white adults of that time had been raised from birth to consider blacks as inferior. Blacks were less intelligent, less skilled, and less motivated. The whites, or course, did not see this as racism - to them it was the natural order of things. Although I’m sure the blacks didn’t see it the same way :), they did, for the most part, accept the status quo until the Civil Rights Movement finally spread into our area and gave them the courage to speak out and take action. While I’m sure this was an exhilirating time for the blacks, for the whites in my area it was frightening. In other parts of the country there were riots, shootings, and bombings. The formerly submissive blacks in our area were becoming more assertive, speaking out, demanding that they be allowed to sit where they wanted, shop where they wanted, eat where they wanted - and the young black men were, of course, the most exuberant. White men left for work in the morning fearing that the violence occurring elsewhere in the country would erupt while they were gone and they would return to find their homes burned and their familes injured or dead. Having to fear the people that they had been taught were their inferiors created a lot of resentment in the white population.
Fortunately, we had no major incidents here and things gradually calmed down and evened out. As time went by and the whites saw that the blacks were not going to go on a rampage, they began to lose their fear and try to adapt to their changed society. While the blacks were stretching their wings, they were still a little uncertain about whether or not they would actually be allowed to fly. And in this poor, rural area there was not a big class difference to fuel resentment on the part of the blacks. Sure, that black family on the corner might have had to wear hand-me-down shoes all winter - but the white family up the street was having to do the same thing! I actually think there was a lot of humor in the situation that helped ease the tension - the blacks had gained equality with the whites, but big deal! The whites hadn’t had much more than them to begin with!
Of course, all kinds of programs were started throughout the country to help the blacks catch up to the whites in educational and job opportunities. These programs did help to correct some of the racial inequalities throughout the US. However, in areas such as mine the effect was different. It wasn’t a case of ‘most of the white kids can afford to go to college and most of the black kids can’t’. NO ONE could afford to go to college. Then things changed and special scholarships began being set up for disadvanted black students, college enrollment and job hiring quotas for minorities were started, and affirmative action was set into place. More blacks began attending college and getting better jobs. However, the poor white families who had previously had pretty much the same opportunities as the poor blacks were still in the same situation as before the Civil Rights Movement. Some began to feel that the blacks were not being given equal opportunities, but preferential ones. Many whites began to feel that a sort of ‘reverse discrimination’ was occurring. And the resentment started to rise again . . .
So, I don’t think that racism is as widespread and socially acceptable as it was 30, 40 or 50 years ago in this part of the world, but I do think it is seriously on the rise and something to be concerned about.
And please, I am not a sociologist or anything, this is just my interpretation of what I’ve seen in this part of the world in my lifetime.
sosumi
Yes Coosa you pretty much got the point and it was very interesting to read your tale of many times in your aera.
But you missed one, what I was getting at was the fundemental question of wheather the human race actually learnes for past mistake.
That is to remember theire mistakes for more than one genaration. But otherwise you pretty much got it!!
Have a nice day!
Thor
Does the human race learn from the mistakes of previous generation? I think that’s hard to answer. Sometimes we do…unfortunately, many time we don’t.
This is one of the main reasons that it is so important that we study history (both our own and that of other nations). Only when we realize the mistakes we have made in the past can we avoid making the same mistakes in the present and future.