I haven’t read every reply. However, I can 100% state that you can count me out from being a racist in any regard. I have absolutely no racial component to my existance.
Some may find it hard to believe, but there you have it. How can a person’s race, skin colour, religion, food preferences, etc. make them any more, or less a human being?
I don’t buy it. I like people, or dislike them, for who they are. I know it sounds trite, but there you have it.
I, myself, am a Scottish immigrant living in Canada. I came here at 6 years old and lost my accent within a year or two. So, it struck me as very strange when I heard other Canadians at the time talk about immigrants, and how they were taking away “our” jobs, etc. When I mentioned that I was in fact an immigrant, somehow it was different. It was different (apparently) because I wasn’t a visual minority and because I didn’t have an accent and because my customs and religions were the same.
That’s when I discovered that racism, or xenophobia, was based on ignorance, not on fact. If you have any racism within you it is because you are ignorant.
It’s the visual differences, not the political ones, that people base their judgments on.
No one here is saying that racism is BASED on a fact (other than visual differences), meaning that racism is a justifiable sentiment, the point is that many of us are claiming that everyone has some of this lurking deep down inside.
Race has nothing at all to do with “culture”, and very little to do with genetics; it’s an arbitrary label. That’s how you get nonsense like the “one drop” rule.
I think it’s far more practical and reasonable to say that everyone is at least a little racist than to make racism out to be some bizarre condition reserved for crazy hate-infested Neaderthals.
If racism is not part and parcel to the human condition, then where did racism come from? Why is it still with us today, despite the fact that history has made it patently obvious how destructive it can be if left unchecked?
Just like religion and superstition reflects man’s ever-present attempt to make sense of the world around him, even in the face of irrationality, so too does tribalistic modes of thinking like racism. Distrust in “the other” probably served a purpose back in the prehistoric days when resources were scarce and looking after you and your genetic kin was the only think that mattered. Nowadays, that kind of thinking ultimately hurts all us, because of the interdependent nature of modern society. But that doesn’t mean that all those primitive impulses hardwired into our brains are no longer there.
“Ethnic jokes may be uncouth /
But you laugh because they’re based on truth /
Don’t take them as personal attacks /
Everyone enjoys them /
So relax.”
And also…
"CHRISTMAS EVE: The Jews have all the money / And the whites have all the power / And I always in taxi cab / With driver who no shower.
PRINCETON: Me too!
KATE: Me too!
GARY COLEMAN: I can’t even get a cab!"
Good writing. My answer to the OP is yes. Everyone’s a little bit racist, just like everyone’s a little bit mean, a little bit selfish, whatever. So what? You recognize it in yourself, you keep it from affecting your real life behavior, and you move on.
I was just about to make the same comment, but with the term “ethnocentric” instead of “xenophobic.” They’re really two sides of the same coin. One emphasizes an interest in one’s own culture (not necessarily as being superior, but there’s elements of it in there), whereas the other emphasizes a fear of “outsiders” in one’s own society. And, yes, these aren’t black and white terms, so there are degrees of xenophobia and ethnocentrism that are much more fluid than racist vs. not racist.
Please do not assume that my terms have anything to do with the terms you think in. I do separate people out visually into categories, but I generally don’t do it by skin color as much as I do other attributes. Fat vs. Skinny, visibly wealthy vs. visibly “dirt poor”, tall vs. short, some facial and other attributes as well. However, I do not work too well with your system of “white vs. black vs. not either of those”, even though I grew up in the US. I didn’t get any cultural instruction from my family and immediate peers on where the line is drawn on that system, so I don’t use it. Telling someone they’re full of shit because you can’t understand any other quantifying system is silly.
But someone can have prejudices against things that have NOTHING to do with race. A lot of Americans don’t understand that other cultures just don’t use the same standard of group distinctions as them when it comes to their own prejudices, as, well, in a lot of areas, color doesn’t mean a thing in relation to the culture of the specific ethnic groups in the area. Your misunderstanding of the two terms probably stems from the cultural instruction you’ve gotten. A lot of Americans can’t separate race from ethnicity or prejudice from racism because of the system of social grouping that they were introduced to as children.
False.
