Are we all racist by nature?

Originally posted by Praetorius
reply to post by getreadyalready

 

Say one looks like Peter, and the other like Cleveland - both typical, lower/middle-class suburbanites.

If there are no other apparent class differences, where do you fall?

I might just walk away from that one. Not much worth saving in those two. Good analogy though. I think there would have to be some deciding factor. Cleveland looks a little stronger and a little lighter than Peter, so I'd probably grab him since he has the best chance of helping me save him.

Maybe I just do the old blonde joke thing as a test of intelligence and see who is still around.

From memory:

A brunette and 3 blondes fall over the edge of a cliff. The brunette grabs onto a root and the three blondes grab onto one another and her. They try unsuccessfully to climb up, but they just can't get it done. So, the brunette gives a long heartfelt speech about how she would gladly give her life to save the others, and how much she loves them. When the blondes all let go to applaud, the brunette crawls on back over the edge.

Seriously, there would always be some deciding factor besides race. Assuming the impossible hypothetical of all things absolutely equal, at this stage in life, and living in this town, I would choose the white person. I'm unhappy with the other half of the population in this particular town. 10 years ago, in another town and another state of mind, I would probably have chosen the black person. I still don't think it is a racist view, I think it is a product of experienc and who I believe has the best chance of taking advantage of a second chance. I'd be interested to know how my black friends would choose? They don't like the population of this town much either. I'll ask them over the weekend.

That is engrained in all humans. There is a reason why we are the only species of man left the engrained racism. I know i will catch the narrow minded trolls but here i go. When man first came to be modern man there was competition with the other species for food and resources so they had to bind together as a group because lets face it the loner had his arms and legs ripped off by the neanderthal. The one's who didn't trust the neanderthal lived slightly longer do to keeping there limbs. I would assume it became engrained to trust the like species. Fast foreword thousands of years and the other species of man died out and man spread around the globe something happend that almost wiped them out and the remaining numbers where isolated from one another for thousands and thousands of years till they each adapted to there local environments. We are all the same species we are all equal and we are all equally flawed.
I could be wrong and just be corrupted from the view points society had when i was a kid back when a interracial couples where shunned through out the 80's. I honestly don't think the whole equality level started panning out till the mid 90's sometime after the whole King incident. As a culture we have came a long ways with equality and it makes me wonder where we will be in another 30 years. I might be wrong about the miss trust being engrained only time will tell

reply to post by getreadyalready
Fair enough. I think the random option would be my only choice, otherwise my indecision would kick in and we'd probably all be on the block.

I'd be interested to know how my black friends would choose? They don't like the population of this town much either. I'll ask them over the weekend.

Funny enough, if they're anything like Karlos and Joe, they'd probably save the white guy. I don't have many black friends, but they oddly don't like other black people in general.

reply to post by Praetorius


it's not about the party. just an illustration. and...by your remark, i'd venture to say that you chose your color but want to seem indifferent in the matter, which is why you chose to skip over the hypothetical part and just respond to the scenario as though it weren't a logical point.

Originally posted by CosmicJ
I think there are other factors to be considered here beyond just race. In my case, based on the way I was raised, the sex card would come into play as well. Is one a lady and one a man? That would precede any consideration of race. For instance, I'm a white guy, but if my choices were a black man and a white woman (or a black woman and a white man) I would choose for the man to die. Also, is one attractive and the other not? We are also taught to over-value that trait as children. In that case, would you choose an attractive person over the other, regardless of race. However, if all other things were equal I think its safe to say that most people would choose the member of their own race to survive. I don't even think thats really racist, just like goes with like most of the time. Just like I don't think its racist that if Chinese people move to the U.S. they tend to live in neighborhoods with each other, just as I would likely do with other Americans if I moved to China. I suppose it depends on your definition of racism, but I don't believe those things are racist.

Interesting note, the term racist was originally used to describe people who merely studied races.

I like how you think....I guess because I totally agree.

The race card is really overrated and depending on which angle you look from....makes a world of difference.

Originally posted by ICEKOHLD
reply to post by Praetorius

 

it's not about the party. just an illustration. and...by your remark, i'd venture to say that you chose your color but want to seem indifferent in the matter, which is why you chose to skip over the hypothetical part and just respond to the scenario as though it weren't a logical point.

edit on 10/21/11 by ICEKOHLD because: (no reason given)

There's simply not enough information provided. If I'm walking into a party where I don't know anyone and it's split up like that, I'm not sticking around (even if it wasn't split up, I probably wouldn't stick around as I'm too socially uncomfortable to be surrounded by people I don't know if alone). Otherwise I'm going to whichever group I have friends in.

If I were forced to stay and integrate, though...eh. I just don't like the question as I wouldn't remain in a situation like that unless someone was openly friendly and welcoming - in that case, THEM, whoever they are. Put it in prison terms with no option to get out and death assured if you don't pick and I'd have to go with the aryan brotherhood or the like, for obvious reasons. Make of that what you will. People are people, I'm made equally uncomfortable by all of them I don't know, unless they're open and kind (or I'm anonymous or otherwise insulated).

Admittedly, I am not quite the social butterfly.

EDIT -
I promise, I'm not just trying to be witty, innocent, or difficult on this.