Racism on ATS: an open discussion

Also, I think I may be slightly racist, but not really against anyone. But I feel like its no longer ok to be white...In tucson, white people are always made fun of, and it feels like they are not good people. So I always identify with my italian side, though im a mutt of gypsy, italian, and canadian.

I dont disrespect someone because theyre white, but for some reason, I dont want to be called white.

Does anyone have any speculation on the matter?

Hate, is the systematic demise of all human beings,
it is the beginning and the end of one's believe system.
Ultimately it is death and destruction of us all.

Learn to respect all races, remember the words,

I had a dream...

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


Ok then ill play, Show us some examples of this "Racist Abuse" on ATS, because Ive seen NONE.

Just because somebody recieves abuse it does not make it Racially Orientated

So yes show me some examples of this abuse youve witnessed here on ATS.......

When I was 8 years old we lived in western New York in a very rural area. Down the road from us a new family moved into town - this was in 1966. The new kids and I became friends and played together, sat together on the bus to school.

One day in class one of the other kids walked up to me and threw my books across the room. I of course being a farm boy used an essential verbal tool. A few minutes later the teacher came into the classroom whereupon the book thrower narced on me about my choice of insult regarding his book throwing. The teacher approached my desk, threw the by now abused book across the room and after physically dragging me out of my seat explained his views to me.
"We don't like your kind around here".

After this particular event, my stepfather was "released" from his membership in the Jaycees (he was the national VP at the time) and thrown out of the National Rose Association. I later was informed why this happened as the abuse from my step father increased to bone breaking levels.

The new kids that I was friends with were minorities.

And thus, I became acquainted with three things: Racism, hatred and evil. I am very, very good at identifying these.

ATS is not a racist site nor have I seen anything that can be considered such. Take it from a white victim, it isn't here.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


Yea didnt you know that America is full of racists?
If you are against Obama, for any reason, youre racist.
If you are against the horde of illegal immigrants flooding our borders, youre racist.
If youre against people walking around with face veils or burquas, youre racist.
If you even mention that Hollywood, the Media and the Banking System is most likely Jewish controlled, youre racist. (It is a conspiracy site still, right?)
If you criticize Israeli policy, youre racist.
If You happen to point out, that a race that comprises the minority of the population, are responsible for the majority of crime, even if backed up with statistics, youre a racist.

Lets not forget that people who are against gay marriage, they are most certainly Homophobes.

We in America, do love our labels dont we?
Question 9/11= Truther
Obamas, legitimacy= Birther/Racist
Want reform?= Teabagger/Terrorist

Its just a strategy they are using to create divisiveness amongst the population and it appears to be working.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy



First off for the purposes of full disclosure I am a white male, 34, conservative libertarian. I appreciate your opinion and you make some valid points, but I think that you are mis-using the word racism. There are a few distinct and important differences between prejudice and racism, even though they are both based in ignorance. I believe that prejudice can be cured through maturity and education, whereas racism is more of a generational and/or cultural problem. Also, prejudice doesn't effect the life or existence of the "victim" of said prejudice, whereas racism often does. For example, lets say that I don't like black people at all for whatever ignorant reason and I am a loan officer at a bank and a black man walks in to apply for a loan and he is fully qualified and there is no reason that he shouldn't be approved for the loan. As the loan officer who approves the loan, I approve his loan even though I don't like black people. Now same scenario, except this time I don't approve his loan because I don't like black people, even though he is fully qualified. That makes me a racist.

The word racist has been used out of context or for the wrong reasons so much as of late that the word has lost it's true meaning. 5 years ago if someone was called a racist it was a big deal, and the title stuck with that person. Now, if someone is called a racist it's like "whatever", and it's no big deal. In my opinion, and that's all this is, it's because the bought and paid for liberal media, as well as the Democrat/Progressive party in general use this tactic to deflect from the real argument. If I say that Obama is a socialist, they will call me a racist because that deflects from the original argument and attempts to put me on the defensive.

