# Lets Talk Race **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432 "2014-11-23T20:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/41 "2014-11-24T04:46:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Or, and I’m just throwing this out, the black people Mirka encountered see themselves as hyphenated Americans and not as Americans. A distinction that originally evolved out of slavery and rejection but now one of cultural fraternity. Perpetuated by the Euro-centric, Afro-phobic uber-class that, if we deconstruct it properly, is a clear manifestation of an Oedipus Complex in the most Freudian of senses. The black man is seen as the Primitive Masculine, and the white race as the Civilized Feminine. Each constantly in tension with the other; neither able to rise above its socio-normic Ego. Everything boiled down to its essence played out in the sexual politics of _The Real Housewives of Atlanta_. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/42 "2014-11-24T04:50:21Z")
> [@Mirka](#): > > Diversity is good. That said, I moved to the US from an almost all-white European country. Moved to Richmon, VA, a month ago. So far, have been harassed by two groups of people, and almost ran over by another. All those have been young and black. Makes me wonder. I’m a black woman who lives in Richmond, and I’ve never harassed anyone. I could be your next-door neighbor, for all you know. Welcome to the neighborhood. Hope the teenagers didn’t give you a bad first impression of this groovy city. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/43 "2014-11-24T04:54:59Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > That is the type of thing you have to avoid. You can’t just dump large numbers of unassimilated people into an existing society an expect anything but poor results. We’ve done exactly that throughout the history of the United States. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > France and other European countries tried that with Muslims and all they ended up with was giant housing projects outside of the cities, rioting and car fires for days on end even though the inhabitants were on a very generous form of welfare. Well that’s a different can of worms. Islam isn’t a culture. It’s a religion and an entire political system diametrically opposed to many of the cultural norms of other societies. Beyond that, institutional welfare as a way of life never made a better citizen out of anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/44 "2014-11-24T05:05:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Perpetuated by the Euro-centric, Afro-phobic uber-class that, if we deconstruct it properly, is a clear manifestation of an Oedipus Complex in the most Freudian of senses. The black man is seen as the Primitive Masculine, and the white race as the Civilized Feminine. Each constantly in tension with the other; neither able to rise above its socio-normic Ego. Everything boiled down to its essence played out in the sexual politics of _The Real Housewives of Atlanta_. That’s hardly a Euro-centric point of view nor does it explain the current cultural divide that exists. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/45 "2014-11-24T05:15:02Z")
> [@Mirka](#): > > Diversity is good. That said, I moved to the US from an almost all-white European country. Moved to Richmon, VA, a month ago. So far, have been harassed by two groups of people, and almost ran over by another. All those have been young and black. Makes me wonder. Makes you wonder what? There’s nothing wrong with getting pissed off at people that have harassed you. But it’s wrong to get pissed off at everyone who is the same race as the people who harassed you. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/46 "2014-11-24T05:17:24Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > That’s hardly a Euro-centric point of view nor does it explain the current cultural divide that exists. I think you just got whooshed the hardest of anyone in SDMB history. Unless you are kidding yourself, you just gave a serious reply to a satirical nonsense post which means that you aren’t really reading for true comprehension. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/47 "2014-11-24T05:21:18Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Just to play Devil’s advocate, Iceland does really well on their inbred Viking island country of 320,000 people. One of their major strengths is almost complete lack of diversity and extreme cultural homogeneity. But they spend all day eating hakarl and listening to Bjork. Icelanders are a people desperately in need of things like pizza and thai food and rock and roll. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/48 "2014-11-24T05:25:04Z")
It’s funny to me that diversity loving liberals adore the political climates and statistical outcomes of homogenous lilly white places like the Scandinavian countries, or similarly hued New England and mid-west states. Are you sure we want to emulate those places? Because Stormfronters would jump on that bandwagon. I used to think diversity in the workplace was a feel good PC trope, but there are some studies that show diverse workforces do better than others. The reason seems to be that people are more on their game trying to prove their worth, whereas if they’re with their peers they tend to slag off and have a bit of a (metaphorical) boy’s club. That must be discouraging if you’re for diversity, since it means if people weren’t so competitively race aware then diversity might not be measurably better. Almost a catch 22. Diversity in terms of life experience seems like it’d be good for certain jobs though, like writing, sales, or advertising, or when you have to deal with the public. But I don’t see why I should care if it turns out all engineers are Asian dudes. I know it’s not like this everywhere, but IME if left to their own devices the races tend to preferentially hang out with their own kind. Like prison. Well, that’s more practical, but yanno. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/49 "2014-11-24T06:11:45Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > It’s funny to me that diversity loving liberals adore the political climates and statistical outcomes of homogenous lilly white places like the Scandinavian countries, or similarly hued New England and mid-west states. Are you sure we want to emulate those places? Because Stormfronters would jump on that bandwagon. And San Francisco, which for all its talk is much less diverse than most of the rest of the Bay, and where diversity exists it’s is specific neighborhoods. That said you can find pockets of diversity in all these places. I’ve been in Nordic neighborhoods where white people are the exception (well I suppose that’s a different kind of lack of diversity). ---
