Is it racism?

[Professor S]

The sad fact is that racism in some shape or form will always exist as it is a natural function of our brains. Before you start yelling, hear me out.

Your brain cannot possibly categorize every person you meet or see in life individually. The brain simply cannot handle such a load. Therefore you brain must do something called Social Stereotyping. This allows you to handle the fact that there are 6 billion people in the world that are not the same by breaking them down into categories determined by looks, social status or both.

You cannot stop this, as much as you cannot stop you Fight or Flight response or your urge to remove your hand from a hot burner. It is natural.

What we have to start to do is realize that this happens and understand how to use it in a benign fashion for acceptance rather than fear and xenophobia. Ignoring racism/social stereotyping or dismissing it altogether does more harm than good.

Men and women are different, blacks and whites are different and so on and so forth. We should accept and embrace these differences if we are ever going to stop malevolent racism.

[Perfect Stu]

I wouldn't consider myself a racist, but here me out.

I was in a school with a HUGE percentage of oriental kids. Now, the fact of the matter is, most of them are just different kinda people. Not my kinda people. For whatever reason, I just dont get along with most oriental kids...and I SEVERELY doubt it has to do with what they look like...because I have a few oriental friends that I love.

But you really have to be careful what you say these days...I've actually been in trouble for RETALIATING on a racist remark with another. My peers found it humorous, but I really shouldn't have said it. I wasn't allowed to join this game of soccer because I was not Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. They asked me what the hell I was doing there. I said, "to play soccer...why are you here? oh I know...the free welfare".

Completely heat of the moment...

[TheGame]

Originally Posted by The Strangler

...blacks and whites are different....

Funny you say that after my post...

I understand what you mean by social steriotyping, but it kind of defeats the purpose when our own government classifies us by race, and we classify ourselves by race.

You say blacks and whites are different, explain how this is true in an objective way without brining nationality into it.

That's why I say Race is an illusion... ask a Dark skined man in South America if he is black, and he will tell you no. Why? Because US's concept of "race" is screwed. I think the reason it may be used more here is because our country doesn't even have a name. Most other countries classify people more by where they are from instead of what the color of there skin is.

It's even got to the point where race is more defined by backround than the skin color. I mean, you are a wrestling fan, what "race" is The Rock? What is Hogan? Who has darker skin?

[TheGame]

Originally Posted by Perfect Stu

I wasn't allowed to join this game of soccer because I was not Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. They asked me what the hell I was doing there. I said, "to play soccer...why are you here? oh I know...the free welfare".

That's pretty bad Stu...saying things like that could get you killed out here lol.

[I bolded the nationalities... so, is this racism or nationalism? (On either side of the conflict)]

[bobcat]

I've been called "wog" many times. This is like a negative term against half euro/aussies.

Now I've just learned to live with it (not that I get called that much) and I even sometimes call myself a wog. Instead of taking offence, I just leave it and don't care. You'd be suprised how well it works.

Unless it's more personal or directed at me in front of a huge crowd, then I'll retaliate properly, but in general I don't care

[Seth]

I agree with GameMaster.


And..i get pestered all the time on the internet for being a Canadian. Doesn't really bother me. It's usually just poking fun. But ya, if the guy was going overboard about it...can get annoying just for the fact that he's disrupting your game.

[Typhoid]

If someone says something aboot me being Canadian, i play along eh. make 'em think we all live in igloos and whatnot. And i think that the world is WAAAAAY to P.C.(pol. Correct) these days. Last week in class, i got in trouble for calling a kid "Black" my teacher said he ws "African American"...wait a minute here...we are canadain....So shouldnt he be "African Canadian"? whats wrong with saying the word black? i can call Caucasian people white. I can call oriental people Asian. So why cant i call an "African American" black? I know why, its the Pu**yfication of the world. And i dont want to be mean or rude but the U.S. (i have nothing wrong with the country) is dulling everything down to be less harsh on kids. in the early 20's the Traumatic syndrome caused in war was called " Shell Shock" simple and to the point. Now its call "Post-Traumatic war syndrome"...a little longer and harder to decipher what it means.... I just have a problem with double standards and how the world is getting so pollitically correct nowadays.

[Dylflon]

I wasn't so much bothered by waht the guy said to me. I just found it racist and was wondering whether or not it was. You guys are bringing up very interesting points. Especially TheGame and The Strangler.



Carry on.

[TheGame]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

If someone says something aboot me being Canadian, i play along eh. make 'em think we all live in igloos and whatnot. And i think that the world is WAAAAAY to P.C.(pol. Correct) these days. Last week in class, i got in trouble for calling a kid "Black" my teacher said he ws "African American"...wait a minute here...we are canadain....So shouldnt he be "African Canadian"? whats wrong with saying the word black? i can call Caucasian people white. I can call oriental people Asian. So why cant i call an "African American" black? I know why, its the Pu**yfication of the world. And i dont want to be mean or rude but the U.S. (i have nothing wrong with the country) is dulling everything down to be less harsh on kids. in the early 20's the Traumatic syndrome caused in war was called " Shell Shock" simple and to the point. Now its call "Post-Traumatic war syndrome"...a little longer and harder to decipher what it means.... I just have a problem with double standards and how the world is getting so pollitically correct nowadays.

I don't consider myself either African American or Black... but I'd much rather a person call me black because I'm not from africa nor do I ever want to go there, I'm from New Bab*cough* the country with no name that's between Canada and Mexico. You have to remember Canada is a part of America too.

