Racism

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Okay, why is racism so wrong? People *are* different because of their races. I'm not saying all black people are 'gangsta', but they have a greater disposition towards it. I've seen a lot more black people get arrested for violence, get drunk, chase me through the park, ect. then white people. And white people are a lot ruder then say Chinese people. Why do people get so offended when you point this out? Yes, people do get caught in the profiling, but statistically the chance that a black male will go to jail is about 6 times greater then a white male. And the chance of committing a homicide is 7 times higher for a black person then a white person. (source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.html) If it is actually more likely for a black person to commit a crime, why is racial profiling so wrong?

That is not RACISM per se, that is just talking about race. The word "racism" is tossed about too much these days, and you get called a racist for even saying "black" or something, which is ridiculous and only allows real racists to get away with it.

I know what you mean though, OP.

It is wrong because it involves judging a person based on what others do, not what that individual does and who they are.

Are Barack Obama, Bill Cosby, Richard Steele, and Allen Keyes six times more likely to break into your house and kill you than the average white person? Obviously not. Those people are so famous that they get judged more on who they are than on their skin color or the geographic location of their ancestors. We know such famous people enough to develop a predictive model of their behavior based on who they are, not based on the characteristics of a group of individuals that share some trait (skin color).

Further, you are confusing race and culture. Chinese and Japanese cultures place more value on civility and politeness than western cultures, but when an Asian person is raised outside these cultures (or rejects them), then they are no different than any other person. In this case, race is somewhat correlated with public behavior, but only because race is a marker for culture.

Is it OK for employers to develop crude stereotypes of Aspies, and then apply that to all people who have Asperger's syndrome? Is it OK to say "Once, I met a guy with asperger's, and he was a total moron, not to be trusted, irresponsible, flaky, etc ... so I won't consider hiring an aspie, and the statistical data shows that these people are not worth considering." ?? That is not racism, but it is the same type of prejudicial stereotyping that racism is also a part of ... don't judge the person based on the facts, just pre-judge them based on categories and assumptions about people in those categories.

Last edited by monty on 18 May 2009, 11:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

That's true, that not everyone of a certain race will act a certain way, but we act racist because it is a useful thing to be able to stereotype. Since it is more likely that a black person will commit a crime, shouldn't the police officer choose the black person over the white person fleeing the scene without being decried as a bigot or having done something wrong?

Obama is half white so wouldn't he be three times more likely instead of six? I don't understand why his white side of the family doesn't seem to count, "he's black, period". His DNA isn't like that of a 100% african person but rather like someone with both black and white genes.

A few years ago, my family went on holiday to New York.
Now this quote from my mother demonstrates my point exactly.
She said,
"Harlem? That's where a lot of black people live, isn't it? Oh wait, I can't say that, that's racist."

It's a fact that the majority of Harlem residents are black. So how is that racist? The simple fact of the matter is it's not.

The problem is that our culture is now based on Political Correctness, and no-one can say anything remotely related to race without being attacked for so-called "racism".

Only if one believes that the tendency to be a criminal is primarily genetic.

That reminds me of the time in geography class when the teacher said to say some facts about Japan, and someone said, "The people there have slanted eyes," and the whole class was like, "*gasp* RACISM!"

Hahahaha that's really funny, but it's true, isn't it?

Of course, describing a community as primarily African American (or Italian, or Chinese) is merely descriptive. The over-sensitivity that you refer to was created by, and is secondary to real racism and the genuine scars that people have when they aren't hired because of skin color, can't rent in a neighborhood they like, and are continually treated in a degrading manner by the laws and the majority races. Such racism is receding, but has left scars on millions of Americans, and cannot be dismissed simply because you did not experience it.

great. another one.

LOL. It's weird. A very large percentage of blacks in the US are genetically 50% or more white. Obama actually appears more African than someone like OJ Simpson. If you put OJ Simpson next to a bunch of Senegalese he'd look white by comparison, yet his race was somehow a huge issue in his murder trial.

I think a lot of the racism in the US these days is more based on culture/ethnicity than skin tone. Immigrants of pure African descent aren't racially profiled as much or viewed as being criminally inclined, at least not to the degree that blacks who descended from plantation slaves are. I think a lot of liberal whites see Obama as more "acceptable" because of this. He gets more grief from the reactionary conservatives for having a Muslim name than anything else.

what your describing as racism is having the ability to describe racial groups. what is racism is discriminating someone because of their race. every form of discrimination whether it be based on race, sex, class, age, and so on is wrong because it fails to consider the human being beyond external factors.
though forms of racial discrimination or any other kind of discrimination can be very subtle. thats why people try to watch their words sometimes.

I am a mixed-race Aspie and proud to be mixed-race!

Racism is one of the pure evils of this world
along with sexism and homophobia!

I do agree with the previous poster.
Forms of racial discrimination now
are usually based on ethinicity rather than skin tone.

Portland is 75% white. Is that a problem?
In opinion, hell yes!

For all non-white Aspies and NTs, come to Portland.
It is a beautiful city. You will love it.

Can you cite that? I hear the "African Americans are half white" stat bandied about a lot, but I don't think I've heard the average number actually put much over 15% in most studies, and pretty certainly not over 20%. Everything I've heard puts the "25% or more 'white'" category at maybe 20% of the population, but in terms of "50% or more 'white'" I've heard maybe 1% of the population may be like that (don't know about the quality of the source though), which is not a very large percentage by most counts.

Do you rank the welfare of the human race above the welfare of other animal species or plant species? If you do, you are a racist.

ruveyn