Is there a race of people you do not like, no matter how hard you try?

I’ve thought long and hard before posing this question, on how to phrase it without drawing fire and where to post it, so I decided here.

This question is not meant to offend anyone, so the subject matter will be mentioned in neutral tones, but curiosity has just gotten the better of me.

There are more than, what, 20 different races in the world? No matter how you cut it, there is discrimination practiced, or if not, there are many who dislike certain races.

I understand discrimination, I understand how wrong it is and I try very hard not to practice it. I’ve worked among people of many races, and have found that there are at least two that I cannot stand. Over two decades, I’ve embraced all of the antiracism information, learned much about the various races and especially that which concerned the two I dislike, but nothing changes.

Do any of you find that there is a race or two that no matter what, you dislike them, prefer not to deal with them and find that no matter what you do, you cannot change your opinions? I’d really like to know. I do not want to know what race.

Race G, I have found to be suspicious, clannish, distrustful of all races but theirs, very inflammatory, hard workers with a grueling worth ethic, but without the slightest hesitation to screw the customer. They make very poor landlords, store owners and neighbors. When young, they tend to be attractive, but as they age, the women especially, turn wizened, ugly and unattractive. They choose to rarely use any of the popular cosmetic surgeries or exercises to retain their youthful appearances. The women seem to be the power base in the family, with the grandmothers as the highest. The men tend to be quiet, while the women often are very verbal. They prefer a closed family grouping, preferring dating and marriage within their own kind.

Race H, I find to be, in the majority, physically unattractive and often downright ugly, men and women both. Their work ethic varies, their crime rate is higher than most other races, they are extremely verbal over discrimination, often hostile and suspicious of one race, and tend to be very heavy. As they age, men and women both, in my opinion, seem to transform into ugly parodies of humans. When young, the men tend to be good looking and strong, the women range from attractive, to rail thin, to obese, and tend to be shrewish and violent. They have a history of preying on each other. I, and others, have often found them hard to work with because of their frequently racist attitude. They tend to avoid cosmetic surgery or exercises designed to keep them looking young. The society is basically a matriarchy, with the mother, and oldest daughter assuming the main power rolls and the grandmother the greatest power.

Now, these are just some things which I find to cause me to dislike most of the people of these two races I have come in contact with, though by no means all. Try as I might, I cannot get rid of this racist attitude.

I’m not alone.

I read many racial posts here and it seems like so many posters can just accept everything concerning race with no problem at all, but I cannot. It is like a wall. I do nothing to promote racism, actively promote antiracism, and consciously watch my attitude when dealing with members of these two races. Now, some people have told me that they have similar feelings, but keep them to themselves because of fear of getting berated.

So, after reading tons of posts here, I ask you, do any of you harbor such feelings? Not necessarily for reasons that I have given, and please do not mention the race and try to be as neutral as possible if you explain.

Let’s not let this turn into a ‘he’s a damn racist’ post, please. It’s beyond my control, but I want to know.

Short answer: no.

Why dance around it? Just SAY what races you’re prejudiced against (although maybe “prejudiced” is too harsh a word here.) At least spare us from guessing exactly which races you’re talking about. (My guess is Race G = Mexican.)

As for me…well, there’s no race that I totally don’t get along with. However, I have decided that I am never, ever again working for a Jewish boss. Every job I’ve had with a Jewish boss has ended in disaster. Can’t explain it, but others have suggested that Jews by nature tend to expect a lot of hard work with few complaints and aren’t exactly known for their generous nature. Meanwhile, I tend to be a goof-off and a slacker.

But in general, I get along with Jews (and other races) just fine. It’s not racial differences that suck. It’s people.

J.E.T.

Uh, you seem to be putting a WHOLE lot of emphasis on appearance here. Should we assume that if a person from race “G”, or race “H” were to get cosmetic surgery, so they would be “attractive” you would like the race better? I think it’s important to note, that many people find the maturing, ageing face very attractive, with each line and wrinkle indicative of another year of wisdom gained. Suggesting that because a particular group of people tends to avoid plastic surgery to help them look younger tends to suggest intelligence in that group of people, if you ask me. However, I digress.

