# Is this racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717 "2012-09-24T21:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![NamelessKing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b38774/32.png) [@NamelessKing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NamelessKing)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/61 "2012-09-29T21:13:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You may not see the racism in a statement like “black people are the best athletes” or “Asians are the best students” or “Jews are good with money” but it’s there. Just consider the statement “whites are the best race overall” to make it clear - while it’s supposedly just a positive statement about one group, the reality is that if you say whites are the best, you’re also saying non-whites are not as good as whites. I would be careful on this one. Making a statement like “black people are the best athletes” is an empirical statement that may or may not be true. It would be problematic if people let their personal sensibilties override their interest in scientific facts. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/62 "2012-09-29T21:30:25Z")
Yes it’s racist, but in a good way, at least from the POV of Asian women who will have one less moron hitting on them. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/63 "2012-09-30T03:58:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve heard the argument made that the solution to racism is to ignore any racial distinctions. It might work but only if you could get everyone to do it. Otherwise, the real world results would just be to protect genuine racism. > > For example, let’s say we decide to promote a policy of race blindness. We make no acknowledgement of who’s black and who’s white (we’ll simplify the situation in this example by just using two races). > > We see a city with a million residents that has five thousand employees on the city payroll. We take no notice of this situation because there’s nothing unusual about it. > > Now suppose we look at the same city without race blindness. We now notice that the city has a population of 700,000 black people and 300,000 white people. But strangely all five thousand city employees are white. That’s an unlikely coincidence. It’s pretty obvious that the city government is discriminating against black people. A government that’s discriminating against 70% of its population is a significant problem but it’s one that you wouldn’t see unless you looked at race. > > Racism is a problem. And to solve it, you first have to be willing to look to see if it exists. So you have to be racist to combat racism? That sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/64 "2012-09-30T04:19:57Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > So you have to be racist to combat racism? That sucks. Where the heck did that come from? ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/65 "2012-09-30T05:49:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Where the heck did that come from? You said in order to combat racism you cannot eliminate racial categories when you are examining something like hiring practices because then you wouldn’t be able to spot racism. In other words, you have to adopt a racial worldview and acknowledge that one race can be subjugated by another through hiring practices and the like, which would be ranking one race over another as more needing of outside intervention in order to have equality. If you weren’t being racist you wouldn’t think that a person of one skin color being more prevalent in a work place than another person of a different skin color was anything to have to change or combat. So you would have to be racist to combat racism. Or it could be I am wiggy from being up until after midnight:eek: ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/66 "2012-09-30T06:16:17Z")
Yes it’s racist to prejudge people based on race. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/67 "2012-09-30T21:43:46Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > You said in order to combat racism you cannot eliminate racial categories when you are examining something like hiring practices because then you wouldn’t be able to spot racism. In other words, you have to adopt a racial worldview and acknowledge that one race can be subjugated by another through hiring practices and the like, which would be ranking one race over another as more needing of outside intervention in order to have equality. If you weren’t being racist you wouldn’t think that a person of one skin color being more prevalent in a work place than another person of a different skin color was anything to have to change or combat. > > So you would have to be racist to combat racism. > > Or it could be I am wiggy from being up until after midnight:eek: So when Martin Luther King said it was a problem that white people in the south could vote and black people couldn’t, your response would be that King was a racist for suggesting there was a difference between white people and black people? We should have just nipped the whole civil rights movement in the bud by pointing out that some people could vote so there was no problem that needed to be addressed? ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/68 "2012-09-30T22:19:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So when Martin Luther King said it was a problem that white people in the south could vote and black people couldn’t, your response would be that King was a racist for suggesting there was a difference between white people and black people? We should have just nipped the whole civil rights movement in the bud by pointing out that some people could vote so there was no problem that needed to be addressed? He was racist in that he saw a need for black people to be equal with whites,and I would have been behind him all the way, marching in rallies and sitting at lunch counters and getting arrested by the police as many whites did who joined King in the civil rights movement. I was pointing out that racism isn’t always negative, but in order to make a difference in racial disparity you have to adopt a racial worldview and admit there is racial disparity in the first place. In that you are being racist in the basest definition of the term because you are ranking people by race. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/69 "2012-09-30T23:19:56Z")
I think you may misunderstand what racism is. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/70 "2012-09-30T23:36:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think you may misunderstand what racism is. I’ll admit that. Can you give me a more precise, understandable definition? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/71 "2012-09-30T23:37:55Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > He was racist in that he saw a need for black people to be equal with whites,and I would have been behind him all the way, marching in rallies and sitting at lunch counters and getting arrested by the police as many whites did who joined King in the civil rights movement. I was pointing out that racism isn’t always negative, but in order to make a difference in racial disparity you have to adopt a racial worldview and admit there is racial disparity in the first place. In that you are being racist in the basest definition of the term because you are ranking people by race. Er… what? ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/72 "2012-09-30T23:40:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Er… what? I was trying to understand how something can be racist yet be ok, which is what some previous posters suggested, then I just went too far and confused myself. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/73 "2012-10-01T02:28:33Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > I’ll admit that. Can you give me a more precise, understandable definition? Racism is when you treat people differently depending on what their race is. I won’t say that’s a definitive answer but it’ll do as a start. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/74 "2012-10-01T02:50:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Racism is when you treat people differently depending on what their race is. > > I won’t say that’s a definitive answer but it’ll do as a start. Oh, then I don’t think the OP’s dad is racist at all. If he simply finds Asian women unattractive in general but does not treat them differently (except maybe to not hit on them) then it isn’t really racist. Which is pretty much what everyone else has already said in this thread:smack: ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717/75 "2012-10-01T03:38:34Z")
I don’t think anyone said not being attracted to features is racist. What’s racist is saying, without having seen every asian, that it would not be possible for one to be attractive to him. And it just sounds idiotic if you even think about it for more than two seconds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-racist/635717.md?page=3)