Is everyone racist?

[Alex_G]

My theory is that everyone is racist, just that some people manage to mask it better than others.

This has become clear to me since living abroad for a number of years as well as general observations made whilst living in my own country.

In the region that I'm living now most countries have their own pejorative term for 'white person' and use it with casual abandon - just their normal way of speaking. We could not possibly use this kind of language in the West without causing offence or getting fired from work.

So, if , when leaving our countries, we have to put up with this daily discrimination why is there such a fuss back home about being politically correct on all occasions regarding nationality, skin colour and origin?

If you ran a store would you think it acceptable to charge people different amounts depending on their racial background?

If we are subjected to this kind of discrimination abroad why do we have to pander to the immigrant hordes invading our own shores?

note: in order to avoid the usual responses, I state that I am not talking people born and bred in the West from past immigration. That is different.

I think that everyone has the capacity to be racist, if we talk about rational adults, which is what gives the issue moral weight. I don’t think it’s useful or appropriate to just label everyone a racist at heart, because for one, as has been mentioned, i think it dilutes the term to a point of little meaning.

I do see the subtle point to which you hint at, which isn’t non-existent. I think that within the minds of humans, and the way in which we process the world around us, we do default to fear the unknown somewhat. Perhaps a better word would be apprehension. We are naturally weary of those things that seem alien to us, or so far removed from what we understand to be normality, and off which the stability of all our daily life hangs.

So i would agree that people of one culture or ethnicity, if encountering another very different group for the first time, or are just quite unfamiliar with the other group, would experience a feeling of caution and apprehension, whether outwardly expressed or not. (For the most part).

Racism is far more that this however, even if its beginning could be traced to this type of automatic apprehension. In the modern day, with the world becoming smaller, increased travel, media, education and information technology, peoples understanding and exposure to the lives and ethnic backgrounds of others is being broadened, leading to a natural disappearance of the tribal, 'stick to your own, avoid the stranger' attitude.

Racism today represents an unacceptable view on which unfair conclusions are drawn about another person character based on a superficial fact, such as skin colour. Apprehension regarding the unfamiliar is one thing, but to draw unfounded conclusions based on ignorance and fear, conclusions which demean and insult others is a moral crime, further compounded by those who unfortunately act against other people in light of such motives. This is racism in its true morally deprived form that which I think no one is fundamentally inclined to.

For me, this discussion does raise the interesting question of how morally responsible a person is whilst acting due to true ignorance or misinformation, as contrasted with the person who is well enough informed that the moral sensibility should be expected. To what extent are you responsible for your own ignorances and shortcomings, and how its effect varies when applied to different moral issues.

Alex

 

[JacobEzra.]

Racism, the belief in discrimination of another race(s) because of being inferior. What the op seems to be describing is xenophobia, not racism.

And a wise man said, we are not born with hate, we learn it. Iv seen thous of other race bleed the same color, cry the same way and love the sae way. There is no real difference outside of culture and physical features.

 

[JacobEzra.]

That's not racism. Maybe borderline xenophobic, but more likely just mwking money off tourist.

And we are not animals, we have much greater capacity for knowledge

And we are not born with hatred of other races. If anything children will fight over cookies then over race, unless taught to by bigoted parents or bigoted peers.

If what you propose was true, then its crazy how many mixed marriages there are

I am not sure that ignorance is the correct word here - I think this so-called racism label is actually a natural state of mind.

Look in the animal kingdom , red ants and black ants - if one of the wrong colour goes near the wrong nest it is done for!

Imagine a human going to another country in the past with different skin colour - the local tribespeople would have them for dinner due to their difference in appearance.

Ok, today we have moved on somewhat and we are not animals but the basic instinct is still there.

Obviously avoiding hatred and unfair discrimination is the right way forward but it seems that being anti-racist in any form is not actually natural.

How about we charge 'foreigners' 3 times the value of any advertised prices?

Would that be fair? - it happens abroad a lot.

 

[ChristineES]

My family isn't racist. My father's a Native American, my stepfather is Japanese descent and his two daughters from his previous marriage look Japanese, too- their mother was Jewish. My sister had a different father than I, and she is blond and has grayish blue eyes. We used to get stared at a lot when we all went somewhere together. My mother is Italian descent on her father's side and mostly Russian and German Jew descent on her mother's side. We are all 100% Americans and everyone was born in the USA.

 

[ChristineES]

Racism, the belief in discrimination of another race(s) because of being inferior. What the op seems to be describing is xenophobia, not racism.

