What, really, is racism? (Obama, bias, American, regular)

[Yeledaf]

Originally Posted by Rathagos

Outstanding point! I think it would almost be more accurate to say "I can guess what demographic interests a person may have based upon the car they drive".. but even that, at best, is vague and very possibly erroneous. I don't think many corporate CEO's of Fortune 500 companies would drive a large Cadillac with a hydraulic lift system, chrome chain steering wheel, and fuzzy dice. But you never know!!

So true. Bad taste is becoming ubiquitous.

[tluv00]

Can you be a racist if you hate and offend everyone?

[jmarquise]

sure, if you include a minority. I have been accused of racism because I pointed out the fact that barack obama is half white.

Originally Posted by tluv00

Can you be a racist if you hate and offend everyone?

[Heaveno]

Originally Posted by jmarquise

I am sure I get out more than you. I didn't say anything about blacks and whites did I? I said I was pretty good at guessing the race of someone by looking at a car. there are more races than black and white. perhaps if you ventured out more, you would know that. also, you should learn to read what other post rather than making absurd assumptions. thanks for playing the game, you lose.

There is no game to play with you. I am not in competition with you. I do not know you. You implied a racist comment and I responded. It is simple-would you not agree?? I do not know if you get out more than I do. Whose to say?? What difference does it make? You are the see all, know all individual who can guess the race of a person driving a car (LOL)!! Good for you-you deserve a trophy or better yet call a media outlet to see if they will broadcast your story. A good name for it would be-I CAN GUESS THE RACE OF THE PERSON DRIVING A CAR THAT IS JACKED UP!! This would be a great game show!!

[jmarquise]

wow, ignorance never ceases to amaze me. please give an example of a racist comment I made. a racist is someone who believes they belong to a superior race. my comment was, "I can usually guess the race of a person driving a car." first of all, how is that racist? second of all, which race did I single out? that's right, neither. again, thanks for playing reverend sharpton the race baiter. your wanna be tactics don't work on me.

Originally Posted by Heaveno

There is no game to play with you. I am not in competition with you. I do not know you. You implied a racist comment and I responded. It is simple-would you not agree?? I do not know if you get out more than I do. Whose to say?? What difference does it make? You are the see all, know all individual who can guess the race of a person driving a car (LOL)!! Good for you-you deserve a trophy or better yet call a media outlet to see if they will broadcast your story. A good name for it would be-I CAN GUESS THE RACE OF THE PERSON DRIVING A CAR THAT IS JACKED UP!! This would be a great game show!!

[winterscorpion]

Originally Posted by macmeal

"Racism" is on its way to becoming a totally meaningless term. It could mean an angry mob of KKK members chasing a family out of a neighborhood.....a large employer which has a policy of not hiring minorities....OR a person who lets it be known that he looks down on another for reasons of ethnicity.

ON THE OTHER hand, "racism" could mean something like a school official ordering a gang-attired 'punk' to pull up his pants and hurry to class......a scuffle between a police officer and a gang member....or the attitude of a nasty, rude retail clerk.

The bottom line is, "racism" today is a term applied to just about any offense, great or small, in which a member of one race disagrees with a member of another. As a result, the term is rapidly becoming meaningless.

The 'victim who cried racism' is becoming a little bit like the 'boy who cried wolf'. When the wolf finally DID come along, nobody listened.

As I was reading the posts on this particular thread, I came upon this one and was taken aback by how much truth there was in the paragraph above. So, without sounding sappy or foolish, I can only agree with this point of view wholeheartedly. There are however, a few things I would like to add....without being called a racist mind you.

First and foremost, I have no problem with any idividual being proud of thier lineage regardless or thier race or color of skin. If you are of African American Descent and are proud of that fact, then more power to you. The same goes with those of Hispanic Descent and Aisan Descent.

Where I think there is a double standard here is when I stand up for my right to be proud of my heritage. Granted my family tree has some people in my history that I would rather not claim, the fact remains that I have no living relatives 200 years or older. What I mean by that is that by virtue of my skin color I would be held accountable for the actions of my forefathers.