To me the only "mix" names that make sense are canadian-american or mexican-american.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by TheGame

You say blacks and whites are different, explain how this is true in an objective way without brining nationality into it.

Easy:

1) Wider nostrils and noses in general
2) Larger lips in general
3) Kinky dry hair as oppososed to the straighter, more oily hair of caucasians
4) Perma-tan
5) Smaller ears in general

Now these differences have absolutely nothing to do with who someone is, they have everything to do with what they look like. This is what social stereotyping mainly operates on. Now the social aspect comes in when you see differences in black and white american culture which is then associated with the physical differences.

By the way, this is not just a black and white issue, there are physical differnces between almost every race. Example: Can you tell someone is of Irish decent just by looking at them? I can. I even had a Jamaican I worked with guess that I was Scot-Irish and German the day we first met.

[mickydaniels]

Originally Posted by The Strangler

By the way, this is not just a black and white issue, there are physical differnces between almost every race. Example: Can you tell someone is of Irish decent just by looking at them? I can. I even had a Jamaican I worked with guess that I was Scot-Irish and German the day we first met.

Well around here, there are all kinds of Blacks that live in Brooklyn from all over and I, along with many others who've spent a good amount of time living here, can tell with great accuracy the difference between a Haitian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, etc.

[TheGame]

Originally Posted by The Strangler

By the way, this is not just a black and white issue, there are physical differnces between almost every race. Example: Can you tell someone is of Irish decent just by looking at them? I can. I even had a Jamaican I worked with guess that I was Scot-Irish and German the day we first met.

Err... what makes a person Jamican or Irish? Apparently you feel it's somthig different than what makes a person Canadian or British because you said:

"Insults to Canadians, Americans, Brits based on NATIONALITY are NATIONALIST, not RACIST."

The difference between race in NA and the rest of the world is that we don't base it off of nationality... we base it off of the way a person looks and the way they talk.

Like I said before:

"Race is an illusion. It's a tool that people use to classify others and themselves that is 100% subjective. There is no way to define a "black" person or a "white" person, because no matter how you do it you will always find someone who fits the bill 100% and who woudn't call themselves what you label them as. (unless you include nationality in your definition of what makes them black or white, and the nationality would be Ameri... err, from US)"

Because I'm raised in US I'm black, if I was raised in Jamaca I'd be Jamacain, if I was raised in Africa I'd be African.

[Canyarion]

I think we all have the best intentions here, so try not to pinpoint people on the details they said.
We're all one big family.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by TheGame

Err... what makes a person Jamican or Irish? Apparently you feel it's somthig different than what makes a person Canadian or British because you said:

"Insults to Canadians, Americans, Brits based on NATIONALITY are NATIONALIST, not RACIST."

The difference between race in NA and the rest of the world is that we don't base it off of nationality... we base it off of the way a person looks and the way they talk.

You also are forgetting that in many other countries they are of one race for the most part, and that America is an melting polt of all those who moved from those ethnocentric countries that had thousands of years to develop their own physical attributes. We are all americans, a nation not even 225 years old yet, and we are separated into black and white because we are a country created by many races over a very short period of time.

Race is NOT an illusion, it is scientific fact backed up by just about every scientific book you can imagine. If other nations were to have the same kind of racial integration then you would see all kinds of problems there as well. Look at Germany. Jews are a race and were persecuted for being of their race, not their nationality. Jews don't believe they even have a nationality.

[/quote]Because I'm raised in US I'm black, if I was raised in Jamaca I'd be Jamacain, if I was raised in Africa I'd be African.[/quote]

When you're ancestors where in Africa they were considered black and inferior when they were purchased by the white slavers. They were not just considered African. The slavers saw the physical and cultural differences and made judgements based on them. Do you really think that if the same people who lived in Africa looked exactly like the white slavers, there would have been slavery? I highly doubt it.

I also think you are putting far too much on semantics. The word "black" is used because its simply shorter and easier to say. Just as "white" is easier to say than European American.

[TheGame]

Originally Posted by The Strangler

You also are forgetting that in many other countries they are of one race for the most part, and that America is an melting polt of all those who moved from those ethnocentric countries that had thousands of years to develop their own physical attributes. We are all americans, a nation not even 225 years old yet, and we are separated into black and white because we are a country created by many races over a very short period of time.

I'm not forgetting it, I'm well aware of that.

Race is NOT an illusion, it is scientific fact backed up by just about every scientific book you can imagine. If other nations were to have the same kind of racial integration then you would see all kinds of problems there as well. Look at Germany. Jews are a race and were persecuted for being of their race, not their nationality. Jews don't believe they even have a nationality.

Ok, where does the term "Jew" come from? lol... just think about it.

When you're ancestors where in Africa they were considered black and inferior when they were purchased by the white slavers. They were not just considered African. The slavers saw the physical and cultural differences and made judgements based on them. Do you really think that if the same people who lived in Africa looked exactly like the white slavers, there would have been slavery? I highly doubt it.

I think you should take an african american history course before jumping to such conclusions.

First of all, when people from africa came in first contact with people from england they were not considerd black, that was a term created in america... and they were also not seen as inferior.

The first africans to come to america weren't even slaves, they were indentured servants (because it was against the law to have born again christians as slaves at the time). And at the the time there was slavery, both in africa and in america... white people were slaves here, and black people were slaves there. I don't want to take you through a whole history lesson on it... but when I return I will if I must, I suggest you read more into the subject.