Is this friend, by any chance, the one who extracted the quarter from your nose?
A: Yes, humans.
Regards,
arl
I agree – that was a great post. BTW, I remember reading sometime back about someone setting up the page, but I missed whether it was done. Is the page up, and what’s the url?
And I’ve got one more for you… culture is an illusion.
The one group ofd people I have a very low opinion of are the fans of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, if they really are people.
Probably because any opinion of another person based on that person’s race, or any other facet of their appearance, is artificial and based on prejudice and stereotype rather than on anything spiritual or intellectual.
I hope you are able to get beyond your problems with this, Shadesofgreen6. You narrow your whole person with persistance of this type of thinking.
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To answer the OP
Every single one of them. Or to quote my fav. comedian.
Oh, Guin, I think you can let yourself off the hook for this one. Someone stinks, they stink. Here in America, we are offended by body odor, particularly powerful body odor. It’s not racist.
I’m going to put my neck on the block here.
First off, I think that people should be a bit easier on shades, he does seem like he really wants to change his way of thinking.
Now, what I am embarrassed to say: While I really do NOT consider myself racist, every once in a while something’ll come up.
Actually, I can only think of one circumstance when race comes into my judgement of people. It’s not when I meet them, when I’m friends with them, etc. I can truthfully say I really don’t care, then. It’s when I’m walking alone on the street at night.
I attribute this largely to the paranoia my mother has instilled in me, whenever I see a male, I get extremely nervous. Sometimes, a little more if he is black. I know this is ridiculous and I try to check the thought whenever I get it… Then again, the larger the guy, the more nervous I get, same with his facial expression, whether he meets my eyes etc. But still.
Please someone tell me I’m not a horrible person
You aren’t a horrible person.
The only serious violence I’ve ever experienced came in the form of a very large black man smashing me in the mouth as he walked past me and splitting my lip wide open. I had caught his eye as he passed me. I guess he was shy.
It took quite a long time before I could stand to have anyone walk near me on the street, and even longer for me to stand large black men walking near me.
And I grew up with a single mom who dated large black men exclusively.
Can’t help how you feel. And you should be cautious around all people on dark streets at night. Ok, try not be on dark streets at night!
stoid
Thanks, SToid. LaurAng-that’s what I mean…sometimes, I’ll instinctively do something, not even meaning to, that’s racist. But I guess in our case, we aren’t racist, because-we recognize it’s wrong, and we don’t WANT to do it.
You’re not. Even Jesse Jackson (who, whatever his problems, definitely is not racist against blacks) has felt that way. Here’s a quote from Jackson from 1993 where he expresses a similar concern. Hopefully, this makes you feel at least a little better.
[sub]For a whole bunch of cites of this quote, go to Google and search for: Jesse Jackson “nothing more painful to me” (with the quotation marks)[/sub]
So, if everyone here is completely understanding and make up the majority, which is not racially bigoted or biased in any way, and if everyone fits the stereotype shown all over the current media, that is, no one dislikes any specific race more than any other, explain to me why racism is still a great force in not only the nation, but the world?
I don’t especially get along with every race and I’d be lying if I said I was and my reasons are based on repeat experiences, not just generalities. Like most people, I try not to let my own opinions get the best of me. You want to find out about racism? Just work construction for a couple of years like I did. You’ll get an education fast, and the way I look at it, a whole bunch of people don’t look at it on a person to person basis, but on a racial level.
I agree with the post concerning interbreeding. After enough time has passed, there will be only one race, but then, we’ll probably find other things to fight about. Religion is always good for a war or two, some wholesale discrimination, and assorted murders. Failing that, there is always ones ‘roots’ to bicker over.
In the history books, there are vast recordings of discriminatory practices applied to nationalities, religious preferences, races, sexes, and even various areas of living within the same land. Let us not forget the great political discriminatory practices of the not so distant past when people would beat the crap out of each other over what ward they lived in and what party they supported.
You know, when people tell me that they do not discriminate, I figure they are either liars or mentally ill.
I hate to disturb the great philosophical discussion of ‘understanding’ people here, but discrimination is a real big force here. A whole lot of people feel like the OP. They probably ain’t posting here though.
I can’t walk into a Black dominated bar and have a beer without getting assorted racial attacks, comments and probably attacked. In areas of China Town, if I try to date a Chinese woman, her parents not only will disapprove, but the act will be virtually unacceptable. There is a real big problem with racial discrimination in many parts of Korea and if I go to Puerto Rico I’m a minority there and not well thought of.
Even today, if I choose to date a Catholic or Jewish woman, and I’m not either religion, I will face discrimination, unless I convert to their beliefs in many instances.
So, we may try hard to avoid racial discrimination, but acceptance is still a long, long way off. The races have not matured enough yet and it has only been a comparatively short time since assorted forms of slavery were made illegal internationally. It also has been a real short time since so many people of so many different races and beliefs have been able to so easily interact and mix.
