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Is everyone a little bit racist?

Is everyone a little bit racist?

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Dav

Dav

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So I was listening to the Avenue Q song that gave this thread its name and wondered what DP would think... is everyone racist, if just a little bit?

Sorry, I suck at opening posts, so just vote and explain.
 
Most people are likely racist to some extent, but far short of any degree at which they'd advocate discriminatory public policies.
 
Depends on how you define racist.
 
Most people think of "racist" in the "crazed Klan knight" sense, which is obviously an exaggeration. Not all racists are open activists or even advocates of discriminatory public policy.
 
Dude, using color-blind as a way to describe anti-racism is offensive to those of us who are actually color-blind and racist as hell. Friggin' honkies! :2razz:
 
No, not everyone is racist. The idea that everyone is racist or even a little bit racist is a a load of crap made up by racist and closet racist in order to excuse or justify their own racism.

Racism is defined as-
1.a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
 
That deoends on what your definition of racism is, really. I don't think the vast majority of us are racists in the sense that we feel superior to non-whites, but I do think some of us sometimes make assumptions based on skin colour. It's one of those things that's relatively harmless as long as you acknowledge it as being a tinge of prejudice as opposed to depending or justifying it.
 
I think everyone is a bit racist in one way or another whether they want to admit it or not. Those that go out of their way to be "color-blind" only do so because being anti-racist is an effort on their part and it doesn't come naturally. But it is a worthy effort, none the less.

I mean, I wouldn't hesitate to help a black man and extend a hand of friendship should the oppertunity present itself. I love cuddling and goo-goo'ing at little black babies because I think they are adorable. I really hold a black man, who works hard, and has what I feel to be high family values, in the highest regards.

Even though you would never see me on a soapbox screaming "white power" I have to admit there are things inside me that some might consider racist. For example, with the exception of Halle Berry perhaps, I find very few black women sexually attractive. When I see an freeway exit named "Martin Luther King Blvd" I have a tendancy to plan my route around it. When the newschannel reports a drive-by shooting or some other violent crime in my city, in my "minds-eye" the perpetrator is usually black. (And they usually are. :roll:)

Little things like that make me look at the racism inside myself. I am a work in progress.
 
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Captain America said:
For example, with the exception of Halle Berry perhaps, I find very few black women sexually attractive.
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And she's a mulatta at that. There's a pretty substantial difference between Halle Berry and Tyra Banks and a pureblood, someone who's truly dark. I've also said that a lack of attraction to certain racial and ethnic groups isn't really comparable to the advocacy or preference for racially or ethnically discriminatory public policy, just as an attraction to one sex isn't comparable to the advocacy or preference for discriminatory public policy as it pertains to sex.

So not liking black women isn't much worse than not liking blondes, in that sense. :shrug:
 
Agnapostate said:
And she's a mulatta at that. There's a pretty substantial difference between Halle Berry and Tyra Banks and a pureblood, someone who's truly dark. I've also said that a lack of attraction to certain racial and ethnic groups isn't really comparable to the advocacy or preference for racially or ethnically discriminatory public policy, just as an attraction to one sex isn't comparable to the advocacy or preference for discriminatory public policy as it pertains to sex.

So not liking black women isn't much worse than not liking blondes, in that sense. :shrug:
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I suppose. But even if I didn't care for blondes, the thought of having to kiss one doesn't repulse me. That's what I'm talking about. I need to work on it. :3oops:
 
Captain America said:
For example, with the exception of Halle Berry perhaps, I find very few black women sexually attractive.
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There's nothing racist about that. Some people are turned off by dark skin...just like some people are turned off by fat people or redheads or tall people or any other physical characteristic.
 
I would say yes, everyone is a little bit racist.

I just moved to DC, and am well aware that it's a high-crime city. If I'm out by myself at night, I would generally be less nervous walking through a majority white neighborhood than a majority black neighborhood of equal socioeconomic status. Is that racist? Perhaps a little bit.

I think racism is one of those things of which there are many different degrees. At the one end, you have subtle forms of racism like the one I mentioned. At the other end, you have the Aryan Nation people preaching hate, discrimination, and violence.
 
Kandahar said:
I would say yes, everyone is a little bit racist.

I just moved to DC, and am well aware that it's a high-crime city. If I'm out by myself at night, I would generally be less nervous walking through a majority white neighborhood than a majority black neighborhood of equal socioeconomic status. Is that racist? Perhaps a little bit.

I think racism is one of those things of which there are many different degrees. At the one end, you have subtle forms of racism like the one I mentioned. At the other end, you have the Aryan Nation people preaching hate, discrimination, and violence.
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That still doesn't qualify as racist though.

Your being realistic if nothing else because there is a precedent behind your fear.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
That still doesn't qualify as racist though.

Your being realistic if nothing else because there is a precedent behind your fear.
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Agreed.

But voicing that truth in our politically correct environment :roll: can get you branded a racist in a heartbeat.
 
Captain America said:
Agreed.

But voicing that truth in our politically correct environment :roll: can get you branded a racist in a heartbeat.
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Very true.

I go ahead and get it over with by saying, "I'm better than everyone."
Avoids the whole racist thing altogether and just gets me labeled as an elitist or crazy. :mrgreen:
 
I think we humans are wretched creatures, can I be racist if its against the entire race?
 
No, everyone is not a 'little bit racist'. I don't believe there is such a thing. You either are, or you're not.

Many people do stereotype, though. And, some stereotypes ARE actually based in fact, even though it's not "PC" to acknowledge that.
 
Every person has every negative thought in their subconscious. The important thing is how you treat people.
 
