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Is racism wrong?

Is racism wrong?

  • Yes

    Votes: 88 83.8%
  • No

    Votes: 15 14.3%
  • There is no such thing as racism

    Votes: 2 1.9%

  • Total voters
    105
Actually, "racism" has been a rather new concept in human history. Prior to the African slave trade, slaves were merely of the poor of any color. People looked down upon each other in accordance to tribal identity or class. In the beginning of the Atlantic Slave Trade, Africans were merely a good source for cheap labor to supply the demands of early capitalism. The African slave trade saw blacks to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South & North America. The American South became dependent upon the plantations and they became a very lucrative business for the U.S. because cotton materials were exported internationaly. Slaves were treated far more humanely in states like Louisiana where the Catholic church in Fance prescribed conditions. Protestant States like Kentucky were prescribed absolute freedom to treat slaves as they wished by the Protestant church in England.

After a while it became natural in all slave owning states to associate slavery to blacks. But in the Protestant states slaves were viewed as less than animals in dire need of care taking because they were viewed as having the inability to educate and maintain morality. Some, like George Fitzhugh (Google him), even advocated a sense of socialism towards society where all poor people (blacks and whites) should be slaves. The argument was that poor people hadn't the means to feed themselves, but blacks slaves were free from the burden of having to find work and were cared for by the master. This view spread amongst plantation societies (with the poor white part dismissed) because it "legitimized" slavery as a moral responsibility. In time, "race" became the deciding factor for inferiority and the concept of "racism" unfortunatley became a concept far more predominate in the U.S. than the other locations.

Racist thoughts and impulses may be human nature, but "racism," as we know it, was learned.

Agree'd. "Racism" is part of the PC Narrative. :D
 
Racist thoughts and impulses may be human nature, but "racism," as we know it, was learned.

Only if you define racism as black vs. whites. Humans have tended to look down upon other humans who are different, who look different, or act differently from themselves forever. That's what racism really is, the human tendency to look on anyone who is different from themselves as inferior to themselves.

The differences may be cultural, physical, religious, whatever. It really doesn't matter.

Can racism be overcome? Maybe. One of the hallmarks of educated people is the ability to relate to people who are different from themselves.
 
Actually, "racism" has been a rather new concept in human history....

Racist thoughts and impulses may be human nature, but "racism," as we know it, was learned.

Excellent point, and I don't disagree. I don't mean to say racist thoughts pop into our heads spontaneously. They are learned. The capacity to learn them and believe them, even though they are irrational, is what is human nature.
 
Does that mean accusations of racism are always false and racism isn't wrong?

Did I say accusations of racism are always false? I put it in quotations to try and reference the contemporary term of racism that is thrown around as a blanket term. I was referring to the "RACISM" (see there I did it again) that plays into the Narrative of minorities being downtrodden or treated unequally because of their race as the sole motivating factor because that's what sells to the Public.
 
Did I say accusations of racism are always false?

No, you didn't. That's why I asked the question. It was just a question, not an accusation.

I was referring to the "RACISM" (see there I did it again) that plays into the Narrative of minorities being downtrodden or treated unequally because of their race as the sole motivating factor because that's what sells to the Public.

Thanks. I just wanted to clarify that.
 
No, you didn't. That's why I asked the question. It was just a question, not an accusation.



Thanks. I just wanted to clarify that.
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kk :D
 
Māori's are superior to all, also: GO ALL BLACKS!

I saw the All Blacks trounce Somoa a few months ago... I am an American living in New Zealand. ;)
 
Apparently. nothing is inherently, universally, right or wrong.
This would include racism.
 
Apparently. nothing is inherently, universally, right or wrong.
This would include racism.

Saying that 10 is the answer to 1 + 1 is wrong. I would not say that racism is wrong, I would simply say that it is negative and not in the best interest of humanity.
 
Saying that 10 is the answer to 1 + 1 is wrong. I would not say that racism is wrong, I would simply say that it is negative and not in the best interest of humanity.

Not in binary.
 
misterman said:
So humans have no nature? People don't tend to behave in similar ways?

Of course people tend to behave in similar ways, but to say that it's due to "human nature" is to say that people are innately programmed to behave in certain ways, which is wrong. You're essentially saying there's a biological basis for it, when no such basis has ever been found. People act in certain ways because they are socially conditioned to act in certain ways, not because it's in their biology to do so.
 
You've apparently missed several decades of fascinating research in the field of evolutionary psychology.
 
Of course people tend to behave in similar ways, but to say that it's due to "human nature" is to say that people are innately programmed to behave in certain ways, which is wrong. You're essentially saying there's a biological basis for it, when no such basis has ever been found. People act in certain ways because they are socially conditioned to act in certain ways, not because it's in their biology to do so.

People act in socially conditioned ways so they don't act in their naturally programmed ways. It's why we teach things like sharing, being nice, and morality. These things are rarely instinctual.
 
These things are rarely instinctual.

Humans have social instincts. Far as that goes, we're more inclined to sharing and compassion than, say, chimpanzees... but chimpanzees show signs of the same instincts. The "fair play" primate experiments are probably the most fascinating study in the field of evolutionary psychology to date, at least to me.
 
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