And a wise man said, we are not born with hate, we learn it. Iv seen thous of other race bleed the same color, cry the same way and love the see way. There is no real difference outside of culture and physical features.

Good point. And I'd like to add: Just because you may notice someone is darker, lighter, a different nationality, different ethnic group, etc does not mean you are being racist. Noticing is not judging and should NOT be the same thing.

 

[JacobEzra.]

Good point. And I'd like to add: Just because you may notice someone is darker, lighter, a different nationality, different ethnic group, etc does not mean you are being racist. Noticing is not judging and should NOT be the same thing.

Of corse not. Noticing and acknoledging is one thing. Its still a part of your identity.

When I learned cultural sensitivity and diversiuty, as part of being enrolled into job corps, the teach said"America is not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic"

Ps sorry for the poor grammar

 

[Me Myself]

I am not sure that ignorance is the correct word here - I think this so-called racism label is actually a natural state of mind.

You are having a very normal confusion.

Just because it is natural for us to be racist, doesn´t mean it is unnatural for us not to be.

Seems contradictory? Such is our nature.

We can naturally feel compassion, we can naturaly feel hatred. What really makes us one way or the other is our choice. We have opposing natures in us, we choose which we will enhance and which we will ignore. With time, the ignore one will diminish and the embraced one will be enhanced due to continual use and the way our brains are wired.

So yes, I agree with you that racism can be natural(doesn´t mean "good"). But the oposite is also true.

For starters, we must understand that "discrimination" is not a bad thing in itself. We discriminate between kind people and unkind people when we choose friends or others for example. This discrimination isn´t bad at all. Racism is called when we are dealing with a unreasonable discrimination, like thinking "all black people are robbers"

For example, in my country, as in almost everywhere racial discrimination also exists. Most people I´ve talked about this do say they feel insecure if walking at night and find a black person next to them. I am an exception, my discrimination is different: expressions.

If the expression of the person next to me is a relaxed or happy one, I am more or less at ease. If he seems angry or too serious or similar, I get defensive (we are talking walking streets alone at night)

So yeah, we can be racist by our nature, and we can also not be racists by our nature.

We choose.

 

[9Westy9]

My theory is that everyone is racist, just that some people manage to mask it better than others.

This has become clear to me since living abroad for a number of years as well as general observations made whilst living in my own country.

In the region that I'm living now most countries have their own pejorative term for 'white person' and use it with casual abandon - just their normal way of speaking. We could not possibly use this kind of language in the West without causing offence or getting fired from work.

So, if , when leaving our countries, we have to put up with this daily discrimination why is there such a fuss back home about being politically correct on all occasions regarding nationality, skin colour and origin?

If you ran a store would you think it acceptable to charge people different amounts depending on their racial background?

If we are subjected to this kind of discrimination abroad why do we have to pander to the immigrant hordes invading our own shores?

note: in order to avoid the usual responses, I state that I am not talking people born and bred in the West from past immigration. That is different.

How are we defining racism?

 

[Vinayaka]

Interesting discussion. Just because one claims to not be a racist doesn't mean he or she isn't. Archie Bunker (God bless the creator of that show) would claim he wasn't a racist.

Imagine you are walking to your local store on a Saturday night, about 9 ish. Up ahead you see 2 men coming toward you. Who can honestly say they react completely the same regardless of race.

Now some of this does make sense. It is true in some communities there are higher crime rates amongst certain ethnic groups. Is just rationalising the numbers being racist, or is it just practising common sense? You are more likely to be mugged by a woman than a man, no?

I know I make decisions like not walking in certain neighbourhoods at night. Is it racist? Not for me.

But other things like hiring practises, choosing which race you want to cut your hair, given 2 idle hairstylists, and you get to pick. Now that is definitely demonstrating racism.
In short, its complicated.

 

[Sunstone]

How are we defining racism?

Bingo!

 

[nnmartin]

Is it based on race or is it based on being foreign? This happens everywhere. In many places there are two economies: tourist, and local.

In many third world countries, foreigners are charged more simply because they can afford it. I have no problem with this at all. In fact when traveling, I love the challenge of 'slipping into' the local economy.

for the first question: It is based simply on being white.

you mentioned tourist and local - I can agree with that but there is a large third section , that of the expat. Why should they have to pay more when they are on a local wage?

You say when you are 'travelling' - that is a different scenario , ie: tourism.

Since when can you tell whether someone can 'afford' something or not based on their skin colour?

It is like saying overweight people must be rich as they can afford to eat more.

