Racism, whats so bad?

@steve6969,

I worked with a black man who was about my age. Mid sixties. He grew up in South Carolina. Told me about being downtown with his grandpa and had to go to the bathroom. There was a restroom nearby, but whites only. He had to walk 10 blocks to the colored restroom. Explain that to a seven year old. Dividing people up into classes is wrong, no matter the class definitions. I think that one day we will look back on this and see how ignorant it is. Only purpose is to make some people feel superior. Male and female restrooms are usually next to each other.

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@Thomas,

Sort of my point.
If you are white, Do you think you could live any of those places and not be a racist? Of course if you could stay alive that long there.
But you forget. Its only racism if whites do it.

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@boomerang,

noooo

fewer and fewer places have separate washrooms - it seems to really help with the discrepancy in wait times for people who like to use cubicles.

1 Reply

@steve6969,

steve6969 wrote:

Sort of my point.
If you are white, Do you think you could live any of those places and not be a racist? Of course if you could stay alive that long there.
But you forget. Its only racism if whites do it.

It's obvious that you've had very little contact with people of other races. I've worked with many, many black people. I've lived in communities where I, as a white person, was a member of a minority group -- not the only white man there but one of a handful. Never had any trouble with my neighbors. Where I live now, in Hawaii, all white men here are a minority. The majority is actually Asian, not native Hawaiian nor white.

I put stress on your last two sentences because they are so wrong-headed they immediately told me that you know nothing whatever about race relations. Of course there are black people who are racists, unreasonably prejudiced against white people. And they are recognized as such by more open-minded black people who deplore such a tendency. But I'll tell you this -- if a black friend of mine took me into a bar for a drink and I was the only white man there, my friend could easily guarantee me perfect safety simply because I was with him. I could make no such guarantee to him if I took him to a bar frequented by all white good ol' boys.

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@Thomas,

That is sort of my point. Move there and you will clearly see the differences.
Assuming your white. I suggest you try those places to live for awhile. I guarantee you will not view all races the same after that. Or are you one of those that does not think blacks can be racist.
Its like the N word. Very common for blacks to use it, but don't let a white mention it.
It’s impossible to ignore a race that is not twice, but 5 times more likely to commit a violent crime. But some people live a protected life and don't have to have much contact with them. Easy then to say everyone’s the same then since it does not affect you.
I just don't believe we should be forced to accept the violence and the lower standards.
86% now born to a single mother.
Do you want it to become acceptable for the average women to expect to be raped at least twice in her life? And were people can buy rape insurance. All like South Africa.
Do you really expect people to sit back and ignore the differences in race.
Even if you don't want to, common sense dictates it, to keep yourself safe.

1 Reply

@steve6969,

steve6969 wrote:

Sort of my point.
If you are white, Do you think you could live any of those places and not be a racist? Of course if you could stay alive that long there.
But you forget. Its only racism if whites do it.

That isn't my point at all. My point is that if you lived in one of these places, you would be the one in the minority, and you would be the one suffering racist stereotypes and spite from your neighbors. You presumably wouldn't like it, and thereby be able go gauge what's so bad about racism.

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@steve6969,

This is an absurd argument. The fact that some people of other races are racists does not mean that it is appropriate for you to be one. Or to assume that the next person you meet, of another race or not, is racist. Of course there are differences between races, or cultures for that matter. To assign those prejudices to the next individual you meet is wrong. The hazards you mention are exhibited by all humans.

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@steve6969,

steve6969 wrote:

Never really understood why people get so upset about racism. Its seems really just politics.

In my opinion, wrong; it is not just politics. "Race" is just the way for many people in the past to most easily divide up humanity into "us" and "them."

Sometimes it takes religion (Huffington Post has an article today of the riots in Northern Island, with the summer Protestant marching) to divide humanity.

In my opinion, a growing (I hope) segment of society is dividing humanity into well educated and not well educated, whether that be formal or self-taught. Naturally, there are forces in society that would want us to be one big mass of humanity singing koom-bah-yah. I do not think it will happen so fast, unless the extraterrestrials land.

But, old allegiances die hard, not just "race." People profess to be atheists/agnostics, but still have strong antipathy to atheists/agnostics that were not from the same "historical religious" background (so many atheists still take their babies to a priest for baptism).

So, I have no problem with being in close proximity to other races. It's the folks that base their knowledge on the popular culture that I avoid.

And, being really of "average" intelligence, I also avoid those that are of below average intelligence. I admire those of higher intelligence, even though they are likely just being gracious to even talk to me.

Perhaps, regardless of one's race, religion, etc., we should just subscribe to society's gradations, and "know our place." In effect, "acting uppity," in my opinion, is a little known disorder that many white folks have. Just my humble opinion.

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@Foofie,

I would love to know how you assess someone's intelligence.

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@IRFRANK,

Good q, Frank. Mr. Green

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@IRFRANK,

IRFRANK wrote:

I would love to know how you assess someone's intelligence.

Basically, how well they speak standard English, and after a little conversation, one can usually discern whether or not another subscribes to popular notions (aka, "generalizations") as the basis for their belief systems. For example, if one listens to five minutes of Archie Bunker reruns, one can see this character was not supposed to have had an education of either formal schooling, or personal effort. The son-in-law was always frustrated with Archie's beliefs. And, to the credit of the daughter's character, she did not marry (in the sit-com) someone that had her father's apparent limited view of the world. All in my opinion, naturally.