The Black population in America has been used and lied to for the last 100 years. They are led to believe that they are inferior. They have been led to believe that they are entitled to the fruits of someone else's labor. They have been treated as pawns in order for the democratic party to retain power and get votes. Blacks have been told that republicans are racist, when in fact it was the republican party that first allowed balck delegates 50 years before the democratic party. Progressives will call the Founding Fathers rich, white slave owners when in fact there were also rich, black slave owners. As a matter of fact, one of the very first slave owners in the history of America was a black man by the name of Anthony Johnson (look it up for yourself).

The bottom line is that we are all equal children of God. If you don't believe in God then we are all equal children of the Earth, or universe, or whatever. I think you get my point. Racism is just a tactic used to seperate us, just like class warfare. If we are fighting with each other then there are less people to fight against the true enemy, those in elite positions that would destroy liberty and freedom.

If the prejudice of someone else towards you, however offensive it may be, has not effected your life or the ability for you to live your life then you are not a victim of racism.

I wanted to get the OP's opinion regarding a situation in which I was accused of racism:

I was working in retail management in Orlando a few years back. The company that I worked for had a very strict policy regarding attendance and punctuality. If an employee was any more than five minutes late that employee was to be written up. It did not matter if they called in, or what the reason was that delayed them (short of sickness or car accident) they were to be written up. I had, on at least 10 other occasions in my 2 years there, written up anyone that broke this rule regardless of any personal factors about them. We had a young lady that had worked there for several months and like all employees she was keenly aware of the policies regarding punctuality. She came in 10 minutes late one day and when I asked her to join me in my office to discuss her write up she told me, in front of the other staff, that I was only writing her up because I was racist. She went on to elaborate, again in front of the staff, what a horrible bigot I was for writing her up. The young lady happened to be middle eastern.

My reply to the young lady was that I had written up 10 other people over two years, those individuals were as diverse as the company itself was, and that I had never given any thought to their race, age, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or any other personal factors. I explained to her that were I not to write her up due to her being middle eastern that I would then indeed be a racist. She did not see the logic in my statement and lodged a formal complaint against me. That complaint was ultimately dismissed as frivolous.

I am curious whom the OP thinks was the racist in the situation I have described?

reply to post by Dilligaf28


You shouldve told her... Draw me a picture of Mohammed and I will dismiss the write up.

Soo, would that be religiousism?

Racism overall is an instinct(flock with your own) that everything has but the sort of racism i don't like is the violent attacks or verbal abuse.

Originally posted by Viking9019
Racism overall is an instinct(flock with your own) that everything has but the sort of racism i don't like is the violent attacks or verbal abuse.

Now you see why bussing was a failure. They went to great extremes to "mix" the races in school but once the bussed students got there, they still stayed with their "own"
Yet another failed social experiment.

I can dig what you're saying, but, by the same token, we have to be careful here.

A lot of what I see here is raging against Muslims, but race has little to do with it, even though I sometimes see such people called racists. It's more religious bigotry than anything.

In a frank discussion, I'll say that I think people on all sides of this issue are often times way to quick to pull the race card. I'll say that policies like busing and giving minorities a priority in hiring and college admissions and scholarships is racism. Is it maybe needed to level the playing field? Eh, that's a sticky wicket, and I haven't made up my mind yet. I think a much better way of dealing with it would be basing such things upon socioeconomic class than race.

I'm supposed to have this "white guilt" for junk that didn't have anything to do with me. I'm one generation from pure blooded white trash mountain folk, for God's sake. My parents were both in college before they even met the first black person of their lives, and I know my hillbilly family didn't have slaves (I've done genealogy waaaay back; my family's been mountain men for time out of mind. Thankfully, my family tree does fork, lol.)

My biggest gripe is simply this:
It's really time to understand that it's 2011 and not 1955, folks.

