Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist, but It May Not Be Your Fault

Originally posted by stanguilles7
Like most things, Racism is the sort of thing that lies behind those who most vehemently deny it.

We are ALL racist to some degree. Or at least bigoted.

OH I am bigoted as all hell, hate humans, would choose animals. If I was GOD I'd destroy Earth and save only the lowly animals...people would be SOL.
ETA: Or does that make me racist? I hate the Human race...guess yeah I AM RACIST. I love cats, though

reply to post by ldyserenity


If you hate all humans and want them all killed, please, by all means, LEAD BY EXAMPLE!

Originally posted by stanguilles7
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

If you hate all humans and want them all killed, please, by all means, LEAD BY EXAMPLE!

Not until everybody else does first. Mother Nture will take care of this disease and I will gladly accept my fate, not fight against it like some whining elitists who think they have the right to live and consume us into oblivion...I am just waiting for that day to come, when Earth fights back.

reply to post by stanguilles7


Besides these stupid monkeys never have been able to be led by example, because, well they are just stupid monkeys.

Originally posted by ldyserenity

Originally posted by stanguilles7
Like most things, Racism is the sort of thing that lies behind those who most vehemently deny it.

We are ALL racist to some degree. Or at least bigoted.

OH I am bigoted as all hell, hate humans, would choose animals. If I was GOD I'd destroy Earth and save only the lowly animals...people would be SOL.
ETA: Or does that make me racist? I hate the Human race...guess yeah I AM RACIST. I love cats, though

edit on 10-6-2012 by ldyserenity because: add

Thumbs up! I am so with you even down to the cats

As to the ones that will ALWAYS ask to lead by example [I get that every time without fail, when I mention what you have just said], why should I? After all even though I hate humans, I still am one. Just as was so beautifully explained, I won't deliberately go out and kill people but I also won't be sad or interfere when the whole lot of us get wiped out. As long as the animals are ok.

By virtue of the fact that this topic is discussing racism it confirms that racism is a natural human trait perhaps in some more than others.

The saints who say there is no racism within them are liars.

It is courteous not to be racist.

Well i know that domesticated animals can be racist. Dogs for example.
I have known dogs that would act very aggressivly towards aboriginals regardless of the situation or the level of aboriginal genes in the person.... the dogs in question just plain didn't like aboriginals.

So it makes me think that it's more a matter of culture then any actual physical difference that tends to influence any 'racist' feelings.

I know i tend to get rather offended and insulted when a member of a culture that has a shocking (recent) human rights record tries to dictate a moral or ethical viewpoint to me.

I also hate it when i am assumed to be racist simply because i am white, and it seems fairly obvious that the culture of the person accusing me of this is to believe that the 'white man' is gonna hate them because they are black (or whatever).

in a funny kind of way, adherence to a culture kind of encourages racisim.

There is one thing to be said for racisim however: It is a game that is in itself not racist as it does not exclude anyone from playing....

reply to post by The_Oracle

Are we trying to revive the nature-nurture debate all over again, then?

Racism is inherent in us all. It isn't just racism either, but instinctive hostility toward those who are not close relatives. It also goes under such names as tribalism, clannishness, sectarianism, nationalism, esprit de corps, team spirit and even family tradition. It is inborn in us, a product of human evolution driven, probably, by competition over resources.

It is also cultural. All cultures exclude as well as include. That is why we have clans, tribes, sects, nations and armies. They are collective groupings that are defined as much by what they reject as what they encompass. It is instinctive to humans to form such groupings.

Yes, everybody is a 'racist'. The trait is there, burned into our genes, just as the opposing instincts – to love one another, to form cooperative groups and societies, to care for others more or less closely related to us, to acknowledge our common humanity and vulnerability – are also burned into us, and promoted by our cultures.

We should really free ourselves from all these bad influences and think for ourselves otherwise we'll never be able to cooperate and survive together on this planet. I think that could only start with a change of system overall that is tailored around humanity as a hole to reach their maximum potential...

I think the people who performed that study have the same hopes as you do. They understand that, in an era where the awesome manipulative power of genes is finally coming to be understood, we will fall into the error of believing that since racist behaviour is genetic and therefore 'natural', it is also tolerable or even 'right'. By stressing the cultural side of racism, they hope to pass it off as mere conditioning, something that can be 'cured' by a different type of conditioning. Their intentions, like yours, are laudable, but I'm afraid they are quite unrealistic. We can certainly stop ourselves from behaving like racists, but nothing will ever stop us feeling clannish and tribal. We're social animals; we can't help forming clans and tribes.

It would be better to acknowledge that the demon of racism lurks inside us all, and consider how it might be tamed and put to productive use. As anyone who has ever used a contraceptive knows, we humans are not the helpless slaves of our genes. Let's acknowledge the genetic character of racism instead of shying away from it; denying the problem will not help us find ways to address it.

Wow! So, because some people decide that it is ok not to move beyond the programming of their youth, and accept or be fascinated by things from outside their culture, they can be excused for their bigotry and ignorance? Screw that!

I grew up surrounded exclusively by white people. When I met a black person for the first time, I wasnt fearful, but amazed. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to learn about something rather than shy away from it based purely on my own lack of information. You know why? Because I am not fascistic scum. The only thing for which there must never be tolerance, or apologists or acceptance, is xenophobia. It is like a cancer no one wants to kill badly enough to make it happen.

This project has just made excuses for a whole laundry list of wastes of flesh, like the BNP, the EDL, and a whole host of individual nazi scum, whose existance would be best cut short with all haste. That is the only purpose served by anything other than total removal of xenophobia from our national mindset.

Originally posted by ldyserenity

Originally posted by stanguilles7
Like most things, Racism is the sort of thing that lies behind those who most vehemently deny it.

We are ALL racist to some degree. Or at least bigoted.

OH I am bigoted as all hell, hate humans, would choose animals. If I was GOD I'd destroy Earth and save only the lowly animals...people would be SOL.
ETA: Or does that make me racist? I hate the Human race...guess yeah I AM RACIST. I love cats, though

edit on 10-6-2012 by ldyserenity because: add

it makes you a psycopath

Originally posted by ldyserenity

Originally posted by stanguilles7
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

If you hate all humans and want them all killed, please, by all means, LEAD BY EXAMPLE!

Not until everybody else does first. Mother Nture will take care of this disease and I will gladly accept my fate, not fight against it like some whining elitists who think they have the right to live and consume us into oblivion...I am just waiting for that day to come, when Earth fights back.

what a pathetic stance, "mother nature"- yes, the same "mother nature" that offers monkey eating other monkeys or whales torturing seals.

Originally posted by Hecate666

As to the ones that will ALWAYS ask to lead by example [I get that every time without fail, when I mention what you have just said], why should I? After all even though I hate humans, I still am one. Just as was so beautifully explained, I won't deliberately go out and kill people but I also won't be sad or interfere when the whole lot of us get wiped out. As long as the animals are ok.

so you shed no tear over some kid getting "wiped" out, but you would cry over some spider getting squished- you couldn't lead by "example", as you have no example to lead.