Lets say that I openly admitted to being proud of my white heritage in a mixed group of people from many races. I would be willing to bet that by making this statement most if not all would automatically label me a racist and treat me like a leper from that point on. When in essence it is they who would be the racists simply because they are following a preformed, preprogrammed set of ideals handed down from generation to generation.

I will not get into politics....may the best man win. What I will say is that we have gone a long way to allow those who refuse to pick themselves up and keep trying the opportunity to use "Racism" as an excuse for thier own personal short comings. I am sick of hearing your picking on me because I'm this or because I'm that.

Want to stop racism? Take the ethnicity spot off of job applications along with race. Replace it with Human or Other. If they mark other, you might want to give them extra scrutiny during the interview process. But then again lets not be racist because they are not human.....

[BilleeBob]

Here's an example of racism:

Any person who will be voting for Obama because he's black.



Actually, Obama is as much white as he is black [he's a mulatto], but that won't prevent the racists from voting for him.

[macmeal]

Originally Posted by winterscorpion

As I was reading the posts on this particular thread, I came upon this one and was taken aback by how much truth there was in the paragraph above. So, without sounding sappy or foolish, I can only agree with this point of view wholeheartedly. There are however, a few things I would like to add....without being called a racist mind you.

First and foremost, I have no problem with any idividual being proud of thier lineage regardless or thier race or color of skin. If you are of African American Descent and are proud of that fact, then more power to you. The same goes with those of Hispanic Descent and Aisan Descent.

Where I think there is a double standard here is when I stand up for my right to be proud of my heritage. Granted my family tree has some people in my history that I would rather not claim, the fact remains that I have no living relatives 200 years or older. What I mean by that is that by virtue of my skin color I would be held accountable for the actions of my forefathers.

Lets say that I openly admitted to being proud of my white heritage in a mixed group of people from many races. I would be willing to bet that by making this statement most if not all would automatically label me a racist and treat me like a leper from that point on. When in essence it is they who would be the racists simply because they are following a preformed, preprogrammed set of ideals handed down from generation to generation.

I will not get into politics....may the best man win. What I will say is that we have gone a long way to allow those who refuse to pick themselves up and keep trying the opportunity to use "Racism" as an excuse for thier own personal short comings. I am sick of hearing your picking on me because I'm this or because I'm that.

Want to stop racism? Take the ethnicity spot off of job applications along with race. Replace it with Human or Other. If they mark other, you might want to give them extra scrutiny during the interview process. But then again lets not be racist because they are not human.....

Good points....and. as I've said before, my own personal belief is that ALL of us, in this extremely multi-ethnic society need to go very EASY on the 'ethnic pride'. A very little of it goes a very LONG way, and it's very easy for 'ethnic pride' to lap over into becoming 'ethnic superiority'.

If you're going to insist on expressing pride in 'your' group, for what 'its members' have done (not for what you've personally done, but for what 'people who look like you' have done), then honesty dictates you'll also have to acknowledge 'ethnic shame' for the same reason (shame for what 'people who look like you' have done).

Since VERY few of us are eager to assume the 'blame' for our ethnic 'fellow travelers', I'd suggest we also tone down the "pride" in them, too. How about "personal pride", for the things we've accomplished, rather than some sort of poorly-defined, vague 'group pride'?

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by winterscorpion

As I was reading the posts on this particular thread, I came upon this one and was taken aback by how much truth there was in the paragraph above. So, without sounding sappy or foolish, I can only agree with this point of view wholeheartedly. There are however, a few things I would like to add....without being called a racist mind you.

First and foremost, I have no problem with any idividual being proud of thier lineage regardless or thier race or color of skin. If you are of African American Descent and are proud of that fact, then more power to you. The same goes with those of Hispanic Descent and Aisan Descent.

Where I think there is a double standard here is when I stand up for my right to be proud of my heritage. Granted my family tree has some people in my history that I would rather not claim, the fact remains that I have no living relatives 200 years or older. What I mean by that is that by virtue of my skin color I would be held accountable for the actions of my forefathers.