The most racist people on the planet are Southern blacks and Southern whites over about fifty. For the love of God, sooo many of these people just WILL NOT move on. My grandpa hates commies, the Japanese, blacks, and...well, the list just goes on. So many of these people, regardless of race, are so xenophobic that it's no wonder we almost blew the world to smithereens so many times during the Cold War.

I believe that racism is just a label placed on people who hate. They hate for more reasons that color of skin. Some just plain hate. I think that if you really look at so called racists you will find that there is more to their hate than just color.Perhaps they were taught to hate while there're young, perhaps their life experience has taught them to hate.I believe there is more to "racism" than many are willing to admit.

I'm sick of the racism too against anyone that disagrees with obama. But you might as well call me a racists too, because I disagree with everything obama says and does.
Why is it every time someone disagrees with obama the race card more often then not gets pulled out? We're in quicksand and obama's tossing us an anchor.

reply to post by TedHodgson


I have definitely seen racism on ATS. No question. And sexism, by both genders. Everything from Aborigine bashing by Australians, to white bashing by blacks, to black bashing by whites, WHITE bashing by whites, Mexican bashing by blacks and whites. Jew bashing by various and sundry. Etc.

Maybe part of the problem is that people dont know what defines racism. Its taking a quality or a trait that is not in FACT consistent throughout a population or group, and acting and speaking as if "ALL ______ are _____."

For instance the comment someone made about Hispanics moving into a neighborhood and all parking multiple cars and painting their houses bright colors. Certainly ALL Hispanics do not do this. Some do, but there is an important logical difference between saying "Some ______ do ______" and then evaluating people individually to see if THEY do that, or just writing off all members of one group as guilty of that behavior without even looking at them as an individual.

Its mentally easy to just write off a whole ethnic group, or gender, or nationality. Then you dont have to think, and take the time to decide if THIS person is your friend or foe. But its not FAIR to do that, because people are individual and they do not so easily fit into categories like that.

reply to post by idonotcollectstamps

Interesting game, the only winning move is to not play at all.

Exactly, so why play into that game at all?

reply to post by jstanthrno1

I favor my own race and im not ashamed to admit it. I think everybody does to a point. The Blacks never seem to miss a chance to play the race card and hispanics don't respect this country at all.

You sure do generalize a lot, do you really feel ALL Blacks play the race card and ALL Hispanics don't respect this country? To me that seems silly to say, but judging by the amount of stars you received I assume many others feel this same way. Kind of sad imo, does anyone else want to address what jstanthrno1 has said?

reply to post by chancemusky

I think this is a growing trend around America right now amongst younger urban white kids, you are not alone. I don't think it is bad to not identify yourself as "White" if you don't want to, as long it isn't out of hatred for your White heritage but rather out of your dislike for categorical definitions. That would mean don't identify with any one group or any one thing, but rather everything as a whole. Peace.

reply to post by TedHodgson

Ok then ill play, Show us some examples of this "Racist Abuse" on ATS, because Ive seen NONE.

You want examples? Scroll through this thread.

reply to post by billxam

Thank you for that story and I am sorry you and your family had to suffer through those things. You say there is no racism here on ATS, maybe you are referring to racism against White people? Or maybe you are so use to extreme forms of racism that is more physical in nature and thus overlook words on an internet forum as being racist?

reply to post by OptimusSubprime

Wow, you make some very astute observations and I agree with everything you said, except the part that I am mixing up prejudice and racism. I am familiar with both, and like you, I see them as synonyms of each other, except that I see racism as a form of racial prejudice, and the word prejudice as a more generalizing term. Therefore I still stand by my definition of racism, but thank you for your very insightful post!

reply to post by Dilligaf28

I think it is quite obvious you were not being racist, and that she was dealing with a feeling of racial inferiority that caused her to be defensive and jump to unfounded conclusions. I'm sorry you had to deal with that, hopefully it didn't trigger any hatred or resentment within you for other races now, as she so obviously suffered from.

reply to post by Fitch303

In short it's not that I think whites are above everyone else it's that blacks (collectively and culturally) are below everyone else. The facts support my point of view.