I suspect that people who claim that “everyone is a little racist” are trying to justify their own weaknesses by claiming that it’s normal and inevitable, even if they have to torture the definition.
Yes, but racial prejudice kinda hinges on race, by definition, no?
Different societies have different ways of assigning folks to race. If I were to go to Brazil or South Africa, for example, I would not be considered a black person like I am in the US. But so what? Racism is still prevalent in those places, just as it is prevalent in the US. The rules which govern their constructs are different, but the mentality behind the constructs are the same.
But after the semantics are removed, you are left with the same thing. Whether you want to call it ethnocism or xenophobia or nationalism or racism, there’s an inevitable outcome whenever people are categorized by factors beyond their control. Saying that everyone is a little xenophobic or ethnocentric as opposed to racist is not really saying all that much, in other words.
Yes; however, having a prejudice against someone or something does not have to include race, which was what I was pointing out. One can be prejudiced against people with big noses without it meaning that the big nosed people all represent one race.
I never said it wasn’t, but merely emphasizing the idea that there are different constructs, and thus trying to judge a person’s “racism” by a system of values that they don’t use for their own prejudices would be ignorant at best.
It may not be saying very much, but they all have different things associated with them, and, by the nature of being different words, they have tones of distinction that are pertinent to their use. By the way, the word is ethnocentrism.
People use distinctions for in-group and out-group all the time, and, yes, in some situations, it makes for the manipulation of the out-group for the in-group’s advantage. But it’s also used for cohesiveness within the in-group and separation from an out-group in a manner that makes them vulnerable to potential abuses from the out-group.
Ashekanazi Jews of central Europe are largely indistinguishable from their Teutonic brethren. But during the Holocaust, the subtleties between Jews and non-Jews were played up and exaggerated, so that “Jew” became not only a person of a certain religion, but also a separate race.
The same with the Rwandan genocide. Outsiders saw two similar-looking ethnic groups, but insiders perceived real physical, inherent differences…differences so real that one group was viewed as subhuman and unworthy of life.
So while I recognize that racism is different than xenophobia, I think it’s a mistake to assume the same boundaries of race that we use (skin color, hair texture, etc.) define what other people use in all places and at all times. A Nazi’s or a machete-welding Hutu’s definition of race is different than ours, but that makes him no less racist than a member of the KKK.
You misunderstand me. The people I am calling full of shit are the ones who profess to not notice racial differences such as skin color - visible differences that are factual. The ones who imply that anyone who even notices differences is some kind of bigot.
Maybe. I prefer to not be a hypocrite. I attempt to realize when I may be making judgements based on race and alter my behavior. Whether other people are or are not racist is not my concern. If everyone else is a jerk, that doesn’t excuse me to be a jerk.
On the other hand, I suspect people who are adament about not being racist may be a little self righteous. I think everyone can find some unconcious biases if they try.
I remember going over something related to this in a psychology class last year.
Psychologists use tests known as Implicit Association Tests to try to examine feelings or beliefs outside of concious control. “Project Implicit,” a project run by Harvard, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington has an online site where you can take the tests for yourself. Here’s a link to the demo site:
We’re all at least a little tribal, I think. If we weren’t, who in a rational world could possibly care whether one football team beats another? Racism is something that’s hooked into the tribal impulse, or whatever it is. It’s remarkably difficult to dislodge, too, if it’s inculcated into a child.
But, that said, I don’t think that everyone is a little bit racist. It’s possible (if unlikely) to not be exposed to it, and it’s certainly possible to overcome it.
I don’t know if I buy that stuff. Apparently I make a strong assocation between black people and weapons. I’d like to see the same test between, say, associating weapons with the colors blue and orange.
It may not be the first thing I mentally acknowledge,* but I’ll notice the difference between someone whose skin is the color of alabaster and one whose skin is the color of roasted coffee beans. Where the borders are and distinctions at the middle/meeting points are, though, is really, really difficult for me. I definitely recognize some qualifying “racial” features, but I’m a little dense, so the more subtle ones often don’t occur to me.
*I usually go with “male/female” and “fat/skinny” first unless there’s something else physically that stands out, like really big boils or monstrously bad teeth paired with a big grin to show 'em off.