Really it is just self-serving logic in that you charge the foreigner more because you have the convenient moral escape clause of 'well, they can probably afford it anyway'.

By this logic then , it would be acceptable for me to steal small items from shops if I were short of money as I couldn't afford the products.

So basically, charging foreigners more for the same product (and we are not talking about tourists here) is a form of racism.

Therefore , in my view, I think it should be ok to charge foreigners of certain nationalities more for the same product when I return home and open a business.

agree?

 

[Gharib]

Bingo!

i looked up the word 'bingo' and unfortunately it says nothing about racism, you got it wrong sir, thats not the definnition of racism (for those who don't get it, look up the word sarcasm)

 

[Storm]

Imagine you are walking to your local store on a Saturday night, about 9 ish. Up ahead you see 2 men coming toward you. Who can honestly say they react completely the same regardless of race.

I can... but I'm clinically paranoid.

 

[nnmartin]

without really wanting to get bogged down in semantics I think it would be fair to say that xenophobia is a form of racism , certainly in some cases.

 

[Vinayaka]

for the first question: It is based simply on being white.

you mentioned tourist and local - I can agree with that but there is a large third section , that of the expat. Why should they have to pay more when they are on a local wage?

You say when you are 'travelling' - that is a different scenario , ie: tourism.

Since when can you tell whether someone can 'afford' something or not based on their skin colour?

It is like saying overweight people must be rich as they can afford to eat more.

Really it is just self-serving logic in that you charge the foreigner more because you have the convenient moral escape clause of 'well, they can probably afford it anyway'.

By this logic then , it would be acceptable for me to steal small items from shops if I were short of money as I couldn't afford the products.

So basically, charging foreigners more for the same product (and we are not talking about tourists here) is a form of racism.

Therefore , in my view, I think it should be ok to charge foreigners of certain nationalities more for the same product when I return home and open a business.

agree?

What specifically happened to you?

 

[nnmartin]

nothing specific - just seems to be the way things are done in the region I live (East Asia).

But this happens in many other parts of the world too - a symptom of what I believe to be inherent racism.

Now I'd have to say that, ironically , having lived abroad for a number of years has made me slightly less tolerant- not the other way round as people are keen to espouse back in the West.

Often the people clamoring for equal rights and political correctness the most have never even left their home town - it's too commonly just naive idealism.

I say to these people - go and live in an inner city in a Third World country on a local wage and then see how much the world really gives a fig about Western bourgoisie neo-liberal One-World patchouly preaching!

 

[McBell]

nothing specific - just seems to be the way things are done in the region I live (East Asia).

But this happens in many other parts of the world too - a symptom of what I believe to be inherent racism.

Now I'd have to say that, ironically , having lived abroad for a number of years has made me slightly less tolerant- not the other way round as people are keen to espouse back in the West.

Often the people clamoring for equal rights and political correctness the most have never even left their home town - it's too commonly just naive idealism.

I say to these people - go and live in an inner city in a Third World country on a local wage and then see how much the world really gives a fig about Western bourgoisie neo-liberal One-World patchouly preaching!

While living in Germany I saw that what you describe is rather common.

I have even seen it in stores, restaurants, flea markets, etc.

Though I suspect that it isn't Racism by any reasonable definition of the word.
Based on my experience it is more likely that they have the common misconception that Americans all have loads and loads of money and can easily afford the higher prices.
Especially if an American is in their country.

Not to mention the fact that in every country I have lived in, there tends to be a trend towards upping prices on those the proprietor thinks is rich.

 

[nnmartin]

it's a misconception in some cases agreed , due to low education and poverty etc..(although I find that hard to use as an excuse in Germany which is arguably the most developed in Europe!)

but that is not always the case for sure.

often it seems like 'the foreigner owes us a living' type mentality.

 

[Gharib]

it is very common for people in many countries to charge way over the head people who they notice are outsiders, doesn't matter if you are of the same nationality or ethnicity, in many such places the season for making money is only 3 months of summer thats when foreigners take trips to their countries, so they need to make money to survive the other 9 months. it's kind of funny, but very true.

another thing is, in some countries like US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and some more, what some people see as racial comments/remarks in those other countries there is no hatred or offence meant by saying a what would normally seem racist remark.

 

[Madhuri]

another thing is, in some countries like US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and some more, what some people see as racial comments/remarks in those other countries there is no hatred or offence meant by saying a what would normally seem racist remark.

Good point :yes:
Like saying 'white' or 'black'