Racism

Enos Shenk wrote: If Im walking down the street, and I see some thugged-up black guy walking towords me with his hand in his sweatshirt pocket, talking really loud and obnoxious to his friends, am I a racist if I consider my own safety? Yes, if you're associating his being black with his being a gangster lowlife....His race isn't the issue there, it's his demeanor and style, and the fact that he looks like a criminal... Am I a racist if I blame the government subsidized apartments right next to my addition for the high crime in the neighborhood? Yes, if you assume that all the people in those apartments are of a certain race and that they are responsible for the crime....That might be full of redneck idiots who are breaking the law.... Am I a racist for questioning why black athletes and celebrities never go back to the bad neighborhoods they grew up in, and donate some of their money to bettering other minority kids growing up there? I don't know, did you question why Anna Nicole Smith never went back to the trailer park? Theres a point where stereotyping a race based on the overwhelming behavior of those that are publically visible is a valid thing. Are you sure?

We are all raised towards a certain mindset.

I don' think that black people (let's narrow down the topic for now)
are the way they are (stereotypically speaking) because they are
actually different from anyone else, but because of what society tells
them they are.

If I told you (as an example) that you were worthless, stupid, and
lazy from the time you were born to now you would probably think
that you were those things. Or subconciously you would have a
severe self asteem problem.

To bring this to real life, most blacks are not wealthy, they are told
by or society and our completely worthless political structure that
they cannot achieve success, and that they need to rely on others
(namely the government) for their sustenence(sp?).
They are also told that they are different from white people by their
peers, just as alot of white kids are raied to believe that blacks are
diferent from us.

They are also told (in some instances) that they are poor because the
white man is holding them down...

These are all examples of learned behavior.

Because they THINK that they are different they act, dress, and speak
differently, but in actuality they are no different from anyone else.

Take Asians for example, people tend to say that they are the
smartest people on earth. I don't agree, I don't think that they ar
any more intelligent then anyone else. However, most are from a
civilization that is so overpopulated that no one cares whether or not
they live or die, thus they are forced into working extremely hard to
achieve some form of importance. This work ethic is what we see,
not extreme intelligence (generally speaking of course, I know there
are extremely intelligent Asians).


The basic point is that we tell ourselves and each other that we are
different, but the truth is we are different merely because we TELL
ourselves we are.

Hope I didn't give anyone a headache

Later

Evil Elvis wrote: The worst thing about racism is what it has become. A Crutch for Minoroties and the Source of Guilt for many White Americans. And I forsee it will remain that for as long as we keep trying to Self Segregrate ourselves. Wich such crap as "African American" "Hispanic American" "Caucasian American", when will we realize that to the whole World your just an American. That to me was the best leason I learned Overseas while in the Marines. Want to see an Angry African? Have an African American call himself that. Want to get laughed at in Spain, try to tell them what a Hispanic American is. When we get over the past and start looking towards the Future as Americans maybee we then can focus our attention into more pressing issues.

I absolutely agree! I'm glad too see that there is somone out there that thinks the same as I do.

Clark Kent wrote: Evil Elvis wrote: The worst thing about racism is what it has become. A Crutch for Minoroties and the Source of Guilt for many White Americans. THAT is the worst thing about racism?  I'm going to have to disagree on that one.  And I think James Byrd would too. Sure, it sucks that racism makes white people feel bad.  Cry me a river.

Well white people feeling bad is all that he said, " A crutch for minorities..." was the other thing. I agree that that is probably the more common bad aspect of racisim, but yes; deaths as a result of racisim are the worst thing about racisim.

Hades wrote: Was Jesus a racist?

No, why?

Hades wrote: Was Jesus a racist?

Yes, until the civil rights movement.  Then He saw the light and became anti-racist.

Clark Kent wrote: Hades wrote: Was Jesus a racist? Yes, until the civil rights movement.  Then He saw the light and became anti-racist.

Sorry for the double post.

It was people, before the civil rights movement, that made Jesus look like a racist, but they were dead wrong. If you read the new testement, I beleive it was in 2 corinthians, the Bible states that in Gods eyes, there is no difference between the races. Infact since Abraham, in God's eyes there has really only been two races anyway, Jews and Gentiles, and now with the new covenant there is no longer any difference between jews and gentiles, so no God is not racist and never was.

As for the "thugged up" comment, that doesn't really come into play. When you say black, or white, or hispanic or whatever, I'm thinking of a "normal" citizen, whatever that may be in your book. I know "black people," who are normally nice, courteous, etc. Then I know "gangstas," who are aggressive, deliberately rude, attention-starved egomaniacs who embrace a violent culture glorifying the gangster life. It just so happens that "gangstas" happen to be black for the most part, and where I live, happen to be the majority of blacks. As someone I know so keenly pointed out, "They fought to fit in, now they're fighting to be different."

Side note: I've seen the same with hispanics, white people (though I can't help but laugh at white "gangstas") and other races, so I understnad it's not all inclusive.

I think a good deal of people are guilty of falling into relying on overgeneralized stereotypes more than they are guilty of having true racist beliefs.

reclusivetorrid wrote: And this is not a debate about gays or women. Please don't start that mess. We pretty much know that you'll never get everyone to accept homosexual behavior. That's just a fact that you uber libs are gonna have to deal with. I personally don't have a problem with homosexual people as long as they aren't tryin' to do the "mexican hat dance" in front of me. I don't really wanna see that. ... Please don't try to suck my into a "gay" or religious debate. I'd like to aviod those subjects

Methinks perhaps he doth protest too much?