Basically no, there is no race that I “don’t like”. Each and every race and culture has a unique set of values and ideas from which to learn, period. I may not like a particular PERSON from a given race, but even if I’d met 100 people from that race that I didn’t like, my sample size would still be too small to make any conclusions about the entire population.

But then, I don’t worry about liking races. I worry about liking people.

[sub]3-1 Col gets here before this thread reaches puberty.[/sub]

I don’t know what it is…I try and try, but the green skin, the extra fingers, the 3rd nipple… not to mention the way they all *eat *, my lord, what pigs they are! Stuffing both mouths simultaneously, yech!

They are really the worst drivers…I think they think they are still on Venus or something…and they never stop whining about how cold it is, and they are constantly late or early…is it so hard to learn our calendar?

Sigh…I’m just sick of them, and I’m really glad you gave me this opportunity to vent.

stoid

now I have, and I have to say that this is especially priceless:

Well hell, Shades, wouldn’t * anyone * ? I mean, how revolting to age! What a disgusting thing to do! How dare they offend thine eye with their ancient rotting flesh, when they could so easily avail themselves of painful, expensive surgery that would make them more pleasing foryou to look upon. After all, appearance is what it’s all about, right? If you don’t look good, you can’t be good, and vice versa.

Hell, while we’re at it, why don’t we just have the ugly put down at birth?

Did it ever occur to you that you can dislike behaviors without deciding that a whole race of people is awful? Do you comprehend that even if you dislike X behavior, and you see it frequently being practiced by Rage G, that not all Race G’s bahve thusly, and not all persons who behave thusly are Race G?

Do you also get that just because you are not alone in your prejudice, it doesn’t make it right? Nearly the whole damn country was bigoted at one time…that didn’t make it right.

You really need, I think, to do some serious soul searching. You CAN help it, it’s just going to take some real work. And I recommend you do it. For your own mental and spiritual health, no one else’s.

Best of luck,

Stoid

stoid

I can’t help it either buy I have a hard time geting along with ignorant people who judge other people on superficial qualities or group people of certain ethnicities together. To put it simply, I can’t get along with racists.

Let’s just insert a certain nationality into your sentence shall we? I’ll pick The Scottish since I am one of them and damn proud of it. One is allowed to pick on oneself aren’t they? Mind you, the way Scots are I might have to take myself out in the back and give myself a good ass kicking…

The Scottish, I have found to be suspicious, clannish, distrustful of all races but theirs, very inflammatory, hard
workers with a grueling worth ethic, but without the slightest hesitation to screw the customer. The Scots make very poor landlords, store owners and neighbors. When young, Scots tend to be attractive, but as they age, the
Scottish women especially, turn wizened, ugly and unattractive. Scottish people choose to rarely use any of the popular cosmetic surgeries or exercises to retain their youthful appearances. The Scottish women seem to be the power base in the family, with the grandmothers as the highest. The Scottish men tend to be quiet, while the Scottish women often are very verbal. They prefer a closed family grouping, preferring dating and marriage within their own kind.

You really couldn’t make such a sweeping statement unless you had met every “Scottish” person on the planet could you?
The same goes for race G and H too.

Ooh! Is this like a game? Guess The Ignorant Stereotype?

G is Jewish, H is Italian … do i win something shiny?

My turn! Your turn to guess.

Race O are inherant;ly cruel. Also, they rarely use cosmetic surgery to enhance their appearance.

Race A are beady eyed criminals! They own pet kangaroos and hunt crocodiles with boomerangs. They drink a lot of beer. Also, they rarely use cosmetic surgery to enhance their appearance.

We should play this game every week …

I see that in my effort to be as neutral as possible, I screwed up.

Why is it that every racial topic seems to degenerate into a name calling pile of sarcasm?

No, cosmetics are not important, it’s just that I noticed that few of these two races use the popular techniques. There are at least two more races who tend not to use them either.

For some reason, among all of the races I’ve encountered, these two, in only my opinion, seem to grow as ugly as hell when they age in a real high number. I’ve seen older people of all of the other races, but these two in particular seem to really get hit with the ugly stick when they get old.

I should clarify, I do not find every member of these two races as repulsive. My blanket statement was in error. Just the majority.

Don’t get all sarcastic with me because I am asking out of genuine concern. I’m not asking to get jumped all over or to start a rumble here.