It’s kind of like the old New York City block gang mentality; where kids who lived in one neighborhood always fought the kids in the next neighborhood.
I don’t know, but after reading a lot of the posts here, I figure a whole bunch of you are pulling our legs.
My kids go to integrated schools and me and my ex have deliberately worked hard not to ‘contaminate’ them with any of our racial opinions, feeling that the world needs to progress. Well, the oldest, 11, has already started making negative comments about the Black kids, and his neighborhood is integrated and he plays with a large group of Black kids.
His biggest observation is the attitude of the parents and he’s started wondering why Black’s are in the news so much with special holidays, special treatment and, especially, in the area of crime. So, how the heck do you explain that to him?
Court TV has lately taken to showing the most obnoxious, hostile, disruptive Blacks they can suing each other and getting into arguments in front of the cameras and he noticed before I did that they tend to show Blacks in these programs more than Whites. That was not how these programs started out. Now, I’ve noticed that on the People’s Court, with the new Hispanic Judge, the number of White cases have dropped to be replaced with an increase of Hispanic and Black ones.
Someone is picking out certain races for the ‘entertainment’ factor of fights. Funny, it seems that lately most Blacks shown on these programs can’t talk right, don’t listen to the judge, scream and yell at each other, get tossed out of the court room more and the men all seem to be sullen, dumb or sly conniving guys who like to knock up women and travel on.
So, what’s with this? Racial discrimination? It portrays Blacks as being combative, stupid idiots and I’m real darn sure that the same will apply to Hispanics once the new judge gets rolling.
So, who is behind this discrimination? Who is encouraging this obvious racial ‘profiling,’ encouraging people to think that a whole race is full of ignorant, funny talking, nasty idiots? Yeah, they always seem to make sure that the majority of the Blacks and Hispanics, men or women, have a criminal history which is always mentioned, even if it has no relevance to the case.
Kids watch TV. Kids still kind of believe that a lot of TV is real, no matter what you might think. Kids do not think like you.
Remember the flood of moves about ‘badass’ Chinese? Suddenly all Chinese knew Kung-fu, all Chinese were martial artists, all Chinese were involved with nefarious, illegal actions and were dangerous. TV comics, including Chinese ones, used to make jokes about it.
Then the Japanese. Same thing, only hostile, rich people secretly trying to buy up America, ruin it’s economic base, being portrayed as cruel, ruthless, unfeeling badasses who would entice White women over to Japan to serve as white slaves and whores for rich, ugly old Japanese men in secret clubs.
Do not forget the international news. This group of dark skinned religious fanatics are happily killing off everyone in their country who doesn’t believe like they do. This other group of political beliefs has decided to commit genocide on another group who believes differently. This race has nuclear bombs now and is threatening to use them on the neighboring race. This particular race has a nationwide information ban, keeping their country secretive, but leaked news reports tell of horrendous acts of human rights violations. This certain race happily mass exterminates members of it’s own race, who are still living on a level of 200 years ago, because another nation gave one section of them advanced weaponry. Another race is so fragmented that people are killed in the streets by members of their own race while various political leaders posture for positions of power.
It goes on and on.
So, I can understand it if the average person has a tendency to perceive some race as pain in the butts instead of taking each member as an individual. That gets hard to do when senseless riots start, or a murderer gets off scott free because his jury, made up of members of his own race, decided his actions were justified for racial revenge, or there are million whatever marches, or it seems that every time you turn around, someone is being sued for racial discrimination.
It gets even harder when millionaire, popular singers of one race tend to shoot each other up, repeatedly get busted for drugs, carrying weapons, bragging about how they like to screw women from another race for revenge, or showing how they can get welfare checks easily because of their color, even with their limo parked at the front door of the office.
Give it another 100 years, then we should see a considerable decrease in racial problems. In the mean time, it would help to understand that some people cannot help disliking another race.
It’s real hard to be unbiased with all of the crap we get fed. Some of it sinks in through osmosis.
[li] Race G - My first impression was Indians. (people from India) After reading this thread though, I can see where Asians and Jews could fill the stereotypical roles in there.[/li]Quick Sexist Question: Is there any culture where women DON’T try to weasel their way into power and dominate?
(joke…joke…stop throwing things at me…)
[li] Race H - Has to be blacks. Not because I think it is accurate, but because it is a good regurgitation of the shit I hear from the ignorant at large.[/li]
If anything, the confusion about the identity of Race G throws the whole premise in doubt. OK, it was a faulty premise even before the confusion, but at least it is a good illustration of the faults.
Simple rules for race relations:
[1] Races do not exist.
[2] Cultures do not equal races.
[3] You can’t define a person’s culture by their genes.
