Three questions about racism

[Ridgerunner]

Racism definition. - the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

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I can’t agree with this wholly, as there do seem to be racial differences, some of which are superior to others at least in some contexts.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that, among blacks, the musculature is such that they tend to excel in sports that require a lot of lower-body strength and coordination. Whites are next, Asians last.

And, of course, Asians’ epicanthic folds provide better protection against eye hazards more prevalent in north Asia than “white” eyes that lack them.

In the context of a cold, wet climate, a white skin is 'superior" as a characteristic because it allows for manufacture of Vitamin D in an otherwise Vitaman D-poor environment. On the other hand, nearer the equator, a white skin is “inferior” as it doesn’t adequately block the ultraviolet rays.

I recall reading a study in which it was determined that black babies mature faster than white babies, with Asian babies being the slowest of all. The conclusion drawn (whether correct or not) was that environmental factors favor faster maturity in Africa but discourage it in northern Asia.

None of those, of course, point to an “overall superiority”. But there certainly are particular superiorities.

 

[exnihilo]

One and two are racist statements. They are clearly racist because in your scenario a White man said them. Three is bad logic.

The standard understanding of racism is recognizing any difference in race as being good or bad. So a White man expressing an interest in women of a different sex is just as racist as if he wanted to marry only someone of his own race because he perceived there to be some goodness in that, even if only beauty. Of course this standard is not applied to other groups nor is it applied when celebrating diversity which is why most talk of racism is just stupid.

If you can honestly conflate BLM with the KKK, then we obviously live on different planets and will never ever understand each other’s point of view. I can’t think of one single incident where a person who was not a person of color or Jewish was lynched by BLM or PETA.

I apologize for the spelling error, even as an educated coastal social elitest, I still need to use spell check.

How many folks have the Klan lynched? How many folks have been lynched altogether? How many were White? How may Black? How many Jewish? I don’t doubt the Klan was involved in some lynchings but lots of lynchings, maybe most, were I would reckon not done by the Klan. They were done by angry, unorganized mobs of citizens. BLM is a violent racist group and this is when they assemble and act publicly. Who knows what its members are doing in private or away from the camera.

 

[styrgwillidar]

In the last several months, the documented fact that the hate filled and raciest groups such as the KKK and white nationalist/supremists have come out of their respective rat holes is disturbing. What do we tell our impressionable young children and teens about this development? The President-elect, at least to me, has not shown any overt racism, but by surrounding yourself with “iffy” consultants, you cause those on the outside to wonder. One only needs to read www.breitbart.com or the Senate testamony of the proposed Attorney General during his Senate confirmation hearings in the '80’s to discover what I’m referring to. Those of us who “thought” that the days of Jim Crow are long gone, are seriously frightened. Yes, I’m an old (63) white high school teacher living on the West Coast, so my bubble was very ingrained. Today, during mass, we prayed for racism and xenophobia to end. Once again, yes, I attend a huge Jesuit parish so praying for real social justice is a very normal part of our liturgy. Hopefully, praying to end hate and distrust will be part of every mass in every state and city.

slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/

A pretty good opinion piece on Trump’s actual record on things like race and LGBTQ rights. You did hear him defending them to applause at the Republican National Convention, correct?

One of his goals is the rebuilding of American cities devastated by dem polices over the last 100 years. Note, the BET CEO met with him and is urging folks to give him a chance. Trump is a big advocate of school choice, improving education in the inner cities will do much to help African Americans.

"According to Wikipedia on KKK membership:

As of 2016, the Anti-Defamation League puts total Klan membership nationwide at around 3,000, while the Southern Poverty Law Center puts it at 6,000 members total
The KKK is really small. They could all stay in the same hotel with a bunch of free rooms left over. Or put another way: the entire membership of the KKK is less than the daily readership of this blog.

If you Google “trump KKK”, you get 14.8 million results. I know that Google’s list of results numbers isn’t very accurate. Yet even if they’re inflating the numbers by 1000x, and there were only about 14,000 news articles about the supposed Trump-KKK connection this election, there are still two to three articles about a Trump-KKK connection for every single Klansman in the world."