I saw a shrink about it, and his reply was pretty much, ‘well, you are not supposed to like everyone.’ He then told me to stop trying so hard to believe what everyone told me was the correct thing to do and to just accept my feelings.

But, all over the news, the TV, the radio, in books, newspapers, articles, magazines and even in cartoons, the message comes out that you are supposed to like every member of every race. Well, I don’t.

There are people I like and dislike of every race, but I find that I automatically approach any member of the two races indicated with suspicion and almost instant dislike. I cringe when I spot any of the two interracially dating, though other interracial couples don’t bother me.

Now, I’ve heard all of the politically correct platitudes, the philosophies, the great thoughts and I’ve just reached a solid wall and stopped there. Even as a kid, lucky enough to have unbiased parents and to grow up in a pretty well open town, before I learned of racism, when I encountered kids and adults of these two races, I found myself disliking them.

One race insisted on keeping their native tongue intact, even though the people I met were 3rd generation American, the other race kept complaining about several of the other races. There was just something about these two races that bugged me from nearly as far back as I can recall.

Now, knowing how I feel, knowing the difficulties I’ve had in working through my bigotry, I think I can understand why there are so many radical racial groups. Some people just cannot get into the universal acceptance and some people just loose control over their feelings and channel them into hate. It’s a whole lot easier to do that than fight to get those feelings organized and under control.

I don’t hate these people, but I don’t like them.

I’ve been treated by a doctor in an ER who was a member of one of these two races, and while he seemed perfectly adequate and highly skilled, I was mistrustful of his treatments, kept awaiting some form of oblique racial slur, and found his very attitude suspicious. (I’m being real neutral here also, because he had mannerisms and dress that I was disturbed by, but which, if mentioned, would give away his race.)

I mean, folks, this is not deliberate. I’m a highly educated, well read, well adapted adult with an IQ of 130. I like to be able to investigate all sides of an issue, but here, I admit defeat.

I understand the logic behind all of the antidiscrimination stuff being pushed in all media, the multiracial cartoons, programs, movies, products and so on, as a means to cut down on racism, especially to educate the young against such habits as bigotry.

It doesn’t help me.

I even studied the attempted genocide of the Jews in WW2, trying to figure out how one person could get almost an entire nation to hate one race so quickly and not just that, but to perform horrific acts upon them. It did not help. I never did figure it out.

Biologically, one race.

Culturally, who knows, however many you want to define.

I dislike the race of people who dislike other races of people.

In re your ‘dislike’ of the two mentioned races (what black and jews): it strikes me the question is cultural and your dislike is based on the logical fallacy, fallacy of composition: you dislike some members and incorrectly assign those attributes to all.

Treatment, learn not to make over-generalizations.

In re some of your “dislikes” – why the fuck would you dislike a “race” if you find them physically unattractive from your POV? Makes no sense. Now, me, I find blue eyes freaky. Do I dislike blue-eyed people, no that would be idiotic.

The Human Race? San Francisco Marathon?

Are you some kind of disgruntled horoscope writer? Astrologist with a chip on your shoulder? Didn’t Jean Dixon ever tell you to use your power with vague generalizations for good, not evil?

-fh

Because it deserves to.

The statement is obscure to me. However, your writing continues to reflect the fallacy of composition.

So the fuck what? Why does this matter, from even the subjective perspective.

He probably should have explained to you something about behavioural pyschology and explained the mechanisms by which group stereotypes form – generalization is a useful mental construct that can go astray. When you start breaking down inappropriate categories such as race, then perhaps you’ll find yourself disliking people on an individual basis or disliking aspects of culture but being able to seperate this from individual behaviour.

I’m not a raving fan of Egyptian culture for example, but I don’t hate Egyptians --maybe Cairenes but even then I’m not actually serious. I dislike discrete parts of the culture, not the people in a blanket manner. And I am sensible enough to understand that a number of things I dislike are my personal prefence only. There, no hatred.

Well, there’s a lot of love eveyone stuff around. Big deal, you say below you’re smart. If so, then decompose this. It’s not realistic to like everyone. The issue is not inappropriately disliking people for reasons of what percieved group they belong to.

They you’re prejudiced and you have issues.