Ok, well I can appreciate your honesty but if you are so keen on facts, would you like to share their history of suffering through European colonialism, slavery and other outside economical, societal and physical influence/manipulation/war?

Would anyone else like to address the issues Fitch is having?

reply to post by gnosticquasar

Well I agree that there is far more religious bigotry on here than racism, but that doesn't discount the fact that many people on here also have voiced their racist views, this thread stands as a testiment to that, although many of them are still hiding! Good observations nonetheless my friend.

And no, no one should have to feel "White guilt" because of what their predecessors did , but I do think it is very important to be honest with yourself about the facts of history.

reply to post by lonegurkha

I believe there is more to "racism" than many are willing to admit.

I think you are right.

reply to post by TriForce

Its just a strategy they are using to create divisiveness amongst the population and it appears to be working.

Correct, correct, correct! That is kind of my point for this thread, to show how ridiculous and detrimental these views are for our nation, and species, as a whole. Thanks buddy.

I for one am of the opinion that there is no such thing as reverse racism. Racism is racism and it is all ignorant and wasted energy. Voting for someone because he/she is black is just a racist as not voting for someone because he/she is black. I hate Obama because of what he stands for and what his vision is for the country that I spent 13 years of my life defending. He and I took the same oath, but he doesn't take his seriously. I hate the white half of Obama just as much as I hate his black half.

Originally posted by lonegurkha
Perhaps they were taught to hate while there're young, perhaps their life experience has taught them to hate.I believe there is more to "racism" than many are willing to admit.

There have been studies that show that the faces a baby sees influences their feelings about people. So, if you see all brown faces, white faces will make you less comfortable, and if you see all white faces, brown faces will make you less comfortable. The good news is that isnt set in stone. At any point in your life, if you have a lot of exposure to, and pleasant interaction with people whose looks initially make you uncomfortable you can become comfortable with them, and that bias can be undone.

The problem is, people avoid what makes them uncomfortable, and so they tend to huddle with those who they already feel comfortable with, and many people never really get past that.

Another major problem is that fear wires the brain in a much more immediate and intense way than good feelings do. So, if the media is showing you scary images of blacks running rampant, or whites with sheets and burning crosses, that intensifies your aversion to "those people." So does any bad experience with members of a group you are not already comfortable with.

Human beings are wired to discriminate. But this is not the same as saying we HAVE to be racist. It just means that in the past, for millions of years, you really needed to know the difference between a lion and your mom. Or a member of a tribe that wanted to kill you and your own tribe. And, humans are very visual, so visual clues stand out very strongly for us. Its why if all people in a region have the same skin color, they have tribal paint, or clothes, or plaids, so that at a glance they can tell friend from foe. Its also why sports teams have different colors and symbols.

You are not going to get rid of the instinct to be wary around people and things who look strange and different to you. But you CAN become more familiar with people and things who look strange to you until they no longer look strange to you.

Originally posted by LifeIsEnergy

reply to post by TriForce

 

Its just a strategy they are using to create divisiveness amongst the population and it appears to be working.

Correct, correct, correct! That is kind of my point for this thread, to show how ridiculous and detrimental these views are for our nation, and species, as a whole. Thanks buddy.

edit on 16-4-2011 by LifeIsEnergy because: (no reason given)

Well, racism is used to divide people, and keep those who should be natural allies from uniting and realizing their strength, but that is an exploit of our prewired tendency to discriminate visually. People with economic interests absolutely DO exacerbate the problem with propaganda, but there really is some underlying reason it works so well, and you arent going to wish that away. If we understand how it works, and why it works, you can design a work around. Like the study that showed that repeated pleasant interactions with people who make you uncomfortable undo those biases.