[4] Not everyone in a culture is the same.
[5] If you find an exception, go back to #1.
[I can’t believe I didn’t read this thread sooner. And what’s the whole deal about cosmetic surgery anyway?]
*Originally posted by JeffB *
JeffB,
I have a page dedicated to the SDMB discussions on race at http://www.eneubauer.com. It’s still in the construction stage, as I haven’t been able to dedicate a lot of time to it. I’ll be able to spend more time reorganizing and updating it in about a month (I’ve got a Ph.D. dissertation to complete and defend). Check it out and e-mail me any comments or suggestions.
Thanks for the link. I think the page is a great resource.
What’s the big deal with finishing a dissertation? It’s not like you’re going to be a real doctor. 
(I have a friend who just completed her dissertation last year, and I know what she went through, especially in the final months. Good luck, and make sure to have a huge party once it’s done!)
SpyderA48 said:
So, if everyone here is completely understanding and make up the majority, which is not racially bigoted or biased in any way, and if everyone fits the stereotype shown all over the current media, that is, no one dislikes any specific
race more than any other, explain to me why racism is still a great force in not only the nation, but the world?
Well, first not everyone on the SDMB or even those who posted to this thread is representative of any kind of majority, at least not that I can see. We all have our biases; that’s human nature. It’s when we ACT on those biases to hold someone else back that it becomes discrimination/racism. The people who post to the SDMB are an interesting bunch, and one could argue that they are of at least above average intelligence because they dare to ask and answer probing questions; however, for each person who fits the intelligent description, there are hundreds more who are very ignorant. And they do not often post here because they don’t know or care about the SDMB. I often think that the very people who need to read and learn from contributing to the discussions on this board will not benefit from it. Maybe time will prove me wrong. But to answer your other question, racism is still very much alive and is not going anywhere soon because people do not think about why they do what they do. They do not know or understand the historical events that led up to how we act today. Nor do we investigate our fears, ask why we fear people/genders from particular cultural backgrounds/nationalities and if these fears are actually grounded. I could say more, but I’ve gotta go prep for a meeting. But I’d love to hear what you think about what I’ve said so far.
Gee, what would the world be without the fun ethnic sterotypes. But I guess since the horse has been beaten (y’all didn’t even invite me, sniff), I’ll drag it to the glue factory. Anyway it seems that board consensus as determined that Shadesofgreen6’s Mystery Brand H[sup]TM[/sup] would be black people.
But, am I the only one to notice the strange contradiction presented by the sentences I highlighted?
Anyway, didn’t someone elsewhere on the board state that they thought blacks tended to look younger than their age?
Hmm, I guess your mileage may vary.
Okay, SpyderA48, I have some questions about one of the examples you mentioned. When you say, we see rich black entertainers who have limos but readily brag that they’re collecting welfare checks, who do you mean? I’ve never heard of that before. Actually, if I understand what I’ve been reading in the newspapers and hearing anytime anyone talks about welfare, the majority of people who receive welfare checks are lower class and white. I don’t have any cites. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
To respond to your other comments about racism and how it continues to be spread, I think you hit on an excellent source of racism: the media. Many of the unrealistic portrayals of ethnics are perpetuated on tv, in movies, in periodicals, the music industry. . . WHAT I FIND DISTURBING IS HOW THE VIEWING AUDIENCE JUST SITS BACK AND ACCEPTS MOST EVERYTHING IT SEES. It doesn’t make sense to think that all Asians are kung fu masters just because that’s all you ever see Asians do in movies. Yet we buy into that crap. If you watch the news or read the paper, most if not all of the time you’ll see a black man or woman getting arrested for some crime. Again, it doesn’t make sense to conclude that all black people are criminals. But we do. Whether or not we recognize these illogical assumptions, they are there in the backs of our minds, and we don’t think to question them. Nor do we speak out against–this could be as simple as turning off the tv or refusing to support musicians who sell us the very unrealistic picture of the “gangsta”–the stereotypes perpetuated in the media.
Yet, by far the most insidious way that racism is spread is from parent to child. It's done in subtle ways (e.g. say a mother is walking on the street and she sees a black man approaching. She unconsciously grabs her purse and pulls her child closer to her until the black man passes.) Kids internalize that stuff and are all the more susceptible to repeating that kind of behavior without recognizing that there is a problem. If we want racism to end, then we must be hyperaware of and question our behavior towards others.I think Spyder is referring to the now (in some circles) famous tale of Ol’ Dirty Bastard (famous rapper…member of Wu Tang) taking a magazine reporter on a ride in his limo to the welfare office, where he picked up a welfare check to prove that he could. I don’t know if he was doing this to make a serious point or if he was just doing it for a laff…it IS pretty funny, though…
“Oh baby, I like it RAWWWWWWW…”