Why? Why is this any business of yours?

Listen, just come out with it, these vague platitudes are actually more annoying than just stating your prejudices right out.

However highly educated or smart you are, your problem is with a common mode of thinking and logical error. Accepting your intelligence, you should be able to grapple with this.

You made an effort to be oblique, which isn’t the same as neutral.

Newsflash: Most people of most races don’t avail themselves of cosmetic surgery.

Huh? That would mean that the message is “Like everyone” and I don’t think that’s true at all.

Frankly, I find this statment, in light of all your others, somewhat alarming. You aren’t a failed painter, by any chance?

stoid

Shadesofgreen6, IANA psychiatrist, but perhaps if you just met more people of these races (and since it seems we’re guessing what the unnamed races are, I’ll say Asians and blacks) and talked to them for a while, you would see them as individuals with their own thoughts and personalities rather than as members of a monolithic ethnic group and discover that your preconceived notions are unfounded and wrong and just let them go.

There is some evidence (sorry, can’t cite - saw it on a popular science program recently) to suggest that we facially recognise much better within our own racial group. This seems reasonable to me. From an evolutionary POV it’s much more useful to me to recognise people who’s faces are pretty similar to mine shape and colour-wise, than people from the other side of the planet who I’m never going to meet.

Empirically, I know I have more trouble distinguishing between two similar (say) Japanese or two Afro-Americans. (Of course if it’s true, it works the other way too).

That said, I wonder if some people get a little uncomfortable - perhaps unconsciously - because of this.

Please note; I don’t have any dislike (that I know of, anyway) of any particular racial type, just trying to explore why some people might. And why they might not be able to help it, even though they know they’re going to get their asses flamed.

See, there are all these threads like this one which have at heart a very relevant issue. And then the whole discussion gets ruined by the OP saying something really dumb. Seriously…I was totally with you until you got too specific.

Shades, I believe that you have nothing but good intentions at heart. I really do. And the issue of how to deal with one’s racist emotions is extremely relevant to us all as human beings.

But there’s a lot of things you really need to work through before you can expect to participate in a worhtwhile discussion about this.

The dumbest thing in your post is by far all the stuff about cosmetic surgery. What the hell are you talking about? You make it sound as though every white person in the civilised world accepts cosmetic surgery as a rite of passage into old age. I (a white man) and plenty of other white folks HATE plastic surgery…we do not see it as a necessity for people entering old age, and we do not see it as some kind of weird discourtesy when someone refuses to grow old gracefully.

Furthermore, it’s just plain dumb to hate ANYONE based on how they look. The fact that looks are one of the first things you mention for each race illustrates personal issues that have nothing to do with race relations…issues you must get out of the way before you even attempt to post something like this.

You also have not been doing research…by which I mean really attempting to understand and make friends with people of these races. Try to see things from their side. Sticking my neck out, I’m going to say it is very obvious that you are talking about Asians and blacks. One of your reasons for disliking these folks is their racism. It seems to me you and they have something in common. Perhaps you could use this as a beginning for a friendship.

However…maybe I’m not being totally fair? Isn’t one of the reasons that posts like this piss everyone off so much the fact that it reminds us of our own racism, but it puts it into words, which we would never do?

Bah, define puberty ya smart aleck.

How ironic that you should link to this. I strongly suspect that “Race G” in the OP is the “race” mentioned in this thread, for a screamingly obvious reason. For the same screamingly obvious reason, “Race H” is black people.

Hmm, my guesses for Race G were either Hispanics or Asians, but Asian women are generally thought to age well, and Hispanic families (at least traditional ones) seem to give more control to the father, at least in ways immediately obvious to a white guy. I am guessing Race H as being Trailer Trash, but are they truly a race? Can you give me a clue?

If your observations of were accurate and true of these races, it should be immediately obvious to anyone which ones you are talking about, just as if I described a race by physical characteristics - ‘Race P has dark skin, kinky hair, and a somewhat flat nose. They tend to be long-limbed and/or tall. Race Q has epicanthic folds on their eyes, widely varying skin color, and straight black hair, and are somewhat shorter in stature than most people’. These descriptions in no way describe all members of these races, but I doubt people would argue over who I was talking about like they have with you.