Racism vs. Bigotry

[milefile]

For years now I've had a big problem with the word racism, and the conceptual baggage that goes along with it. Identifying any difference between so-called races is racism. This gets pretty sticky since we all are able to identify races or ethnic groups by simply observing them. And I don't see the harm in it. I knew my wife was Italian the second I saw her. I liked it, and now we are married. So then my marriage is based on a racist assesment. Fine. I'm prepared to admit that.

Now what I'd like to propose is the fact that racism is not necessarily bad. It is only a way to assess people. Clearly there are many races on Earth. If racism was irradicated would we live in a world where nobody could draw any kind of inference about anyone else? Would we live in a world where every conversation or judgement was required to be empirical? Of course this is unreasonable.

So I think a distinction should be drawn between two words that are all-too-often used synonymously. Bigotry is the act of hating based on racist assesments.

It is possible to love based on racist assesments. American's interest in exotic religions and cultures, little white boys growing dreds, Hip Hop, and other things are all proof of races embracing eachother based on "racist" assesments. But there is no hate. Therefore there is no harm. But cultivating hate based on the same assesments is a very different thing, it is called bigotry.

Basically I see racism as a tool. It exists only in that there are, in fact, races that can be identified based on certain physical and cultural traits. It is like mathmatics, only one way to see a limited range of what is. It is devoid of meaning until somebody acts upon it.

Therefore the word racist has no meaning in and of itself. Those who use it as a derogatory remark have obviously panicked on some level, and their accusations reflect more about their own fears and prejudices than they do about the person being accused.

 

[1X83Z]

Sheesh, if I'd known there were going to be three threads, a signature, an avatar, and your location dealing with it, I would've dropped it long ago...

 

[milefile]

Oh come on. Don't bail now! It's a great topic and one that obviously has a lot of mileage left in it. I made this thread to isolate what I saw as the root issue, and maybe actually get somewhere without muddling up other threads about other things any more.

And the Avatar was just a whim. Something I found.

Seriously, Doug, I enjoy arguing with you more than anyone else here because you can handle it. Other's get all emotional and loose their cool and it's no longer fun or challenging.

As far as my sig goes, that has nothing to do with this thread.

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by milefile
Oh come on. Don't bail now! It's a great topic and one that obviously has a lot of mileage left in it. I made this thread to isolate what I saw as the root issue, and maybe actually get somewhere without muddling up other threads about other things any more.

I dunno -- the 'Terrorists' thread is fair ground, methinks.

And the Avatar was just a whim. Something I found.

You know, the guy who supposedly wrote those letters is a white fellow -- a former anthrax specialist, or something -- from New Jersey. Evidently, the reference to 'Greenwood School' where the letters supposedly came from was a reference to an apartment complex where he lived when he was with the Peace Corps or something other in Ethopia. They've searched his apartment before, but they haven't got enough evidence to link him to the anthrax. If it really was a white Christian fellow who did it, those letters are hilarious: "Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is Great."

As far as my sig goes, that has nothing to do with this thread.

I'm boggled!

 

[rjensen11]

QUIT |3ITC|-|I|\|G!

 

[B Campbell]

Look up bigotry again. It inlcudes much more than racism. A chauvinist and an anti-semite are both bigots.

Anyway, if you're going to say racism is good, you need to understand why we have it. Long, long ago, when we lived in very small tribes consisting of extended families, we were racist. We needed to be, because this allowed us to quickly decide if another person we met was part of our group or part of another group - the decision between friend or foe. Because resources were limited in this situation, anyone who wasn't part of your group was your enemy. This racism served us well, as it allowed us to easily escape sticky situations or successfully defend our territories.

Now, is it at all useful in our current world? Just because someone comes from a different place and looks different than us, does that make them an enemy?

 

[milefile]

Originally posted by B Campbell
Look up bigotry again. It inlcudes much more than racism. A chauvinist and an anti-semite are both bigots.

I didn't look it up to begin with. We could all go look things up and not have a message board but instead, homework. But I do agree with that.

Anyway, if you're going to say racism is good, you need to understand why we have it. Long, long ago, when we lived in very small tribes consisting of extended families, we were racist. We needed to be, because this allowed us to quickly decide if another person we met was part of our group or part of another group - the decision between friend or foe. Because resources were limited in this situation, anyone who wasn't part of your group was your enemy. This racism served us well, as it allowed us to easily escape sticky situations or successfully defend our territories.

If I could take that a step further: Racism is an instinct. It has become superfluous, however, and for that reason only has become a detriment to our species. There are many other things this can be said about. Of course this line of thinking is quite amoral and anti-christian; they would have us believe that unchecked instinct is evil. But that is just a word.

It is all always about survival, and even if a certain instance seems too small to matter in that sense, it is only an abstraction of the basic will to keep living, to have more life. More than what? More than "them," more than before. It has been expressed in the way you described above. It was also expressed by wars and bullfights, by the Inquisition and the Crusades. Humanity's most potent will to live has always been expressed in the most horrible, violent, evil events. The sooner we know and understand this... the sooner we are not afraid of what we carry inside us as instinct, the sooner we can begin to overcome what has become superfluous about us. But humanity, by and large, still wants to hide bad things instead of capturing and disecting them... hence the "racist" witch hunt. Knee-jerk reactions with no understanding. They will not admit this.

Now, is it at all useful in our current world? Just because someone comes from a different place and looks different than us, does that make them an enemy?

It depends who you ask. Me? I say no. In fact, the more different they are the more interested I am. But some people are convinced otherwise because I don't participate in their "Ad-libs" version of life.

They, too, will become superfluous; their two thousand year old perspective is already decrepit and most of all decadent. Those of us that think do not allow ourselves such luxuries.