Lets say that I openly admitted to being proud of my white heritage in a mixed group of people from many races. I would be willing to bet that by making this statement most if not all would automatically label me a racist and treat me like a leper from that point on. When in essence it is they who would be the racists simply because they are following a preformed, preprogrammed set of ideals handed down from generation to generation.

I will not get into politics....may the best man win. What I will say is that we have gone a long way to allow those who refuse to pick themselves up and keep trying the opportunity to use "Racism" as an excuse for thier own personal short comings. I am sick of hearing your picking on me because I'm this or because I'm that.

Want to stop racism? Take the ethnicity spot off of job applications along with race. Replace it with Human or Other. If they mark other, you might want to give them extra scrutiny during the interview process. But then again lets not be racist because they are not human.....

Racism to me (in addition to the dictionary definition) is making race out to be a key aspect of a human's essence or negating the unique experiences encountered by someone of a particular race. This is what I see on this forum time and time again. Check this out.

#1 - If I am proud of my White heritage...I am a racist. No. I dated a Canadian guy that was very, very proud of his Scottish heritage. He had his family clan symbol tattooed on him and participated in any "Scottish" even including wearing a kilt and playing bagpipes. Never did I see him as a racist...no did any of my other Black, Hispanic or Asian friends. Now, most White people have some idea of where their families originated from. Black Americans do not usually have this knowledge. That is why it is fine to say "Black pride" and not "White pride" but "Italian pride" is perfectly ok. Ok?

#2 - Affirmative action. Why do people believe that Black people are the only ones benefiting from this? Women benefit from affirmative action big time. In Pennsylvania, women-owned businesses get tax breaks. Disabled people also benefit. So what's the problem here again? As far as test scores and giving positions to people not as qualified...ok, two things here. 1) Most African-Americans in this country face a plethora of issues starting from they time they begin school. Often times these are social ills that the school cannot control -- therefore cannot compensate for in a diverse student body. and 2) many African-Americans do not have access to a job-market established primarily by networking. Employment surveys have found that the majority of careers come from networking and referrals. Being that African-Americans tend not to be entrepreneurs (which is a proven way to build wealth as well), they have a hard time with the networking aspect.

#If I say anything at all bad about Black people or a Black person, I'm a racist. Nooooo. However, it would help if your criticisms were substantial. Half the time...no most of the time, the point of view is given like you are some sort of expert on the Black community -- although it comes out pretty quickly that you are not. I do not like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson so talk all the bad about them you want. But don't say, "Oh well why do the Black community keep supporting them?" Uh...no. How about Fox News supports those clowns...not the "Black community". And why would you take anything they say as representative of the Black community's beliefs. I support Barack Obama, but he is not authorized to speak for the Black community. He can speak (just like Jesse or Al can speak) as his experiences as a Black person in this country; and that is it. Just like Hillary can speak about being a woman...or J. Leiberman can speak about being a Jew.

There are definitely people who throw the word "racist" around loosely; but many people are quite racist a do not even realize it at all. And that is more unsettling than anything really.

[prim2007]

Originally Posted by Rathagos

I just read the thread about why republicans are considered racist and it really had me scratching my head. You can definitely read each post and think "democrat" or "republican" just by the tone of response.

I had always been brought up to believe racism was a bias towards (against?) another race based solely upon the fact they are a race other than the initiatiator of the behavior.

Now... as I read the posts in this Forum, it sounds like, if you are not a minority, and you support any program that doesn't aim specifically at giving something to a minority, you are racist. So, essentially, racism is only aimed at minorities. People who support giving a minority with lower test scores, grades, and academic achievement a seat in a college over someone who is much more qualified (on paper) is not racist? Someone who doesn't support programs that benefit predominantly "non-white" people (even though whites are included in that program) is racist.

So... what really is it? If you're not a minority, you can not say or do anything against a minority? If so, you're racist?

This is racism. Just one of the post on the Black people thread.

I'd like to see more blacks put down their crack pipes and get jobs. Right now 3 out of 4 black children are born out of wedlock. If blacks would become responsible citizens, work hard, raise their children properly and stop listening to that stupid jungle music that glorifies violence, crime and sex, maybe they wouldn't be earning less on average than whites.