**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:** [November 24, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/50 "2014-11-24T07:13:26Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > It’s funny to me that diversity loving liberals adore the political climates and statistical outcomes of homogenous lilly white places like the Scandinavian countries, or similarly hued New England and mid-west states. I think it can be easier to institute a social welfare system in some place that’s culturally homogenous. People see unfortunate people who they feel are like them and they emphathize with them - they think _“Those people are like me so their misfortune could have been mine. And I’d want somebody to help me if I was in trouble.”_ But when there’s a cultural divide, there can be a lack of empathy - some people might think _“I’m not like them so I wouldn’t end up in their situation. So why should people like us have to give stuff to people like them?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/51 "2014-11-24T08:55:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think it can be easier to institute a social welfare system in some place that’s culturally homogenous. People see unfortunate people who they feel are like them and they emphathize with them - they think _“Those people are like me so their misfortune could have been mine. And I’d want somebody to help me if I was in trouble.”_ But when there’s a cultural divide, there can be a lack of empathy - some people might think _“I’m not like them so I wouldn’t end up in their situation. So why should people like us have to give stuff to people like them?”_ Hence, black “Welfare Queens”. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/52 "2014-11-24T11:40:08Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Diversity in terms of life experience seems like it’d be good for certain jobs though, like writing, sales, or advertising, or when you have to deal with the public. But I don’t see why I should care if it turns out all engineers are Asian dudes. The kind of science and engineering a person does is influenced by their cultural background and the kinds of problems they and their social circle encounter in their daily lives. In my opinion, the “old boys club” isn’t good for innovation and creativity. If I were running a lab, I’d make sure that everyone on my team could communicate effectively with one another and that there weren’t any major personality conflicts. But I wouldn’t want everyone to be from the same educational institutions, raised in the same region in the country, come from the same socioeconomic background, and be of the same ethnic/racial/religious background. Because when everyone is cut from the same cloth, you get the same kind of ideas. You also tend to get the same personality flaws and characteristics. If “opposites attract”, it is because opposites complement one another. IMHO, a team comprised of complementing members is stronger than one where everyone is strong in the exact same area. So I can see how diversity would benefit a workplace that doesn’t even engage with the public. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/53 "2014-11-24T15:48:51Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > This wouldn’t happen to be a homework assignment, would it? I wonder, too. “MU Student” and a very short, survey-like question. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/54 "2014-11-24T16:28:40Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I wonder, too. “MU Student” and a very short, survey-like question. Of course it’s a homework assignment. And entire posts from this thread will be in this kid’s paper, haha. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/55 "2014-11-24T16:47:59Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I disagree. It is a social construct, but not in itself a thing that exists. Most concepts are social constructs. In this case it all comes down to definitions. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/56 "2014-11-24T17:34:34Z")
It’s not good or bad. It’s a reality and there are good and bad ways to manage it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/57 "2014-11-24T18:09:06Z")
5K is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/58 "2014-11-25T17:49:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Where? In the US? Withing other countries? Globally? > > I believe your premise clearly fails even if only the US is considered. New York is one of the most diverse large cities in the country, yet has one of the lowest crime rates. Detroit has the highest crime rate, and is far less diverse. In Latin America, Panama City is quite diverse, yet has a far lower crime rate than other large cities in Central America, which are less diverse. First, diversity is not the ONLY factor that influences crime rates, and I never said it was, and pointing to a single example that conflicts does not disprove tmy premise. Second, as for Globally, there have been some pretty intense genocides precipitated by diversity, which wouldn’t have occurred otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/59 "2014-11-25T18:02:52Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > First, diversity is not the ONLY factor that influences crime rates, and I never said it was, and pointing to a single example that conflicts does not disprove tmy premise. Second, as for Globally, there have been some pretty intense genocides precipitated by diversity, which wouldn’t have occurred otherwise. You didn’t offer any support for your assertion, so it’s entirely appropriate to show a counter-example (New York). If you think New York is an outlier, show some statistics. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432/60 "2014-11-25T20:59:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > 5K is my favorite. To the fridge for me! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-race/705432.md?page=4)