# Is racism really that evil? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573 "2014-11-04T03:26:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/21 "2014-11-04T05:47:38Z")
Voting for Obama because he’s black: they just think he will look after them Voting against Obama because he’s black: racism! Typical Liberal hypocrisy ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/22 "2014-11-04T06:12:14Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If someone white were to vote for McCain \*because \*he was white, some would call it racist. > > If someone black were to vote for Obama \*because \*he was black, then…? Blacks voted for Obama because he was a democrat and they knew he probably (and didn’t) get as much of the white vote as Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/23 "2014-11-04T06:13:50Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Let me guess, you’re an American white male. > [@protoboard](#): > > We’re humans. Every race is racist as hell. 96% of blacks voted for Obama. While I can understand why they wouldn’t want to vote for a party that is blatantly against their interests, it proves that they are just as ethnocentric as anyone else. Unsurprisingly, **Ulfreida** was bang on. ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/24 "2014-11-04T06:18:07Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Voting for Obama because he’s black: they just think he will look after them > Voting against Obama because he’s black: racism! > > Typical Liberal hypocrisy Typical conservative irrationality. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/25 "2014-11-04T06:47:30Z")
Racism makes sense in some contexts. Well, for certain fucked-up values of “sense”. If you have a slave society where you’ve decided that the slaves and masters are conveniently color-coded, then, yeah, racism makes sense. When you no longer have slavery and have decided that people get the same rights regardless of melanin levels, then racism is a recipe for a gigantic clusterfuck. That’s when it’s time to let go of it already. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/26 "2014-11-04T07:16:25Z")
> [@JesterX](#): > > Typical conservative irrationality. Methinks you have been whooshed, good sir. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/27 "2014-11-04T07:26:48Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > We’re humans. Every race is racist as hell. 96% of blacks voted for Obama. While I can understand why they wouldn’t want to vote for a party that is blatantly against their interests, it proves that they are just as ethnocentric as anyone else. It just proves they aren’t idiots. The Republicans are their enemies; voting for their enemies would be a foolish act. And “race” and “racism” is an artificial construct created to justify European imperialism and the associated slave trade; it’s not something inherent to being human. Someone from before its creation like an ancient Roman or Chinese while they’d probably have their own bigotries wouldn’t even recognize “races” as we use the term, much less have the same opinion of them. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/28 "2014-11-04T08:40:53Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > no, it proves they wanted to elect someone that they thought would look out for them This is true. I don’t recall where I read it (WaPo?) but blacks as a group overwhelmingly supported Hillary over Obama in the first primary until Obama transformed into a viable, electable candidate, at which point their allegiance shifted. They supported who they thought served their interests best, which wasn’t always “the black guy.” ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/29 "2014-11-04T08:45:53Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And “race” and “racism” is an artificial construct created to justify European imperialism and the associated slave trade; it’s not something inherent to being human. Tell that to the Neanderthals. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/30 "2014-11-04T08:55:48Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Methinks you have been whooshed, good sir. No, I don’t think he was, though the post he was responding to was so inane, I can see why you might be confused. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/31 "2014-11-04T09:01:04Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > No, I don’t think he was, though the post he was responding to was so inane, I can see why you might be confused. Then you haven’t noticed that PSXer makes jokes of this nature all the time. Heck, I’m surprised when he’s serious. If he’s rename himself Poe’s Law, maybe more people would notice. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/32 "2014-11-04T09:01:43Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Tell that to the Neanderthals. They were not a “race”; they were a species or possibly subspecies. ---
**Author:** ![Recusant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@Recusant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recusant)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/33 "2014-11-04T09:06:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And “race” and “racism” is an artificial construct created to justify European imperialism and the associated slave trade; it’s not something inherent to being human. Not quite. “Race” is simply a division of human beings into groups along phenotypic (and now, genotypic) lines. The lines we draw and where we draw them are artificial constructs; that there are lines drawn is a biological side effect of our species extreme socialization that probably predates humanity and certainly predates human settlement of Europe; that there are distinctions is a consequence of there being more than one human. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/34 "2014-11-04T09:11:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, that can’t be it. I’m an American white male and I’m not buying the OP’s argument. > > It’s one thing to put your family and friends ahead of strangers. But how do you divide up groups of strangers? Does the OP consider he has “more in common” with a white Briton than he does with a black American? Considering my family is from the UK originally I’d have to say yes. But I’d be in between, I’d have a lot in common with a black American too living in the same country and all. And i don’t feel like I have any more in common with white rednecks than I do with blacks because I see them as being more or less a different race of whites. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/35 "2014-11-04T09:12:40Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Let me guess, you’re an American white male. Let me guess: you’ve never been outside the USA and seen racism in other countries? Let me assure you that whites can be the victims of racism; let me assure you that people of all colours can be racist. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/36 "2014-11-04T09:12:40Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I am a white, English-speaking American. A black person is (statistically) a black, English-speaking American. It’s a different culture, sure, but Polish-Americans are different from both of us. Why should I favor the Pole over the black guy? That’s reason #1 why it’s wrong. Ethnocentrism is natural, but it shouldn’t be arbitrary and it shouldn’t be extreme. I have more in common with any gay black guy from San Diego than I do with any WASP from New England. > > Reason #2 is that we may be different (sub-)cultures, but we are the same nationality. Their fellow-American-ness ought to trump their type of American-ness. How is nationalism any different from racism? I would argue in some ways a white American does have more in common with a Pole than with a black American. Black American culture is still very African in a lot of ways. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/37 "2014-11-04T09:14:29Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It just proves they aren’t idiots. The Republicans are their enemies; voting for their enemies would be a foolish act. > > And “race” and “racism” is an artificial construct created to justify European imperialism and the associated slave trade; it’s not something inherent to being human. Someone from before its creation like an ancient Roman or Chinese while they’d probably have their own bigotries wouldn’t even recognize “races” as we use the term, much less have the same opinion of them. My point is that they overwhelmingly voted for him because he was black. I don’t know what the proportion of blacks who voted for Clinton was but I would imagine it was considerably lower (edit: 93% for Obama in 2012, 84% for Clinton in 1996. I’d say that’s a considerable difference…) . Same with the OJ verdict … they supported OJ just because he was black. To be fair a lot of whites supported Zimmerman because he’s (ostensibly) white though, so it’s not only black people who are ethnocentric in that sense. > [@Recusant](#): > > Not quite. “Race” is simply a division of human beings into groups along phenotypic (and now, genotypic) lines. The lines we draw and where we draw them are artificial constructs; that there are lines drawn is a biological side effect of our species extreme socialization that probably predates humanity and certainly predates human settlement of Europe; that there are distinctions is a consequence of there being more than one human. Racial boundaries tend to be created by geographical boundaries, such as the Himalayas, the Sahara Desert, and the Atlantic Ocean. > [@Quartz](#): > > Let me guess: you’ve never been outside the USA and seen racism in other countries? Let me assure you that whites can be the victims of racism; let me assure you that people of all colours can be racist. Studies have found that racist attitudes are most prevalent in India and the Middle East and least prevalent in Western white-majority countries. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/38 "2014-11-04T09:21:11Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > If you have a slave society where you’ve decided that the slaves and masters are conveniently color-coded, then, yeah, racism makes sense. This never actually existed; there were Cherokee and even black slave owners and there were white slaves. Blacks from Africa were imported because the Native Americans refused to work. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/39 "2014-11-04T09:38:24Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > Not quite. “Race” is simply a division of human beings into groups along phenotypic (and now, genotypic) lines. No, it’s much more arbitrary than that. It has nothing to do with genes and little to do with appearance. > [@protoboard](#): > > My point is that they overwhelmingly voted for him because he was black. No; they overwhelmingly voted for him because ever since the Republicans started pandering to the white racists in the 60s blacks have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. They’d have voted overwhelmingly for him if he was plaid, because he was the Democrat and not the Republican. And they’ll keep doing so as long as the Republicans remain the unofficial party of white racists; they’d be fools not to. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573/40 "2014-11-04T10:36:50Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Let me guess, you’re an American white male. > [@protoboard](#): > > We’re humans. Every race is racist as hell. 96% of blacks voted for Obama. While I can understand why they wouldn’t want to vote for a party that is blatantly against their interests, it proves that they are just as ethnocentric as anyone else. So then yes. Gotcha. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No; they overwhelmingly voted for him because ever since the Republicans started pandering to the white racists in the 60s blacks have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. They’d have voted overwhelmingly for him if he was plaid, because he was the Democrat and not the Republican. And they’ll keep doing so as long as the Republicans remain the unofficial party of white racists; they’d be fools not to. When are idiot Republicans going to stop trotting out this statistic as if it’s worth a damn? Seriously, name the last election when black people voted for a Democrat president in numbers less than 90%. When was this? 50 years ago? Sit down with the “Well teh blacks voted for Obama” hysteria. Over 90% of black voters turned out for John Kerry, for crying out loud, and there is nobody on Earth whiter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-racism-really-that-evil/703573.md?page=3)