But, if you think assessing someone's intelligence is a more formal effort, I cannot argue with you. Plus, it can appear that I am giving myself a backhanded compliment, in that I believe I am intelligent enough to assess another's intelligence. Well, it might just be that I can only assess those of a lesser intelligence, since those of a higher intelligence are beyond my ability to assess (correctly). Be that as it may, I do not want to talk about "test" scores in my youth, or aptitude tests (in the military), but I am probably above average, at least for the demographic I live amongst. Due to downward mobility, beyond my childhood control, I do not live amongst my peers, in my opinion.

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@Foofie,

An honest answer. I find that when I quickly pass judgment I am often wrong. It is a natural tendency though. I try to not make assumptions about others without reason. It is something we all do, it leads to incorrect beliefs and unnecessary drama. Archie was a good example. A reflection of many families in those days.

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@IRFRANK,

IRFRANK wrote:

An honest answer. I find that when I quickly pass judgment I am often wrong. It is a natural tendency though. I try to not make assumptions about others without reason. It is something we all do, it leads to incorrect beliefs and unnecessary drama. Archie was a good example. A reflection of many families in those days.

In my opinion, many just are more covert about their prejudices today, since one's peers may make a "look" like "that's so 20th century," if one acts more overtly in one's prejudices.

In my opinion again, the only demographic that has overcome much of the old prejudices, based on race, religion, gender, etc., may be in academia and/or the professions, in my opinion. Perhaps, also some people that take their "religion" seriously, and don't just subscribe to their religion for whatever reason. Now I may be broaching the efficacy of "humility" as a cure all for society's ills.

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

fewer and fewer places have separate washrooms - it seems to really help with the discrepancy in wait times for people who like to use cubicles.

Do many females at Patriots football games rush to use the male urinals?

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei":
[quote] if a black friend of mine took me into a bar for a drink and I was the only white man there[/quote]

What would happen to you as the whitie, would depend on the part of the City the bar was located in. If you've ever been, in recent years, in either the South or West sides of the City of Chicago, you'd know whites ( even armed cops ) are not a welcome sight.

How welcome are blacks, in South Boston, today? How welcome were blacks, when busing was forced on Boston schools, several years ago.

I can remember neighborhoods, that in the 1960s, went from white to black overnight in Chicago. Today, the whites who left the City, are still talking about what happened to their homes, schools, and neighborhoods after their brief encounter with "integration". You might call them racist. Others might call them realists.

What you believe is correct, depends to a very large extent on what you've been exposed to. If you've lived through a race riot, beating or rape, your lens will be very different from those who've been brought up in an upper middle class town and who've never been exposed to the "under side" of urban life.

1 Reply

@Miller,

Miller wrote:

What you believe is correct, depends to a very large extent on what you've been exposed to. If you've lived through a race riot, beating or rape, your lens will be very different from those who've been brought up in an upper middle class town and who've never been exposed to the "under side" of urban life.

My "lens" will not be different due to those considerations at all,Miller. My lens will be different only if I equate the actions of some individuals with some kind of imaginary "racial trait." My attitudes toward people should be based on the actions of individuals, not on some imagined universal. I've been exposed to every sort of social situation. I grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston, a largely African-American neighborhood. I am a white man. I have lived in venues where there were, literally, no black people resident. It never occurs to me to judge someone by their skin color or their last name which often indicates ethnicity. I really don't think that all Italians are mobsters or all Jews miserly money-grubbers or all Negroes drug-dealing thugs.

When we had that almost-race riot in Boston during the school busing crisis, I was working in the South End and living in Jamaica Plain. In order to get home from work, I had to drive through a largely black neighborhood. Every day there were black men with arm bands out in the street, self-appointed neighborhood "marshals", who would direct cars driven by people like myself, white people, down safe streets and away from those blocks where some other black people were likely to start throwing rocks at my car. Go ahead, talk to me about shoehorning all people of one race into the one-size-fits-all category.

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@IRFRANK,

The same way Zimmerman is able to asses who's smoked pot, and who the potential criminal is.

Without having to prove this skill, they can shoot first, and claim they were afraid for their life.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

...I really don't think that all Italians are mobsters or all Jews miserly money-grubbers or all Negroes drug-dealing thugs...

I have a feeling that the above negative stereotypes are archaic from the mid-last century.

I tend to see Italians as family men with a love of sports; Jews as suburban community residents involved with family; and Blacks as hard working people, often with civil service positions.

Perhaps, our stereotypes need to be modernized? A good course or two in sociology can work wonders, in my opinion.

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@cicerone imposter,

cicerone imposter wrote:

The same way Zimmerman is able to asses who's smoked pot, and who the potential criminal is.

Without having to prove this skill, they can shoot first, and claim they were afraid for their life.

Just my opinion, but not being there I just believe that if the law was such that one could only "carry" a firearm if it was visible in a holster, the outcome would have been different. In other words, I see the law, as it was seemingly written, to be a co-factor to the tragedy, since when one sees a gun in a holster, one usually defers to the person with the holstered gun, in my opinion.

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@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

And, being really of "average" intelligence, I also avoid those that are of below average intelligence.

What do you each day? Run around measuring IQs to see who you should be ignoring?

Do you ignore folks to live in low income housing?

How about folks who are homeless? Do you ignore them too?

I'll bet you do, with you white nose straight up in the air. Rolling Eyes

1 Reply

Racism, whats so bad?

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