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I have to wonder, but although we might all sense a bit of what you are explaining, I think the real question is to what extent some of us are racist vs others. There are obviously wide degrees or varied levels of how we feel about "something we don't like."
Speaking strictly about how we feel about people with different skin color, do you have a different reaction when someone approaches you on the street with skin color different from yours? Or if they are your waiter? Or driving your taxi? Or doing your medical exam? Or speaking with an accent...?
Why limit it to just skin color?
Ultimately the essence is do we judge by appearance? The answer is a resounding YES! I can guarantee that if your spouse/partner was two points lower on your 10 scale, even though you're completely mentally complimentary, and are BFF's too, you'd not be married (and this doesn't matter whether you're male or female).
So we need to determine whether, it's acceptable to judge by appearance in general, and if it is, then which if any classifications of appearance are not acceptable to judge by, and why. For example, can we judge someone who has tattoos? Do we place certain categories on that person, with no evidence other than they have ink? Isn't that the same as judging someone who is black, and placing certain categories on that person with no evidence other than they're black? Or someone who's white, and placing certain categories on that person with no evidence other than they're white?
True story, friend of mine is white Jamaican, speaks with a Jamaican accent, he's forever being told to stop putting on a stupid accent, even though it's his actual accent. Isn't that racist? Thinking that an accent is tied to the color of someone's skin?
I think the question is too limited, to really answer.
It's impossible for most people in Western Society to honestly answer this question "Are you a racist" because of the tremendous social stigma attached to one of the answers. Simply admitting you're racist in public can see you fired, all your friends abandon you etc. It's like going back in time and asking someone in medieval europe if they believe in God? Good luck getting a straight answer there.
Modern trends have turned racism and being a bad bad bad guy synonymous. Most people in this thread have struggled to really draw a clean line as to what is racist and what it is not but everyone seems to agree it's a really really bad thing. This is not an accident, this is part of social conditioning.
??? That's why I wrote prefer, as in, what is in their hearts.
Well, I've been on city-data since 2007. I look at your username and think about other usernames I've seen. And then I wonder the thought process that goes behind it. I have to wonder what your thought process is.
What reasons would be compatible with "not racist"?
Hard to say someone would find racism in it somehow but there's nothing wrong with wanting to raise your kids and grandkids with the same upbringing, values and family traditions and marriages are more likely to last when people are brought up similar.
Is racial profiling always wrong? Or, can it be considered good police work?
It's easy to say that if it doesn't happen to you. I've seen it happen to my father, is far from being a thug. In alot of cases, racial profiling just causes problems for people who aren't committing crimes. I see it like this. If I'm not committing a crime, leave me alone.
Who knows? I'm a 6'4" Scandinavian male with blue eyes and blondish hair. I'm sure some think I'm racist for simply being and breathing. My point? The term racist is so watered down it's comical. The phrase "racist" has now lost it's meaning because the scope has morphed to whatever circumstance best meets the liberal mindset.
Believe it or not, I've had people glaring at me simply walking down the street because I am who I am and what I look like. But if you think about it, isn't it racist for those that give me the evil eye simply because they assume I'm entitled? I think so! Further supports that notion that pretty much everybody is racist based on the current rapidly expanding definition.
Is it racist to PREFER (not insist) your kids marry people of the same race? I suspect 90% of same race couples would PREFER their kids marry same race. And, prefer means what they REALLY feel deep inside, not what response they provide to a poll in front of their coworkers for example.
It would be racist since your thought process only focuses on the person's race. The question is it wrong?
I don't believe in objective morality, but in my morality it would be wrong to pressure your kids on their lifetime decision to marry someone solely and arbitrarily based on that person's race. They shouldn't need to choose between their love and their parents.
That being said, if you simply applied this preference to yourself, then I don't see how it could be morally wrong.
This is what people are struggling with in this thread - everytime they hear the word racism they think it needs to be "bad." It's hard for them to rationalize a racist preference in sexual partners as "bad" so they do all kinds of mental gymnastics around this.
Racism has a precise definition, apply it. Prejudice based on race. That's it, as simple as that.
NO!!! I am not a racist. However I do think that some cultures and lifestyles are not very productive and the reason why some groups are not successful in current modern day society. It just depends on what a person's life goals are.
And I don't avoid people based on their skin colour, but more based on their lifestyle and morals.
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