Are You A Racist

Race is a socio-cultural construction, not a biological reality as some have already pointed out. This, of course, does not make it any less "real" for the people who experience it. It is simply a social reality rather than a biological reality but many people confuse these. Some incredibly small-minded, frightened individuals (ie. racists) erroneously attribute negative characteristics and stereotypes to groups of people based on what they think makes them different from themselves - skin is darker or lighter, wears different clothing, eats different foods, speaks different language - so some misguided combination of physical characteristics and cultural practices that they define as a "race".

The biological reality is that the skin color of humans is determined by the amount of melanin (a pigment found in almost every organism on the planet, not just humans, btw) produced by one's cells. In that regard, everyone belonging to the human race fits on a gradient of melanin production that ranges from very little to a lot, as well as other physical feature gradients. So, from a scientific/anthropological perspective it is impossible to group people into "races" based on these physical characteristics. As someone correctly pointed out, two people with similar skin color may have less in common genetically speaking (and culturally speaking) than two people with very different skin color.

I happily work and interact with people from every corner of the world - different skin color, culture, ethnicity, language - on a daily basis. I feel I am enriched by this interaction. I have never met a racist that I've liked. I find them to be unpleasant, hateful, ignorant, stupid and pathetic people for the most part.

 

What do you call a black person flying a plane?







A pilot... what'd you think I was gonna say... you racist.

 

Did yo watch Red Nose Day last night?

I think at one point in the recent past what you said held true. I'm not sure it does any more.

http://www.rednoseday.com/

Are you going to say it was about white guilt and the need to save little black babies?

 

If you try to come up with an exact, detailed definition of what any specific race is, the concept seems even more ridiculous. The best most people can do is, "I know it when I see it."
:icon_bs:

 

i think (and i hope) that it may be becoming LESS true as time goes on,it was more true in the past, certainly. but i hardly think we need look far for evidence that it IS true. racial, cultural and geographical barriers appear to be barriers to our ability to collectively empathise with people en masse.

to be honest, in general the problem of reification of tragedy tends to have more to do with numbers and distance than with race or culture. i just chose that case as an example, not an absolute representation of how it always works, its a psychological problem which CAN manifest itself in a cultural response to events. that seemed a good example as it arose (or so i understand) organically and without conscious direction.

red nose day's documentary sections are created by people who study ethnographic film, video activism, and anthropological journalism, disciplines with a very, very good understanding of the process of cultural "other-ing". they are specifically created to combat the tendency to think of things as happening "over there/to other people", shooting from a humanistic standpoint in order to get people to give charitably. That they are extremely successful does not disprove my point, that they are extremely necessary, in my view, proves it.

i didn't say anything about white guilt. thats not really what i'm talking about (although i suppose you could say that the two things have an inverse relationship.)

 

autophobe2e

I think it is very hard to find a bias these days. Pointing out an e.g of a cute white child isn't really evidence of it, is it? What evidence is there?
I used RND specifically because of - as you say - collectively empathise with people en masse. It's quite possible RND films (pointing a camera at a famouse person while they pour their heart out) have been carefully crafted.
If they are they don't seem to be dictated to by race.

 

:2thumbsup:

 

so maybe all racists have a fractured sense of identity.

 

sorry, do you mean evidence of cultural/racial othering or of racial bias in the media?

RND films are carefully crafted. you don't pay to send a guy and a shedload of fancy equipment to Africa just so he can muck about. even if digital is so much cheaper than film. furthermore it seems unlikely that the BBC would create a documentary and not employ someone who wouldn't be aware of these theories, since ethnography, cultural othering and objective reportage are concerns that have been central to the development of documentary film ever since Flaherty first saw an igloo (if not before)

culture is a better term than race in this instance, since (As is being discussed in this thread) race is a tricky thing to pin down. culture would be a better one since by implication it contains ethnicity, geography, practices and all the stuff i'm on about.

 

i wonder who the other racist is.whoever gave you a thumbs up for being one.do feel free ta introduce yourself.

 

Racial bias in the media
'the "pretty little white girl' thing, where a great tragedy or epidemic of some kind is only "made real" when it happens to a pretty white kid, we need to "put a face" on a crisis, and it needs to be a face that we culturally identify with. only then do we get a public outcry (i'm thinking of that terrible story of the young girl who drank bleach) or outpouring of money or support for a cause. in short, these underlying tendencies can prevent us from empathising with others, which is very dangerous, and is often deliberately and self-consiously used by the media and governments'

'they are specifically created to combat the tendency to think of things as happening "over there/to other people", shooting from a humanistic standpoint in order to get people to give charitably. That they are extremely successful does not disprove my point, that they are extremely necessary, in my view, proves it.'

I accept they might be crafted to combat the tendency to think of things as happening to other people. I think a lot of people regard charity starting at home, which might hide a prejudice - but most seem to have given regardless of the focus being dominated by the plight of 'others'.

 

yes..i do pre-judge people when i meet them

sometimes based on race

then after knowing them i judge them on everything else


why?....because I'm human

 

its ridiculous cos it is.ask a mother of a black kid why shes so sad that the cops did'nt spend half as much time energy or resources in finding his killer as they did when the white boy was gunned down.

 

I had sex with a black chick for the first time a few weeks ago. Afterwards, she gave me a glass of grape kool aid and it was delicious.

 

i agree that human ta give every person you don't know ,that you've just met for the first time, what i'd call a once over.its also normal and human ta make your own mind up after gettin' ta know someone ,whether their your kinda people or not.i see all people as individuals,so i can't relate to what you said about sometimes based on race.why based on race sometimes ?

 

everyone has a fractured sense of identity, if i had to make a sweeping generalisation based entirely on guesswork (and i do like to) then i'd guess that maybe racists are more concerned with maintaining the illusion of wholeness and that others are more comfortable with the idea of fluidity?

mostly though i think its a societal construct. we all have the equipment in our brains to be racist left over from our developmental stages, the kind of society we live in decides what happens to it.

 

so in other words,people being racists to others makes the racist feel whole in themselves, like by trying ta put others down,makes them feel big about themselves.but the sad thing bout that is.it don't make them bigger people at all.i'm glad i live in a society i've never felt fractured in or not known my own identity in.but the people i'm most grateful to number one even before the rest of society is my parents.i feel so lucky ta have been brought up by such intelligent kind and loving people.

 

there's an awful lot thats been written about racial bias in the media, and i'm sure a google search'll be a lot more helpful on the subject than i can be.

i adapted a media term "Missing white woman syndrome" which is a term used by journalists and cultural analysts to describe a kind of racial bias in the media, so i can see how it is my fault that the two have been conflated.

but in reality i chose Amanda Tod as an example because i wanted to AVOID talking about "the media" in the general sense (news companies etc.). i was talking about undercurrents of racism buried in psychology occasionally manifesting in collective actions, so i demonstrated using an organic media event rather than a media-led event. i wanted to talk about psychological racial bias not institutional racial bias.

arguably a bit of a chicken/egg thing, but still pretty distinct.

but as i say, there's a great deal written about institutional media biases around and about :2thumbsup:

 

aye, thats a good way to put it