So, the press and a lot of hysterical bloggers trying to make a connection that doesn’t exist has given the KKK an elevation in status it wouldn’t have if it were just ignored as the irrelevant group it actually is.

I’m in California. Expecting the laws to be enforced isn’t xenophobia. When summoned for jury duty I inform the judge I will not convict anyone of anything given the state itself is aiding and abetting the violation of immigration law on a massive scale. Sanctuary make them not just co-conspirators in immigration law violation but of all other laws those people also violate. Lot of friends who are LEOs, a lot of illegal gang activity in California and crimes that could been prevented by enforcing the law. Robbery, rape, homicide etc.
Amnesty for one amnesty for all. I won’t convict one citizen when the state’s flouting the law itself.

 

[Thorolfr]

I can’t agree with this wholly, as there do seem to be racial differences, some of which are superior to others at least in some contexts.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that, among blacks, the musculature is such that they tend to excel in sports that require a lot of lower-body strength and coordination. Whites are next, Asians last.

And, of course, Asians’ epicanthic folds provide better protection against eye hazards more prevalent in north Asia than “white” eyes that lack them.

In the context of a cold, wet climate, a white skin is 'superior" as a characteristic because it allows for manufacture of Vitamin D in an otherwise Vitaman D-poor environment. On the other hand, nearer the equator, a white skin is “inferior” as it doesn’t adequately block the ultraviolet rays.

I recall reading a study in which it was determined that black babies mature faster than white babies, with Asian babies being the slowest of all. The conclusion drawn (whether correct or not) was that environmental factors favor faster maturity in Africa but discourage it in northern Asia.

None of those, of course, point to an “overall superiority”. But there certainly are particular superiorities.

A lot of these statements are ridiculous. Not all “blacks” have musculature that allows them to excel at sports. Epicanthic folds in the eyes occasionally appear in some Europeans, too, in some Scandinavian and Slavic populations. On the issue of skin color, some Arab populations are quite dark and yet are categorized as “Caucasians” rather than “blacks”. Making blanket statements about most large groups of people is silly.

 

[Xystus]

Racism definition. - the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

While racial preference may be symptomatic of racism, it isn’t itself racism.

There are, all of a sudden over the last 10 days, things and people being called racism that are not.

This has been going on a lot longer than 10 days.

 

[JonNC]

This has been going on a lot longer than 10 days.

I was referring to a winning candidate whose reputation in New York was always not that of a racist - until he ran against the opposing party, then won

 

[PseuTonym]

Is there a point about racism that you wanted to discuss?

I wanted (emphasis on past tense) to have a discussion. The reply posted by BornInMarch was more thought-provoking to me than anything else in this thread.

Your opening question was a bit strange

Let me assure you that many threads that I start are strange. On many occasions, participants who disagree with each other (but who are alike in disagreeing with the Original Post that I created) refrain from debating with each other. On the bright side, they usually refrain from being impolite to each other.

and felt as though there was a point behind it that you weren’t sharing.

Perhaps it was “Race - The power of an illusion” at pbs.org

You didn’t respond to any of the replies to your question and now we’re talking about slavery.

Somebody posted a reply that made reference to slavery, and I responded to that reply. Perhaps it was a mistake for me to respond because, as I said, the reply posted by BornInMarch was more thought-provoking to me than anything else in this thread. The thread ended for me there on a high note.

You could start a thread about race and announce in the Original Post that nobody is to make any reference to slavery, but in doing so you would yourself be making reference to slavery, and some people might try to persuade you that the subtopic of slavery should be permitted in the thread. Others might decide to not bother to wait for your consent to discuss slavery in your thread. They might insist that a historical perspective is essential, and they might attempt to disrupt discussion at will, selectively, using the topic of slavery as a tool to disrupt the discussion.

If there’s something you want to debate, it might be easier just to spell it out

This thread doesn’t give me any appetite for debate. I vaguely recall posting a poll asking whether or not 0/3 = 0.000… is true, and seeing that two different people posted to tell me that 0/3 is meaningless, on the grounds that it violates a prohibition against dividing by zero. Maybe when the topic is race, people cannot think clearly when they focus on it directly, and when the topic is mathematics, they cannot think clearly unless they focus on it directly.