I think there is a good prospect for the next generation to be ultimately tolerant to race between whites and blacks.

I for one don't think racist thoughts, but many of my peers are racists. The racist attitudes are particular for those of Middle Eastern decent. Two of my friends say openly racist things against Arabs, calling them sand n****** or another hostile name (one of my friends denies that he is serious while the other is open about his feelings against Arabs and African Americans). That's where racism is on the rise, I believe - against Middle Easterners. Just yesterday I overheard a conversation between my father and stepmother:

"What is Iraq known for?" my father asked

"...terrorism" my stepmother answered in jest, even when I know that's all she could conjure in her mind.

From the other room, I almost shouted, "Mesopotamia! The Tigris and Euphrates rivers! The birthplace of civilization!"
 
rivrrat said:
No, everyone is not a 'little bit racist'. I don't believe there is such a thing. You either are, or you're not.
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Racism is a spectrum, not a binary yes/no. For example, along the spectrum of racism, we might have:

1. A Ku Klux Klansman who actively commits acts of violence, intimidation and vandalism against minorities.
2. An Aryan skinhead who preaches hatred of minorities to anyone who will listen.
3. A member of Stormfront who regularly visits white pride / white nationalist websites, but wouldn't dare voice his opinion in public.
4. An entrepreneur who refuses to hire blacks at his business because he thinks they are lazy thieves.
5. A cranky old man who believes that the reason he never became rich is because of race traitors who allowed the negro to steal white jobs.
6. A woman who actively avoids minorities and is uncomfortable around them, but doesn't hate them.
7. A man who avoids blacks in general, but is comfortable around individual black people once he gets to know them.
8. A man who may or may not associate with minorities, but constantly drops the N-bomb (other than just to be funny) when they aren't around.
9. A lazy, uneducated man who blames affirmative action, illegal immigration, and welfare for his inability to find and keep a job...but would swear up and down he isn't racist.
10. A person who harbors no feelings of hate, superiority, or distrust toward minorities...but subconsciously makes assumptions about people and places based on racial stereotypes.


Are these people all racist? Well...#1 is very different from #10. I don't think you can just say "Yes, this person is racist" or "No, they are not racist." That term can mean very different things to different people.
 
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Kandahar said:
Racism is a spectrum, not a binary yes/no. For example, along the spectrum of racism, we might have:

1. A Ku Klux Klansman who actively commits acts of violence, intimidation and vandalism against minorities.
2. An Aryan skinhead who preaches hatred of minorities to anyone who will listen.
3. A member of Stormfront who regularly visits white pride / white nationalist websites, but wouldn't dare voice his opinion in public.
4. An entrepreneur who refuses to hire blacks at his business because he thinks they are lazy thieves.
5. A cranky old man who believes that the reason he never became rich is because of race traitors who allowed the negro to steal white jobs.
6. A woman who actively avoids minorities and is uncomfortable around them, but doesn't hate them.
7. A man who avoids blacks in general, but is comfortable around individual black people once he gets to know them.
8. A man who may or may not associate with minorities, but constantly drops the N-bomb (other than just to be funny) when they aren't around.
9. A lazy, uneducated man who blames affirmative action, illegal immigration, and welfare for his inability to find and keep a job...but would swear up and down he isn't racist.
10. A person who harbors no feelings of hate, superiority, or distrust toward minorities...but subconsciously makes assumptions about people and places based on racial stereotypes.


Are these people all racist? Well...#1 is very different from #10. I don't think you can just say "Yes, this person is racist" or "No, they are not racist." That term can mean very different things to different people.
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That's why I voted "other."
 
Captain America said:
When the newschannel reports a drive-by shooting or some other violent crime in my city, in my "minds-eye" the perpetrator is usually black. (And they usually are. :roll:)
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I share similar sentiments, but don't think they're racist (at least not if you think the same way I do). Street drugs and crime have a definite racial disparity, but it isn't due to race - it's due to class. If I hear about a crime and my minds eye views the perpetrator as black, it isn't because I think black people are inherently more prone to crime. Any of the upper or upper-middle class, suburban black people I go to school with are much less likely to commit crime or be involved with street drugs than any of the lower to lower-middle class white kids I grew up with. Thinking of a random perpetrator of a random crime as a minority it's a judgment of minorities, if anything it's a judgment of poor people, and a recognition that the lower class has a heavily skewed racial demographic.
 
I'm 100% non-racist. Whenever I make any type of stereo-type it is based on statistics and is never directed at the whole of a race. Just those that the statistic refers to.
 
No. Racism is taught, not born.

PS for those who think everyone is I am willing to bet you are confusing bigotry with racism. Racism is always bigotry, bigotry is not always racism.
 
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Blackdog said:
No. Racism is taught, not born.

PS for those who think everyone is I am willing to bet you are confusing bigotry with racism. Racism is always bigotry, bigotry is not always racism.
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I agree. My dad was a bigot, big time. If you weren't white, you were a n--- in his mind. I don't know who taught him that but I've always thought that the era he lived in and the type of life he lived taught him to hate Italians, Mexicans, etc. because of the color of their skin.

I remember being horribly embarrassed when I was a kid because of it. Even when I was too young to know what bigotry meant, I knew I didn't like it. My aunt was married to an Italian and Dad would never refer to him as anything other than "the n--". In his mind it was the way it was and that was it.

So, life taught me to embrace people instead of rejecting based on what they look like. Some might say that I rebelled against my dad as kids do, but it was more than that. I knew at an early age what he felt was unreasonable and it just didn't make sense to me.

My answer is the same as Blackdogs. I think some hate is taught and some hate can never be taught. It depends on the person learning the lesson.
 
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